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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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(12/16/00 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
The struggle for the presidency has spawned a Florida hurricane - a storm of historic proportions that threatens our shared identity as Americans - and Americans of color find ourselves at the center of that storm.
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has effectively ended the presidential race, there is little doubt that the enormous outpouring of African American and Hispanic American voters in Florida denied Governor Bush the kind of convincing victory that could have given reactionary policies a national mandate.
There also seems to be little doubt that Americans of color in Florida were denied their fundamental right to vote. During a recent meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno, she reaffirmed that the Justice Department is investigating alleged criminal violations. On December 8, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also decided to investigate complaints that black voters' civil rights were violated.
The conduct of Florida's election is gaining national attention in publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post because of issues far more substantive than the distinction between "hanging and dimpled chads." That is why my colleague and friend, Florida Congresswoman Corrine Brown, and other civil rights leaders have filed suit in Florida courts.
They understand that fundamental questions remain unanswered by the Supreme Court's decision. "There are serious problems here in Duval County," Congresswoman Brown observed, "and we're going to get them fixed. Our deadline is four years from now."
Hers is a search for the truth in which all Americans have an interest. We intuitively understand that our freedom depends upon knowing the truth about the important issues in our lives.
That is why Americans deserved to know the truth about the thousands of Florida ballots which outdated machines failed to read.
We were heartened when we saw teams led by Leon County Circuit Court judges begin to examine the disputed Florida "undercount" ballots, just as we were surprised and appalled when five Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida judges from counting those votes.
By stopping the counting even before it decided the case, the Supreme Court engaged in a blatant, premature and unwise intrusion into the political process. Appalled, millions of Americans necessarily asked what higher interest could conceivably justify denial of our constitutional right to know the full and complete truth about this election.
Justice Scalia could offer only the transparent declaration that "the counting of votes that are of questionable legality . . . would threaten irreparable harm to Governor Bush . . . by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election." Yet, as the pending civil rights investigations in Florida properly illustrate, courts in a free society usually determine the facts before applying the law to those facts.
A free society does not deprive its citizens of legally authorized review of their ballots based upon nothing more substantial than an assumption about the eventual political outcome. Justice Scalia's conclusion, however, appears to have been based upon just such an assumption - that partisan Republican actions in Florida would make George W. Bush President of the United States no matter what a fair examination of the ballots revealed.
If, as Justice Scalia asserted, the mere appearance of legitimacy is sufficiently important to overrule the sanctity of the ballot, then there truly is a clear and present danger to our most basic freedom as a people. As Justice John Paul Stevens declared, "preventing the recount from being completed will inevitably cast a cloud on the legitimacy of this election."
Cloud or not, this country must have a President. Governor Bush received nearly one-half the votes nationwide, and now the Supreme Court has broken the statistical tie. We have no choice but to work together for the people we are duty-bound to serve.
We cannot forget, however, that African Americans in large numbers were denied the power of their ballot and, as a result, that the majority of all American voters were denied their choice as President of the United States.
Thanks to people like Congresswoman Corrine Brown, the whole truth about the election in Florida will be revealed. Then, in due course, we will act on that truth, peacefully organizing to restore democracy in America.
We will know the truth, and that truth will make us free.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
