The Trump Cult, the MAGA crowd, feared this 50 years ago, and they fear it even more today. The educated, well-informed person of color, it’s why they work so hard to make it so difficult for us to vote. It’s why they want to return America to what they believe were the good old days. Don’t let them – VOTE, contact your Senator and Congress Person, and push them to action. Get involved in your local politics, from the school board to the Mayor. 2020 was a glimpse at what we can accomplish; let’s keep it up.
Brother and sisters, Donald Trump, is scared, scared of your voice, scared of your voice at the voting booth, scared of the power that voice carries. So scared he is doing any and everything to silence your voice. Remember, brother and sisters, the right to vote wasn’t always available to us, and when it was, some tried as the GOP and Trump try to do today to silence it. They passed laws such as Louisiana in 1896 when it passed the “grandfather clauses” to keep former slaves and their descendants from voting. As a result, registered black voters drops from 44.8% in 1896 to 4.0% four years later. Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia follow Louisiana’s lead by enacting their grandfather clauses. They tried to intimidate us, and the blood of our ancestors was shed at their hands, such as in 1965 when John Lewis and more than 500 non-violent civil rights marchers were attacked by law enforcement officers while attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand the need for African American voting rights. Make no mistake; brother and sisters, this election is not only for our country’s soul but also for protecting all we have fought for. Rights that should have been ours without a fight but required one nevertheless. Rights that GOP, through federal judicial appointments, are looking to dismantle brick by brick. We can not afford to sit on our vote, to mute our voice. It is what they want; it is what they are actively trying to accomplish. They are scared, brothers, and sisters of our voice. So let them hear our voice as it scream this November – no more, your time is done!
Someone asked me was I going to vote today?
Was I going to vote?
Is that a trick question?
Hell yes, I’m going to vote!!
Because despite holding self-evident the truth that all men are created equal, the right to vote wasn’t always made available to my people.
When it was made available, It wasn’t something that all people accepted.
When steps were taken to ensure that we would be allowed to vote, the blood of many who came before me was shed at the hands of those who would oppose all, one of the most basic tenets on which this country was founded.
And even today, some would stand in my path to the election booth if they could
So am I going to vote today?
Hell yes, I’m going to vote!!! And so should you.
Quick and I mean a short history below.
1789 The United States of America holds its first presidential election.
1870 The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
1896 Louisiana passes “grandfather clauses” to keep former slaves and their descendants from voting. As a result, registered black voters drops from 44.8% in 1896 to 4.0% four years later. Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia follow Louisiana’s lead by enacting their own grandfather clauses.
In 1965 more than 500 non-violent civil rights marchers are attacked by law enforcement officers while attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand African American voting rights.
1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, permanently barring barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities, prohibiting any election practice that denies the right to vote on account of race, and requiring jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting to get federal approval for changes in their election laws before they can take effect.
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