VOTE ON NOVEMBER 7TH
For years, I’ve heard many Blacks argue that there is no point in voting, since all Whites are the same. The Kanye West sentiment, made about Bush not caring about Black people, reflected a long standing perception held by many Blacks—that Whites don’t care what happens to Blacks in this country because we are not viewed as real Americans or equals. Some Blacks have argued that voting Republican or Democrat is just about picking your poison. Do you want a bullet in the head or a death by a slow bleeding out, respectively?
But, six years of Republican leadership and control of Congress should certainly have opened many eyes that it does matter for Blacks, America, and the world, which party is in power. More Blacks have gone into EXTREME POVERTY under Republicans, than during Clinton’s two terms in office. Bush suppressed the government report, which contained this information, so that it was released after the 2004 presidential election. But, it would not have mattered to America, even if the information had been released. America likes its poor silent and invisible. The contents of the reports would have caused a minor ripple in the news media, if it were reported at all.
Despite how Black suffering in America is still ignored…despite rampant inequality in how we are treated in our own country, Blacks owe our ancestors a debt! Our ancestors died for our right to be treated like men and women. To live free. To vote! We still must fight in their memories. And, we should respect the blood of the ancestors that came before us. They lived, died, and struggled so we could have a choice. But, they HOPED that we would choose to be a part of the process that deliberately ignored us for so long.
So, be a part of the process. Vote! If you have never voted, REGISTER!! Even if you can't vote in the mid-term elections, you can vote in the next election...the 2008 PRESIDENTIAL election. Here's a national voter registration link for the Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.shtml.
But, six years of Republican leadership and control of Congress should certainly have opened many eyes that it does matter for Blacks, America, and the world, which party is in power. More Blacks have gone into EXTREME POVERTY under Republicans, than during Clinton’s two terms in office. Bush suppressed the government report, which contained this information, so that it was released after the 2004 presidential election. But, it would not have mattered to America, even if the information had been released. America likes its poor silent and invisible. The contents of the reports would have caused a minor ripple in the news media, if it were reported at all.
Despite how Black suffering in America is still ignored…despite rampant inequality in how we are treated in our own country, Blacks owe our ancestors a debt! Our ancestors died for our right to be treated like men and women. To live free. To vote! We still must fight in their memories. And, we should respect the blood of the ancestors that came before us. They lived, died, and struggled so we could have a choice. But, they HOPED that we would choose to be a part of the process that deliberately ignored us for so long.
So, be a part of the process. Vote! If you have never voted, REGISTER!! Even if you can't vote in the mid-term elections, you can vote in the next election...the 2008 PRESIDENTIAL election. Here's a national voter registration link for the Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.shtml.
posted by S. Mary Wills at 11:45 AM
4 Comments:
The Republicans are something else. I don't understand how any black person can be a Republican. The RNC has openly stated that they have actively worked to siphon a small portion of the African American and Hispanic vote in order to win. They don't want the votes of people to color to speak to their intrest. They just want to win.
In addition, the assualts of Affirmative Action are very telling. AA was a law that was created to rectify the results of the 400 years of laws of that this nation put in place that were deliberatly constructed to hold blacks "in our place." How anyone say that after only less than 50 years the injustices have been corrected?
Even if you are black and think you have "arrived," how can you embrace a party that only wants you for one thing and has stated they will not give anything in return? Where is the compassion and empathy? It just baffles me.
You are absolutely right. Did we see any compassionate conservatives during the Katrina fiasco? What has happened to the poor and middle class in this country? Ignored and Suffering! Our jobs are being outsourced and illegal labor is driving many poor Blacks and Whites out of lowel level jobs. Black Republicans kill me because they are so clueless and, apparently, don't care what happens to the race--as a whole. I remember Charles Barkley joking that he was Republican (to his grandmother's dismay) because he was RICH! I think that is the mentality that some of us take. I have money or strive to have money (like anyone else), so I will vote like and with the party of wealth and opportunity.
I wish all black people who are eligible to vote would take the view that someone died for their right to vote to heart.
That's the part that scares me the most -- so many black people are disconnected from this voting history and don't care to be connected.
I've written off all minority groups (racial/gender/sexual orientation)who love the Republican party. Clearly they don't care about anyone else but their wallets.
It's too bad they can't have an S for soulless tattoed on their foreheads.
I am very disappointed that many Black religious people are falling into the Republican trap of voting Republican as a way to ward off potential gay marriage rights. It seems that some Black churches/leaders are going to the far right with very Conservative values. There was a Black Pastor on TV, during the 2004 election, who announced that he didn't agree with the Iraq war and he didn't agree with Bush on any other issue, except gay marraige. He planned to vote on that one issue because "Christian values are under attack." He was asking his parish to vote Republican and many said they would. You gotta give it to Bush, Cheney, and Karl Rove. I've never seen a group of people who knew how to push people to vote on wedge issues instead of REAL ISSUES like health care, social security, immigration, poverty, education, etc.
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