Poll Worker fired for turning away voters with BLM shirts

[JustinCharge 2,397]

Just so you know, wearing a shirt that says Blue Lives Matter or wearing clothing with the thin blue line flag may be OK as well.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-worker-fired-turning-away-220624357.html

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A poll worker in Memphis, Tennessee, has been fired after turning away early voters who were wearing “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can't Breathe” shirts, an elections official said Monday.

The worker was fired Friday after officials received a call from a witness at the Dave Wells Community Center in Memphis, Shelby County Election Commission spokeswoman Suzanne Thompson said.

Tennessee law does not allow voters to wear items bearing the name of a candidate or a political party in a polling place. But state law does not prohibit statements such as “Black Lives Matter,” Thompson said.

The number of voters who were told to leave was not immediately known, but Thompson said it was only a few. The poll worker thought the statements were tied to the Democratic Party, Thompson said.

“That was pretty bad,” she said. “They were not supposed to be turned away.”

 

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

A voter can't wear a pro party shirt? Wtf?

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

1 minute ago, Frozenbeernuts said:

A voter can't wear a pro party shirt? Wtf?

Must be a law about not swaying other people's vote while at a polling place?  

[JustinCharge 2,397]

2 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

Must be a law about not swaying other people's vote while at a polling place?  

I think its more of an anti-harassment law.  We vote by secret ballot because we learned from experience that when people vote publicly, they can be harassed and even killed.  Unions for example would send thugs to the homes of people who voted against unions to attack them, so laws were passed to make union voting done by secret ballot.  Anyway, if we allowed campaigning inside the voting centers, it wouldn't be long before intimidation tactics were used to try to coerce people to vote a certain way, and it would get violent fairly quickly.

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

It's like wearing a shirt in a food court with a samich on it that looks very similar to a Subway samich and the mall security going off on them.

[Cruzer 1,993]

Texas is similar - it prohibits wearing anything that promotes a candidate in a polling station.

Yet, when you look around - the entire building/parking lot is littered with campaign signs. You literally have to step around them to walk in... Talk about making no sense at all. 

[RLLD 3,539]

BLM is a repugnant organization to be sure, hiding behind a façade of purity they are purely evil; notably for their manipulation the ignorant who still think racism is systemic and taking their money.  But you have to know this is a bad look.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

5 minutes ago, riversco said:

I think its more of an anti-harassment law.  We vote by secret ballot because we learned from experience that when people vote publicly, they can be harassed and even killed.  Unions for example would send thugs to the homes of people who voted against unions to attack them, so laws were passed to make union voting done by secret ballot.  Anyway, if we allowed campaigning inside the voting centers, it wouldn't be long before intimidation tactics were used to try to coerce people to vote a certain way, and it would get violent fairly quickly.

That makes sense.  It could be a complete mess otherwise.

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

Just now, Cruzer said:

Texas is similar - it prohibits wearing anything that promotes a candidate in a polling station.

Yet, when you look around - the entire building/parking lot is littered with campaign signs. You literally have to step around them to walk in... Talk about making no sense at all. 

True but the rule states it has to be so many feet from the front door. Think it's 150 ft. It is annoying and wish it would stop altogether though. Nobody is changing their minds when they get there. The bigger problem are petty arguments in line or like Riverco stated, a bunch of people intimidating another person. The rules need to be upgraded to include extreme groups like BLM, Antifa, Proud Boys. 

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

4 minutes ago, RLLD said:

BLM is a repugnant organization to be sure, hiding behind a façade of purity they are purely evil; notably for their manipulation the ignorant who still think racism is systemic and taking their money.  But you have to know this is a bad look.

I think it's possible that some people wear those shirts to show their support for people of color and not actually in support of the organization.

[RLLD 3,539]

21 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I think it's possible that some people wear those shirts to show their support for people of color and not actually in support of the organization.

I think that is fair, and likely entirely true.   It is unfortunate that the entire notion of the entity is based on a lie; that anyone believes AA lives are worth less.

That lie is now given more credibility, people devour the lie as some kind of reality.  And then you have people who build this organization only to feed off of people who lack the intelligence to see all this, and who cannot really afford to give away money in the first place.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

2 minutes ago, RLLD said:

I think that is fair, and likely entirely true.   It is unfortunate that the entire notion of the entity is based on a lie; that anyone believes AA lives are worth less.

That lie is now given more credibility, people devour the lie as some kind of reality.  And then you have people who build this organization only to feed off of people who lack the intelligence to see all this, and who cannot really afford to give away money in the first place.

