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Happy 98th birthday Dr. Reid! With personal interview... [1]
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Date: 2023-03-18
Dr. Fergie Reid Sr
Thanks to Zen Trainer for organizing this 98th Happy Birthday to Dr. Fergie Reid Sr.
Here is a personal interview with him….
I got to sit down with Dr. Fergie Reid Sr. at his home in Maryland in the Summer of 2016.
A little history of Dr. Reid, he organized and helped register African Americans in Virginia in the 1950's and 1960's. He was one of the first African Americans elected in the Virginia Legislature since Reconstruction.
More importantly, he helped organize for Doug Wilder, who also became an African American State Senator, and ultimately, the Nation's first Black Governor in Virginia in 1992.
(Who in turn, inspired a young Barack Obama to aim for higher office)
Dr. Reid also served in the State department from 1980-1990 and then retired.
But as you'll see in his interview, while some of us might be resting mostly, if we are lucky to make it to 90, Dr. Reid has been busy helping get people involved in our Democracy.
Dr. Fergie on starting '90 for 90'
x YouTube Video (I told my friends) Well, it's my 90th birthday, there are 2500 precincts in Virginia, If we could get 90 new voters in each precinct, we could 250,000 new voters - so (my friends) started 90 for 90 (www.90for90.org) They were also able to invite Progressive candidates to sign off on the website, and because of their exposure on 90 for 90, many are getting contributions outside of their jurisdiction.
On the importance of organizing from the bottom up, not the top down (hint to the DNC here)
Any time we find someone running for public office, we know unfortunately, throughout the United States, that the Democratic party is not interested in helping people that they don't think can win. We call them 'orphan' candidates because the party neglects them. We feel they are the ones that require our help, because many are 1st time candidates.
On the Supreme Court dismantling the Voting Rights act:
Question: A couple of years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Voting Rights Act was no longer necessary because racial bias had been overcome. What do you have to say to those Justices? Answer: Once they made that decision, immediately we have reverted back to the Jim Crow days.
(In a lot of the Southern States?)
Not only the Southern States, the Northern ones too. They have all set up obstacles to voting.
Photo I.D. laws, making it more difficult for College Students to register, a lot of obstacles are now there. They opened the floodgates to the Jim Crow Days
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/18/2159018/-Happy-98th-birthday-Dr-Reid
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