Racial profiling alleged

The leaders of three civil-rights organizations held a conference call with reporters yesterday to blast an alarm about the state of the political process in America today. "There is a crisis in this country," said Barbara Arnwine of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. "We have voters calling about...dirty tricks, voter sup- pression, intimidation." The lawyers have joined with the NAACP, People for the American Way and other nonpartisan civil-rights and good-government groups to set up a hot line - 866-OUR-VOTE - that they say has received 5,000 calls a day since it went live last week. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said the calls showed a pattern of racist actions by the Republican Party. "All of this activity is racial profiling," Bond said. "All of it is aimed at Hispanics or African-Americans. It's based on racist presumption that racial minorities are cheaters and unless these vigilantes ride in and save the nation from racial minorities, they will be cheating." Republicans take issue with these charges and claim that they were just trying to ensure that only registered, legally permitted voters are able to cast ballots. [more]

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