The problem is that there are people out there who absolutely believe that black lives, and others races, are worth less that white lives.  They are a small minority but they do exist.  I believe the majority of people do not care about color as much as they care about culture.

[RLLD 3,539]

29 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

The problem is that there are people out there who absolutely believe that black lives, and others races, are worth less that white lives.  They are a small minority but they do exist.  I believe the majority of people do not care about color as much as they care about culture.

 

I do not doubt this for a moment.  But I submit that this is not systemic, wide-spread, or anything approaching a tangible problem for the AA community.  Notably, this is true for ALL races as well; there will also be people of African heritage that view other races as not being of value.

The real problem remains poverty.  Impoverished people tend to drift into bad habits and suffer diminished quality of life because their life choices are influenced by poverty.

You may say to yourself, hold on people in Appalachia are impoverished, but they don't kill each other in droves.....true, but not all cultures are the same.

So you have a cyclical system where kids are being raised by people who suck, more or less, and it self-propagates.  No matter how much money you throw at this problem is does not solve the central issue that certain groups do not raise kids properly.

[Cdub100 3,441]

34 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

The problem is that there are people out there who absolutely believe that black lives, and others races, are worth less that white lives.  They are a small minority but they do exist.  I believe the majority of people do not care about color as much as they care about culture.

Most of the people you are talking about are black.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

2 minutes ago, RLLD said:

 

I do not doubt this for a moment.  But I submit that this is not systemic, wide-spread, or anything approaching a tangible problem for the AA community.  Notably, this is true for ALL races as well; there will also be people of African heritage that view other races as not being of value.

The real problem remains poverty.  Impoverished people tend to drift into bad habits and suffer diminished quality of life because their life choices are influenced by poverty.

You may say to yourself, hold on people in Appalachia are impoverished, but they don't kill each other in droves.....true, but not all cultures are the same.

So you have a cyclical system where kids are being raised by people who suck, more or less, and it self-propagates.  No matter how much money you throw at this problem is does not solve the central issue that certain groups do not raise kids properly.

I agree.  Now, how the hell do we fix it?

[Cdub100 3,441]

Poll worker is an idiot.

[RLLD 3,539]

10 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I agree.  Now, how the hell do we fix it?

It has to start at the grass-roots level.  Cannot simply throw money at this.  What is required is an acknowledgement that a problem exists with an honest assessment of that problem; the AA culture is fatally flawed, and children within this community are not being served, primarily by their parents.

AA marriage rates need to improve, encouraging two-parent households is absolutely INTEGRAL:  create this through financial rewards.

AA parents need remedial instruction on how to properly raise their children.

AA's need to walk away from the victimization mentality, they need to be encouraged to compete, and NOT blame skin color on failures.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

1 minute ago, RLLD said:

It has to start at the grass-roots level.  Cannot simply throw money at this.  What is required is an acknowledgement that a problem exists with an honest assessment of that problem; the AA culture is fatally flawed, and children within this community are not being served, primarily by their parents.

AA marriage rates need to improve, encouraging two-parent households is absolutely INTEGRAL:  create this through financial rewards.

AA parents need remedial instruction on how to properly raise their children.

AA's need to walk away from the victimization mentality, they need to be encouraged to compete, and NOT blame skin color on failures.

I agree with all of that.  I'm not sure how to make all that happen though.

[RLLD 3,539]

Just now, Hawkeye21 said:

I agree with all of that.  I'm not sure how to make all that happen though.

I think it is absolutely imperative that we stop pretending there is not a problem, or that the problems is "white people" or "white supremacy".  This has to start at the top, and at universities.

Further, create tax-centric or social-rewards-based initiative's that encourage two-parent households below a specific income level.  We get two parents in the house and it creates a important benefit for children.

Then we use the carrot again to encourage participation in the skill trades for those below a certain income level. 

We create encouragement for kids to actually try in school, to actually learn, and ensure that education is not perceived as "selling out" etc......have to stop the bullsh!t propaganda these kids get from rap albums and other sources.

Have to start somewhere, these are easy things that can be done.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

Just now, RLLD said:

I think it is absolutely imperative that we stop pretending there is not a problem, or that the problems is "white people" or "white supremacy".  This has to start at the top, and at universities.

Further, create tax-centric or social-rewards-based initiative's that encourage two-parent households below a specific income level.  We get two parents in the house and it creates a important benefit for children.

