Say mane, did you go vote yet?
Huh? Vote? Vote for what?
The first Tuesday in November is Election Day. There’s the mayoral election and several key local referendums that are at stake.
Aw man, I don’t even get all into it like that. I’m just one person, my vote doesn’t matter with them white folks.
It’s that type of thinking that will always keep poor black folks down. If not for anything else, you should vote because its MANY people that have given their life just so that we can have the OPPORTUNITY to vote.
Yeah, I guess I never thought about it like that.
Don’t be one of them trifling az n’gas that’s always complaining but never DOING anything.
I’m not trifling!!!
Hmph, that remains to be seen. Its not what it say, its what it DO!!
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There have been many discourses written concerning the plight of the slave-descendants in America. From the horrific middle passage details that showed how they literally stacked African on top of African, subjecting them to unsanitary conditions, minimal air circulation and just enough food & water to keep them alive. All for the sake of maximizing their profit margin. They even made 'loss provisions' for the ones that they knew would die along the journey. Many slave ships were followed by feasting pools of sharks that fed off the dead African bodies that were callously thrown overboard.
Once here, the Africans were subjected to the harshest working conditions, poorest living conditions, no educational avenues and no hope to achieve. But through blood, sweat and tears and the amazing grace of God, those Africans found a way to survive..and have children, and they taught their children how to survive and although it took over 300 years, the African descendants were eventually set free.
But freedom came with a price, years and years of oppression had put the Africans behind their European immigrant counterparts in education, commerce, living conditions and politics. The American creed that some were so quick to expound, 'All men are created equal' didn't apply to the African descendants. Blacks were less than a full white man...of closer value to a horse. Blacks weren't allowed the same rights as whites, most importantly, the right to vote.
In 1870 the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, "Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This was 'supposed' to uniformly grant black males (women STILL couldn't vote yet) the right to vote. But them old guard white men were enraged that so many 'coloreds' could gain political power. So they came up with barriers such as poll tax's, literacy tests, vouchers of 'good character', etc. to continue to exclude the right of voting from this surging population of slave descendants.
It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that blacks were allowed the undeniable right to cast their vote to govern their county, city, state and federal communities. This didn't come without a hefty pricetag, many people suffered and lay prey to the resentful hand of the white man. Families were intimidated, businesses' were harmed, people were hurt, maimed, jailed and killed for Blacks to gain the right to vote.
All the folks that are constantly griping about how 'the man' is keeping black and poor folks down, need to stop complaining and realize what's going on in the world. People are risking death daily from around the world trying to gain access to the United States of America's soil. Asians, Africans, Mexicans, Croatians, Haitians, Cubans, the list is neverending. They're putting their lives and their children’s lives in peril on cramped boats in the open water, or crossing dangerous terrain or paying smugglers thousands of dollars, but everybody's trying to get here.
Slave descendants have been here for years and as much as we can lament our history, we can just as easily celebrate our present. We were born on U.S. soil, which LEGALLY grants us all the rights of full U.S. citizenship.
It don't matter if you don't like 'nayrn' candidate on the ballot, the fact is, you owe it to your ancestors that toiled and shed blood just to get this right to vote. For all the ways in which the 'system' is set up against us, the 'grip' of being a U.S. citizen is the biggest lick you can start off with on the face of this earth. It's all up to you how many times you can flip it. Get out and vote!!
