If you do not have the right to vote then your concerns
will go unrepresented. If you have the
right to vote but do not have access to the voting booth, you will be
unrepresented and your concerns will not be addressed. If you exercise your right to vote and have
access to education you will make smart decisions. If you have the right to vote and exercise
that right and are educated and have access to healthcare you will live a long,
productive and fulfilling life that will support the country as a whole.
Anyone who works to prevent you from voting, getting an
education and staying healthy does not have your best interests at heart. If they say otherwise they are lying.
DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM!
In the early 1700s the British Colonies, on the North
American continent, grew tired of the British Parliament deciding how the
colonies were to be taxed and what laws they were to be governed by. The colonies felt that it was unfair for the rich,
white, men in the Parliament to make these decisions when the people who were being
affected had no representatives there to look out for what was important to
them.
Today women in the United States of America, as well as
people of color, people for whom English is a second language, the poor and college
students are all in a similar position even though they represent a majority of
the electorate. What’s wrong with this
picture? Why can’t these groups get
together and vote as a block to effect change?
If you don’t think this is a problem just ask a poor,
black woman in Texas, whose native language is something other than English and
who is trying to go to school to better her life and the lives of her
descendants!
“… Congress needs to act to make sure every American has
equal access to the polls. The Justice Department is eager to work with
Congressional leaders of both parties, and with concerned citizens like you, to
craft new legislation to fill the void left by the Court’s ruling and address
voting rights discrimination. This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue about
the most fundamental of all rights–the right to vote. It is about how we define
our democracy.” This is from a speech by
Attorney General Eric Holder to a gathering of members of Delta Sigma
Theta in July 2013 concerning the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voters Rights
Act.
Although I believe that access to voting privileges is
the most important issue of our time I can’t see how it will help to gain voting
privileges if the groups that are being disenfranchised by a rich, white,
minority of men, don’t get together and do something as a cohesive voting block
to see that their concerns are addressed.
They don’t need to agree on which problem to tackle
first but they do need to get together and elect representation that will vote
for the solutions to their problems as they come up in the US congress and their
state houses of representation.
To be clear, I believe the national priorities for
citizens as well as elected officials are, in this order, the right to vote,
access to; voting places, education and healthcare, and advocating for as well
as supporting the efforts for, a coalition of these people; people of color,
people for whom English is a second language, the poor, students and women. If this is accomplished these actions could
make this country what it has the potential to be.