Then we use the carrot again to encourage participation in the skill trades for those below a certain income level. 

We create encouragement for kids to actually try in school, to actually learn, and ensure that education is not perceived as "selling out" etc......have to stop the bullsh!t propaganda these kids get from rap albums and other sources.

Have to start somewhere, these are easy things that can be done.

This is true for households that actually care about being together and raising children.  I worry that it could lead to toxic people remaining together and still having a negative effect on the children.  Overall, it's a good idea though.  Families that stick together and prioritize raising their children will lead to better generations.

[RLLD 3,539]

Just now, Hawkeye21 said:

This is true for households that actually care about being together and raising children.  I worry that it could lead to toxic people remaining together and still having a negative effect on the children.  Overall, it's a good idea though.  Families that stick together and prioritize raising their children will lead to better generations.

Right.  I get your point for sure. I think that past policies encouraged the poor to not stay together, instead of sticking it out.  I think married couples have problems all the time, and there is nothing wrong with an imperfect(so long as its not violent) relationship to better support the kids.  JMHO

The question before us might be, how do we get AA families to behave like Asian families?

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

2 minutes ago, RLLD said:

Right.  I get your point for sure. I think that past policies encouraged the poor to not stay together, instead of sticking it out.  I think married couples have problems all the time, and there is nothing wrong with an imperfect(so long as its not violent) relationship to better support the kids.  JMHO

The question before us might be, how do we get AA families to behave like Asian families?

That's where I'm out of ideas.  It's a free country so it's hard to tell others how they need to live their lives.  Men are free to get a woman pregnant and then bail on her.  How do you remain a free country while trying to change a race's culture?  Encouraging change is about the best that can be done, that I know of.

[Utilit99 4,099]

18 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I agree with all of that.  I'm not sure how to make all that happen though.

Problem is, black people have to help by taking part in the solution. And seemingly, many of them don't want to. They have to be the ones who take it upon themselves to quit the crime, take on self responsibility, and desire to be better human beings overall. Not just a small portion of them as it is now, but rather a large portion of them need to take on the right role models in their lives.

Not only do many many black people not want to assimilate into the American way of living, but they prefer to rebel against it. It's like grown ups acting like 15 year olds when they are in their rebellious years. 

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

Just now, Utilit99 said:

Problem is, black people have to help by taking part in the solution. And seemingly, many of them don't want to. They have to be the ones who take it upon themselves to quit the crime, take on self responsibility, and desire to be better human beings overall. Not just a small portion of them, but rather a large portion of them.

Not only do many many black people not want to assimilate into the American way of living, but they prefer to rebel against it. It's like grown ups acting like 15 year olds when they are in their rebellious years. 

I agree.  So, now we're back to the question, how do we change that?  They can't be forced to because that would violate rights.  Education and encouraging a change in culture could help.  I'm afraid it would come off as being racist in some way though.

[MDC 5,943]

I think a major reinvestment in blighted urban areas could help lift the black community. I sometimes drive through neighborhoods of North Philly going to / from work that have entire city blocks of houses falling apart and open lots full of trash. I wonder how anybody who grows up in this type of environment is going to succeed.

Significantly raising the minimum wage could help too.

The stuff about fixing the culture isn’t wrong but it’s easy to say because it doesn’t cost anyone $ or effort.

[KSB2424 3,086]

2 minutes ago, MDC said:

I think a major reinvestment in blighted urban areas could help lift the black community. I sometimes drive through neighborhoods of North Philly going to / from work that have entire city blocks of houses falling apart and open lots full of trash. I wonder how anybody who grows up in this type of environment is going to succeed.

Significantly raising the minimum wage could help too.

The stuff about fixing the culture isn’t wrong but it’s easy to say because it doesn’t cost anyone $ or effort.

Throwing money at it is an old Democratic strategy that didn’t work.  Those were new buildings once. When a person is given something they don’t take care of it.

Education, jobs, changing the culture. 

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

7 minutes ago, MDC said:

I think a major reinvestment in blighted urban areas could help lift the black community. I sometimes drive through neighborhoods of North Philly going to / from work that have entire city blocks of houses falling apart and open lots full of trash. I wonder how anybody who grows up in this type of environment is going to succeed.

Significantly raising the minimum wage could help too.

The stuff about fixing the culture isn’t wrong but it’s easy to say because it doesn’t cost anyone $ or effort.

