In what is becoming a mockery of democracy as I see it within the democratic party, the issues of voter suppression and disenfranchisement are being diluted by the usual political rhetoric. What is very clear is that unequivocally, the citizens of both Florida and Michigan went to the polls for their primaries with the intent of their votes being counted in the democratic primary and obviously that is proving not the case because of DNC punishment. Voter disenfranchisement has always and will forever translate into voter disgust and mistrust particularly, among African Americans and people of color. We have seen in the most recent of times, election after election manipulated beyond belief. The question that still stands regarding the Democratic Party and the seating of such delegates without a doubt will determine the outcome of this year’s election and the will of the people or lack thereof.

Joining the ranks of a host of others in a letter dated February 8th NAACP National Board Chair, Julian Bond rightfully called the democratic party to the carpet on such issues regarding the aforementioned states. Himself a veteran, and victim of such blatant oppression, knows what it feels like not to have the will of the people counted, as a result of such disenfranchisement. In his letter co-written by others in the civil rights community he asserted, "Refusing to seat the states' delegations could remind voters of the sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries." The moral and politically right thing for the convention's credentials and rules committee to do, would be to rule on the side with the citizens of both states and allow their votes to be counted. I would implore the Chairman Howard Dean and party officials to find some resolution to the issue prior to the opening of the convention. With an abundance of prudence, a think that it would be a mistake and wrong for the party not to do otherwise.      

Gone are the days of poll taxes, ridiculous questions, literacy tests and outright intimidation. Pray tell, what message will the democratic party send to voters who are already apprehensive about the voting process? The issue is not about any particular democratic candidate; it is about principle. What a terrible feeling to go to the voting polls, stand in long lines on cold mornings, or late nights rhetorically wondering, “Will my vote, be Counted?”

Immediately, reminiscence about the Democratic National Convention of 1964 comes to mind in this 2008 election season. Fannie Lou Hamer, from the deep south testified before America and the DNC Credentials Committee after they had refused to seat her and the delegates of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She told the committee how African-Americans in many states across the country were prevented from voting and thereby disenfranchised. She declared that “she didn’t come that far, for no two votes,” and that she was “sick and tired, of being sick and tired.”

BC Guest Commentator, The Reverend D. D. Prather, is a noted Civil/Social Justice Activist, and a native of Atlanta, GA . Click here to contact the Reverend Prather.