Chronicle News graphic
It was sort of like that sound of chalk on a chalkboard (attention-grabbing and irritating) -- a news release with a graphic for a last-minute get-out-the-vote effort that I came across yesterday.
The effort was "SOLES to the Polls," organized by a coalition of religious and community groups to get folks out to vote on the last day of early in-person voting, the Sunday before election day.
Rightly or wrongly, I perceived that as a bastardization of "SOULS to the Polls," the effort born in 1957 in southern churches to honor Rev. George Lee who was murdered by white supremacists two years earlier after he helped nearly 100 black folks register to vote in Belzoni, Mississippi.
"SOULS to the Polls" was an effort to leverage the power of the black church for voting rights. And it reflected the central role of black churches in the fight for freedom and justice for all in America.
So, what's up with SOLES rather than SOULS to the polls? Is this an homage to the effort to make ours' a more secular society, in which folks mostly don't practice or believe in religion?
I intend to contact the folks who sent me that news release about "SOLES to the polls" and ask.
I'll let you know what they say.
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