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Unconscionable Wisconsin and Losing John Prine
If the title of this post sounds like a John Prine song, well, that’s intentional.
If the title of this post sounds like a John Prine song, well, that’s intentional. At the close of Day 25 of our coronavirus social distancing comes the news that we’ve lost the brilliant, prolific country-folk singer-songwriter John Prine due to complications from COVID-19, the pandemic that has the world in its grip.
It’s heartbreaking news that comes on the same day that we saw unconscionable footage from Wisconsin — lines of people, most wearing face masks, standing in line for hours simply to vote in today’s primary election. In Milwaukee, the number of polling stations was reduced from 180 to five, resulting in lines several blocks long and people putting their very lives in jeopardy just to vote. According to The New York Times and other sources, Milwaukee has the largest minority population in the state. Efforts to postpone the election or extend absentee voting were thwarted by the Republican legislature. The travesty in Wisconsin and the threat to voters’ rights can be viewed as a potential precursor to what may lie ahead for other states’ primaries and even the November election itself.
This is wrong on so many levels.
