Dear Democrats:
If you have been reeling for the past few days in disbelief and disgust, I hear ya!! I cried and swore that I would never vote again. But….it is not in me to give up and you can’t give up either.
Ever since I moved back to Alabama in 2017, I have been trying to understand why the Democrats in our State didn’t run for office. Why do we always have such a small percentage of Democrats voting? Now I understand. You feel like “Why bother?” You feel that your vote isn’t counting for anything. This has made Alabama a one-party State.
There wasn’t but an 8% turnout of registered Democratic voters in Marion County who voted on November 5th. We can’t give up. We are the only voice that will speak on behalf of women, minorities, LGBTQ, disabled, Veterans, unions, and in this situation we’re in now, the Constitution of the United States. We have to face that we are now living in a different America. But, we can stand up for justice and continue to yell loud and strong until we are heard. It worked before and it can work again.
We don’t know what to expect but we already know that whatever is coming, it isn’t going to be for the good of this country. It will be for the benefit of the rich and to glorify Donald Trump. Nothing is going to surprise me. We have heard his plan.
We, here in Alabama have become a one-party state. The place we need to start is right here. The problems that we have going on in our State Party are defeating us in Alabama. We have all heard that old saying “Clean out your own door before you tell me to clean out mine.” There have been ongoing problems in our State Party that have run into years of bickering and frustration. We can’t build our County parties or get people registered to vote. We can’t get candidates on the ballots or Democrats to the polls. The Alabama Democratic Party is now on life support.
We have to look at the governing body of our Party, namely the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) to start the process of fixing it. There have been and continue to be numerous violations from the leadership of this Party. We have a “Trump-like” leader as Vice Chair of Minority Affairs who is also the President of the Alabama Democratic Conference, Joe Reed who runs our meetings. When he sees that he isn’t getting his way, he wants a motion to set aside the Bylaws. He gets his motions because Chairman Randy Kelley follows Reed’s lead in everything he wants to do. The body of the SDEC is ignored and is not given the due process of Robert’s Rules to stop this. This has to stop!!!
In the last meeting, we had two representatives of the DNC who were present at the meeting and they were both replaced without a vacancy as indicated in our Bylaws. One of those who replaced our representative was Joe Reed’s son. Upon information and belief, he said that was his agenda for the day. This is an example of what we have been putting up with for way too long! This is a violation of our Bylaws and should not go unaddressed by the SDEC.
We have ALL got to show up at the next meeting and use our power as the governing body of this party and demand that our Bylaws are enforced, these violations are addressed, and that there be consequences for what has already taken place. If not, then that is a display of agreement of so many many wrongs that continue to destroy the Alabama Democratic Party. We can either use our power as members of this Party to stand up and speak out or we can continue to allow Joe Trump Reed to destroy our Party to meet his own personal goals.
It does not matter if you are a member of the SDEC or not. You are still a member of the Democratic Party and you have every right to speak. Bring your voice to the people and be heard.
There is a big division in our party and I’m disgusted to say that it is mostly racial. This is a sad reality that Democrats are fighting over racial issues. We are forced by the present leadership to share our meetings with the Alabama Democratic Conference. There is a lot of tension in the room. It is “them” against “us” and that is the big division. Every excuse or reason that Joe Reed or Randy Kelley has for a challenge always comes back to race. Some of the members of the ADC are not in agreement with this dialogue and we have seen their member participation go way down in the last year. There have been a few of their members who have been on Facebook using a negative narrative toward the Democratic Party and outright calling it out that the black race should have “more power because we were slaves.” We are a party that stands for equality. Now they are asking us to allow one race in our party to have “more power” that tips the scale on equality. Joe Reed has repeatedly said on many occasions that his “reason” for kicking out the Disability Caucus was because they were taking “power” away from the blacks in the Party. On a recent podcast, he said that a Women’s Caucus is “unnecessary.” Let’s get real about this. If there ever has been a time for a Women’s Caucus in Alabama, it’s NOW! We need the Disability Caucus and the Labor Caucus. The way things are now, and the way they may very well go these next four years, WE, the Democratic Party are the ONLY voice that will be had.
Most of us drive hours to Montgomery and it’s frustrating to leave there angry, disappointed and fed up. We have to change this. We have to reach a common ground and work together. Our goals should not be who has the most power, but our power as a unified organization to achieve our goals.
Don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for Joe Reed for his accomplishments that he has made. He worked hard to achieve the milestones that he did and we should all be in his debt for it. However, that does not give him the privilege to disrespect us. This is only putting a mare on his legacy as a pioneer for the black citizens of Alabama.
The people of Alabama do not know it yet, but they will in the days to come see that they need us. They need a voice of reasoning and an intelligent process to protect our Constitutional rights. IF Project 2025 becomes a law, we are going to see women dying all over our country. We are going to see the elderly living in poverty and our school system in shambles. Our healthcare will be gone and there won’t be any more coverage for pre-existing illness. Our environment will be the least of Trump’s concerns. The law of the land now stands in jeopardy. This is a serious and scary time we face. This is not the time to blink.
I hope that the next State Party meeting will be set soon and we can address the problems in an organized and dignified manner. If we can’t, we might as well pull the sheet up, stick a fork in it, we’re done.
Lynda Kirkpatrick
Marion County Democratic Party Chair
HD17, SDEC Rep ADP