Ecological Wisdom * Social Justice * Grassroots Democracy * Non-Violence
>> Green Party of Michigan <<
http://www.migreens.org
>>> ---------------- <<<
>>> News Release <<<
>>> ---------------- <<<
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
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November 1, 2004
For More Information Contact:
----------------------------
Marc Reichardt -- Chair/GPMI
chair@migreens.org
John Anthony La Pietra -- Elections Co-ordinator/GPMI
elections@migreens.org
Michigan Greens Call on Discouraged Voters, Groups
to Exercise Voting Rights Denied to Carter, Others
==================================================
On the eve of another critical Election Day, the Green
Party of Michigan (GPMI) urges "discouraged" voters and
communities to vote on Tuesday, November 2 -- in honor of
the late Maurice Carter and all others unjustly denied their
right to vote.
"Maurice Carter's life sentence was commuted after 28
years -- for health reasons, not because he was innocent --
but his right to vote never got off the critical list,"
commented GPMI elections co-ordinator John La Pietra. "He
never got to taste that freedom again.
"But this should not discourage anyone from voting.
Rather, it should drive us all to go to the polls without
fail -- and vote to elect representatives who will lead our
communities to deep, abiding justice . . . equal justice
for all."
Michigan Greens have been working with the Black Autonomy
Network Community Organization (BANCO) in Benton Harbor, where
Carter was wrongly convicted of shooting and wounding a white
police officer. Recently, GPMI helped BANCO get a copy of a
2004 legal manual for protecting Michigan voters' rights all
through the election process -- "from registration to a ballot
that counts".
BANCO has registered over 1,000 new voters this year --
and turned them out to pass the school system's first bond
millage in almost as many years as Carter had been in prison.
Individual Greens will be active in their communities
and across the state with efforts to protect the validity
of the 2004 election process and the rights of citizens to
take part in these elections.
GPMI has also supported work for social, economic, and
legal justice from Highland Park to Mecosta County and all
across Michigan.
"Michigan Greens understand how little exaggeration there
is for some in the sobering hip-hop slogan 'Vote or Die',"
La Pietra noted. "Anyone who has the right to make that
choice, but is tempted not to, should remember Maurice
Carter -- and how easily the right can be taken away, or
negated.
"We encourage you to vote Green. But whatever choices
you make -- from among six parties on the ballot and hundreds
of candidates in or out of those parties -- please vote.
Vote to keep yourselves, your families, your communities, and
the grassroots democracy on which our country was founded alive."
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For more information on BANCO, please attend the group's
next community forum starting at 1pm on Saturday, November 20
at New Mission Baptist Church (848 Buss, Benton Harbor) -- or
visit BANCO's Web site:
http://www.banco4bh.com
The Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights Under Law home page
is at:
http://www.lawyerscomm.org
For more information on GPMI, its state platform and past
public statements on issues, the over 40 Green candidates on
Tuesday's ballot, and how you can contact Green candidates and
locals in your area, please visit our Web site:
http://www.migreens.org
# # #
Green Party of Michigan * 548 S. Main Street *
* Ann Arbor, MI 48104 * 734-663-3555
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The Green Party of Michigan was formed in 1987 to address environmental
issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and
the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals
and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:
Ecological Wisdom * Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice * Nonviolence
Community Economics * Decentralization
Feminism * Respect for Diversity
Personal and Global * Future Focus/
Responsibility Sustainability
created/distributed using donated labor
Other Contacts:
Green Party of Michigan
548 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555
info@migreens.org
posted to web 1 Nov 2004