Anika Whitfield is a civic leader and pastor in Arkansas. She is active in Grassroots Arkansas, pushing back against state takeovers of public schools.
She writes:
“The people decided, the people voted and no money, no threats, no evil bullying, no voter suppression kept the people from speaking up against injustice, immorality and inequity. Tonight we saw votes roll in across a state where the mass media had convinced voters that a man, who had a record for breaking the law though he took an oath more than once to uphold it as a professional, would win an election because fear (false evidence appearing real) and deceit were the new order of the day. However, or if I could borrow a colloquial term, howsoever, the media and the pollsters were wrong. Victory came through the intentional votes of people of acute awareness in real matters that matter to real people. Victory came through the daily sweat, tears, sacrifices, and resources of people who were sick and tired of being sickened by tired people who do more harm than good with their false rhetoric and their hypocritical actions based in a distorted theology. People who call spades spades while delivering justice through the ballot spoke with a resounding voice in Alabama tonight. This wasn’t just about political parties. This was about stopping manufactured privilege and unchecked power. This was about putiting legs to “no more unchecked power,” “no more murdering truth on my street,” “no more hijacking Evangelical Christianity,” “no more bombing innocent people with your hands and your hate filled heart.” This was the beginning of the penning of a new song and a new day in America where we will truly begin to hear freedom ringing in the hood and in the workplace, in the courtrooms and on the Congressional floor. This was the page turner from the previous chapters of a horror story, to the triumphant victory over the cowardly villain and his weak-minded cohorts.
Democracy is winning and we ought to do more than just ride the wave. We ought to create some more waves so that more people can enjoy the ride with us. After all, until everybody is free, none of us are!
Congratulations Alabama voters, Senator-elect Doug Jones, and America for a beautiful moment in our history. Looking foward to more beautiful moments like this with more consistency!
Three cheers for Democracy at its best!!!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I was relieved to hear that Roy Moore cannot organize a campaign to pay for a recount. Rachel Maddow exposed the fact that recounts cannot be privately finances, except for elections to state positions, not a this race for a Congressional seat. Today’s news says that he is still hanging tight to the belief that he will be declared the true winner. There has not been sufficient publicity given to the reasons why he was twice kicked off the highest court in Alabama.
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Time will tell what kind of a senator Doug Jones will be, but he has to be better than Roy Moore. Joe Biden said in a recent interview that Jones clerked for him years ago. He said Jones is a worker and a very serious guy that wants to improve the lives of the people of Alabama. Jones had largeIy positive ads that focused on improving the state; however, he never identified himself as a Democrat. I look forward to a day in which Democrats no longer fear representing their party in the south. It is really up to the Democrats to run good candidates that people feel they can trust. Then, when they win, they make good on their promises.
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Imagine if the Democratic Party pushed itself far enough left to actually fight for and represent the needs of the the non-wealthy instead of falling endlessly at the feet of the “liberal” elite — those hands-off “progressives” who have moved so far right that they are Democrat only in name.
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I count this as a victory, a big win. A Democrat actually wins in a very conservative deep red state. The contest was between a D or an R and the lesser evil, the much much lesser evil won. This is the system we have, two parties, D or R and so you choose the less destructive candidate or you don’t vote or you cast a protest vote.
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I, too, was glad that Mr. Jones won in Alabama. Yet, as I understand it, he opposes an increase in the federal minimum wage and is more likely than not to continue most Democrats’ support for the Military-Industrial Complex that siphons off so much (over 50%) of our discretionary tax dollars. In reality, on many issues, there is not much of a difference in the R party and the D party (on support for wars, occupations, and sending Special Forces to over a 100 countries, and so on). Friends of mine say the overall winner in nearly all of our nation’s political races, is the C party — the Capitalist party. With Drumpf’s “tax reform” bill, the 1% win (both R’s and D’s). Wish we had a viable 3rd party – an authentic People’s Party. Yet, not holding my breath.
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This guy will be in the US senate only about 3 years. A decent Republican candidate will beat him then.
My problem with any election that does not get 50.1% of the vote is by definition not a majority. What he got was plurality and only by a few votes. I wonder who the other 1.7% would have voted for in a run-off election (with a choice of only two candidates).
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Schlitz3,
Are you saying that Trump’s election was not valid?
Or do you mean that Roy Moore should be the senator because Doug Jones got the most votes but not 50.1?
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