Not going to work. Who is going to maintain it. Common problem is poor get homes and they can't afford the upkeep. They can't afford the HOA fees that maintain the rules to prevent blight, lawn equipment, painting a house, fixing gutters, roofs.

Best thing is raise the bar on home ownership on money down. Can't afford it rent. From there put pressure on landlords to maintain the property.

As a homeowner with a HOA I do not want to pay more taxes and pay for my upkeep and theirs. This is wrong. If you can't afford it rent. 

[MDC 5,943]

2 minutes ago, FlyinHeadlock said:

Not going to work. Who is going to maintain it. Common problem is poor get homes and they can't afford the upkeep. They can't afford the HOA fees that maintain the rules to prevent blight, lawn equipment, painting a house, fixing gutters, roofs.

Best thing is raise the bar on home ownership on money down. Can't afford it rent. From there put pressure on landlords to maintain the property.

As a homeowner with a HOA I do not want to pay more taxes and pay for my upkeep and theirs. This is wrong. If you can't afford it rent. 

In the neighborhoods I’m talking about I am pretty sure the homes are passed down. There’s no HOA in North Philly. Or lawns.

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

Just now, MDC said:

In the neighborhoods I’m talking about I am pretty sure the homes are passed down. There’s no HOA in North Philly. Or lawns.

Well then time to raise the bar on city rules and zoning. Can't just live in a place with no upkeep anymore. Make them pay North Philly zoning laws fees. If they can't pay put a lean on it and take it away. Blight should not be allowed. Either maintain your stuff or get out.

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

12 minutes ago, FlyinHeadlock said:

Well then time to raise the bar on city rules and zoning. Can't just live in a place with no upkeep anymore. Make them pay North Philly zoning laws fees. If they can't pay put a lean on it and take it away. Blight should not be allowed. Either maintain your stuff or get out.

Would doing such things be legal though?

[RLLD 3,539]

6 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

Would doing such things be legal though?

Hard to say, but I am sure it would likely face legal challenges regardless.

I submit that anything other that fixing people and their situation at the lowest possible level will continue the current status quo that has been true for a very long time.

This is not a quick fix, it will take time, and I hope Trump is able to secure the win and continue that trend of minority employment.

Long-lasting and meaningful fixes will not happen overnight, and unless you focus on the people, no amount of money thrown at it will matter.

[peenie 1,701]

I voted today and heard this very story on the radio.

I'm sad that they forgot to give me a voting sticker!

[Hawkeye21 1,889]

1 minute ago, RLLD said:

Hard to say, but I am sure it would likely face legal challenges regardless.

I submit that anything other that fixing people and their situation at the lowest possible level will continue the current status quo that has been true for a very long time.

This is not a quick fix, it will take time, and I hope Trump is able to secure the win and continue that trend of minority employment.

Long-lasting and meaningful fixes will not happen overnight, and unless you focus on the people, no amount of money thrown at it will matter.

For sure.  It's going to take years to make improvements.  It will take generations of kids that want to make a change growing up, not just adults willing to make a change.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,903]

They should make all the blighted neighborhoods in black areas safe and build new buildings. So woke white liberals can move there. 

[Djgb13 2,338]

Don’t like it. Even if BLM has gone off the rails it isn’t exactly party affiliated. Should be able to wear it

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

7 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

Would doing such things be legal though?

I have my own home and HOA community to pay for and maintain. I'm not paying to clean up their communities. Screw that. Not my problem. There is nothing wrong with the blighted areas. Not every area is going to look nice with sheik samich shops and hip stores. Some will be run down with dollar stores and payday loan places. That is life. 

[RLLD 3,539]

4 minutes ago, Djgb13 said:

Don’t like it. Even if BLM has gone off the rails it isn’t exactly party affiliated. Should be able to wear it

Agree completely.  I was more critical of the yahoo who turned this person away.  Have to realize that was exactly something they were hoping for.

[Utilit99 4,099]

11 minutes ago, Djgb13 said:

Don’t like it. Even if BLM has gone off the rails it isn’t exactly party affiliated. Should be able to wear it

I find it funny that the left can't stop hyping BLM saying what they WANT to do for black people, but when Trump just says what he has already done for the black community, Trump is the racist. 

 I believe BLM is a component of the left in this country. And once the left wins you will never hear about BLM again.

[RaiderHaters Revenge 3,644]

most states have a policy of no political advertising at or within 500 yards of a polling station, that includes voters

 

[Hardcore troubadour 12,903]

If there were a black panther with an AK-47 strapped across his chest at the polling location this would not happen