Stay on Track---Don't allow this NARRATIVE to be co-opted

This morning, January 25, 2017 the US's 45th President Donald Trump tweeted the following statement:

The conversations that followed these tweets has been adding to what is seen as problematic and loaded and more than just truly investigating if Voter Fraud actually occurred. 

This statement and the continued conversation around this statement is absurd-- this man won the election, he is the 45th President of these United States. And when there was a call into question about how the results ended that way and the structure of the electoral college came into question due to the disparity of the popular vote, individuals were told it was unfair to undermine this campaigns "clear victory."

So now, you are in office and on the 5th day of your time as sitting President, you and your Administration are making claims of Voter Fraud because your ego is bruised that you didn't win the popular vote?

This statement is problematic because first there was slavery, then there was Jim Crow and now you have substantial cases where some of those structural limitations on one's ability to vote are starting to creep back. When you think about it, we haven't even fully closed the gap of the systemic fallout of slavery and Jim Crow. 

So when you see things popping up such as  Voter ID Laws  and the negative impact those have had on people and elections. There are and have been continued efforts to suppress an individuals right to vote. Cases over the last few years continue to rise to the top of each election season and has been a huge campaign in THIS particular election season as well. So when the conversation becomes a focus on Voter Fraud it causes me to raise a critical eye. What is the reason that this conversation, "voter fraud" is taking much more steam, but real acts of voter suppression have not. 

Additionally, it causes me to wonder, at what end will this "major investigation" go? It creates a slippery slope because if the investigation provides and small number of cases, the next step is to then increase restrictions to make acts of voter fraud less likely. But what really does that mean, it allows for more acts of voter suppression to occur. Any law passed allows states and other administrative offices to interpret and execute the law how they see fit. 

This conversation continues to be frustrating. 

If we want to be the change we want to see in the world, we have to call out some of the things that are happening and being said. I recognize that I am hyper-sensitive to the impact because I live in DC and have also studied and continue to be connected to politics, but it's in statements like these that we think-- yes I agree, voter fraud is something that we need to limit, but when history and data prove that voter fraud isn't as big as this Administration is claiming it to be, it creates a distraction of a real fundamental gap in basic civic duty when it comes to people's right to vote being suppressed continuously.