It’s time to leave the divisiveness of those questionable political practices from the last Miami Beach election behind. Let’s unite to do what’s right
and nothing is more right than to protect the Human Rights ordinance from being overturned. Please register to vote so we can toss those proponents of discrimination right back on their
pointed heads in September.
A.C. Weinstein
Columnist
A column last August titled “SAVE Dade’s Credibility on the Line”, offended greatly the organization’s then, but now former, political leaders. Over the past
decade, this column had been one of SAVE Dade’s strongest supporters, so when it blasted the organization’s outlandish political shenanigans during its candidate endorsement process in the
2001 Miami Beach election, the politicos running and advising the organization were somewhat miffed. But that’s okay. It was a column that needed to come out, so to speak.
Those SAVE Dade characters are now gone. With its new leadership and political advisors, SAVE Dade appears to be back on track. And that’s a good thing
because the organization needed to regain the confidence of a number of past supporters that were let down by the puzzling political strategy and disingenuous public statements of its
former leadership.
So much so, a new statewide political action committee, “People For Equal Protection” (PEP) was quickly formed to help protect the Human Rights Ordinance
from being overturned in the upcoming September election. PEP will soon be holding a pep rally to stir up voter support to protect this important legislation from being repealed at the
ballot box.
With or without PEP, SAVE Dade is in an uphill battle to keep that ordinance in place. The campaign to mislead voters into believing the current Human Rights
ordinance offers some sort of special right has been somewhat effective by those determined to overturn it. No matter how this election is spun, the only issue on the table is to protect
the existing ordinance to avoid a giant step back into those dark days where discrimination ruled the lives of so many.
Those days of discrimination must never return. Any form of discrimination must never again be accepted as a part of Greater Miami Beach life. Every voter
that believes in equal protection must vote in September’s election. Every citizen of voting age must register now to express that equal protection sentiment at the polls.
If this election is lost, the national media will turn Miami-Dade’s image back to an era where the majority of its voters believed in discriminatory
practices. Such a shameful scenario will only be prevented with your willingness to register to vote and to take that precious privilege to the polls.
Opponents to the Human Rights ordinance are being motivated by misleading information and how it melts into their own particular religious beliefs. It’s a
motivation that will surely carry them to the polls. To successfully counter those numbers, everyone who rejects discrimination in any form must cast that sentiment in September.
It’s time to leave the divisive politics of the past election behind. Let’s unite to do what’s right and nothing is more right than to protect the Human
Rights ordinance from being overturned. Please register to vote so we can toss those proponents of discrimination right back on their pointed heads in September.
