corrente

Maybe this is progress. You think the Alabama Tourism Bureau would be interested in a new slogan? "Racist Voter Intimidation! It's Not Just For Black Folks Anymore!"

(via MobileRegister)

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (AP) — About 50 challenged ballots in a Bayou La Batre City Council contest have stirred discrimination concerns because they were all demanded from Asian-American voters.

Opponents of council candidate Phuong Tan Huynh challenged the ballots of nearly 50 voters in Tuesday's city election.

Jackie Ladnier faces Huynh in the Sept. 14 runoff for Place 5 on the City Council.

Ladnier said that his side challenged the voters, feeling that "they'd been deceived by others into believing they had the right to vote when they didn't." Fred Marceaux of Coden, an advocate for the Asian community, called the challenged ballots "scare tactics."

By all accounts, the voters were challenged to their faces as they walked into the polling place at the Bayou La Batre Community Center.

Being publicly confronted on their first trip to the voting booth visibly upset many of those who were challenged. Until this year, Asians here have seemed reluctant to step into local politics, preferring to live as a self-contained community for the most part.

Huynh's sister, Linh Huyhn Tran, a pharmacy assistant, told the Register: "Our parents said they just felt it was prejudice, that's all. They've lived here a long time, and they've come to expect it."

She said, "These people were just hoping that if they challenged our voters, they would just back out. They'd feel like they were in some kind of trouble or they'd be intimidated by all the paperwork in English. ... It could have worked, but it didn't."

These folks are Vietnamese, first generation mostly, who came here after the war. They've seen intimidation before. My guess is a new group of extremely dedicated voters has just been created.