Vote Issues, Not Race/Gender

October 9, 2008

Race/Gender Must Not Be a Factor in Presidential Elections, Says AFGE Union launches radio ads tackling issues

(WASHINGTON)—The American Federation of Government Employees this week launched a nationwide ad campaign urging the American public to look past race and gender issues, and focus on the real issues when voting in next month’s presidential election.

“There are one hundred good reasons for how you to vote this year and only one bad reason. Let’s talk about the real issues,” AFGE National President John Gage says in the radio ad (attached). He urges voters to focus on the economy, health care, jobs, and foreign policy, among other issues.

Gage recently wrote an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, stating that “some Americans, while viewing themselves as fair-minded, will subconsciously transfer unresolved issues about race into more comfortable zones like patriotism, experience or values … This election is too important to be decided by leftover biases. It is incumbent upon federal workers, as well as other union members, to help crack through racial barriers within our families, friends and neighborhoods.”

AFGE also has a series of radio ads focusing on voter protection that also can be heard in cities across the nation. “The overall objective of the voter protection campaign is to have the nation’s citizens successfully get to the polls, cast ballots, and have their ballots counted,” said AFGE National Vice President for Women and Fair Practices Andrea E. Brooks. “Americans cannot continue to have their ability to participate in the Democratic process taken away from them.”

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