On the nature of labels

As anyone who is familiar with the work of 'freedom fighters' the world over can tell you, there is little to be gleaned about anyone based on the labels they give themselves. From the 'justice and equality movement' to 'operation enduring freedom' there is simply very little correlation between these self-supplied titles and the goings-on that happen where the rubber meets the road. The same can be said of Kinston, NC's recent lawsuit challenging article five of the voting rights act. The story, found here from Democracy NC's link of the day, is another example of the disparity between title and implications. The referendum that the lawsuit seeks to uphold eliminated 'partisan' elections in Kinston in favor of 'non-partisan elections. Unfortunately, as detailed in the article, the pleasant sounding 'non-partisan' elections would almost completely exclude black candidates from election to public office in a city where the majority of the population is black. Now, my intention is not to evoke an unfair comparison between Kinston's 'non-partisan' elections referendum and other, more extreme, euphemisms for heinous behavior such as the 'cultural revolution;' but for those of us who remember the disenfranchisement of thousands in the 2000 election, the Kinston referendum serves as another reason to remember why article 5 is a necessary piece of legislation.