The Right to Vote is Stained With the Blood of Many Courageous Souls
In August of 1920, the 19th Amendment was enshrined into the Constitution. The right for women to vote was official. We are on the doorsteps of the 100th year anniversary of that benchmark in our Country’s history.
Before that, the 15th Amendment was adopted in 1870, not that long after the freedom of the American slaves… It states: “The right of citizens of the United State to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on the account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
You would think that white women would have been considered as citizens of the United States with the right to vote but I suppose white men considered women as partially their property as well to be seen but not heard. It is important to note that the initial passage of the 19th Amendment did not include the right to vote for women of color including African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and American Indian Heritage. Because of the widespread and enduring inequality and racism from within the ranks of the women’s suffrage movement, it wasn’t until the voting rights act was passed on August 6th, 1965 that black women were officially allowed to exercise their right to vote. This is according to an article on Black Suffrage in Wikipedia.
If we skip forward until this very day the right to vote for all citizens is still not guaranteed even though the law says it shall be. You can change the law on paper but you cannot change the law in the hearts of people with the intent to deny by any means necessary equality of all American citizens. By any means necessary includes, but not limited to murder, lies, deception, trickery, blocking access to polls, forcing certain people to produce documents that are known to be nearly impossible to obtain, mail fraud, or just voting officials stacking the deck against minorities and other people of color. Apparently the privileged white do not want to play a fair game so they cheat and continue to cheat in order to achieve their goal of maintaining dominance. To this very day, there are more practices to keep people from participating in our democracy than meets the eye.
The ACLU publishes tons of material explaining how voter suppression tactics are used to deny the rights of legitimate citizens who are qualified to vote. The state sets the rules and knowingly make it very difficult for certain sects of our population to vote by use of intimidation, trickery, or setting nearly impossible documentation request. It is not surprising that the people in power do not wish to give up their unearned privileges without a fight. Without the use of ungodly practices, they cannot win using the written law of the land so they bend the law over backward by sheer evil. Shame on them and they will have to answer to the God they claim blesses America.
I say all this to bring up the necessity for all people of good conscience to exercise a right that was fought over for hundreds of years at a cost of thousands or even millions who gave the ultimate sacrifice just so people today of all races, creeds, gender and other distinctions can vote. We have a voice in a government that is of, for, and by the people.
For anyone not to vote that can, it is like spitting in the face of all those who fought for you to have this right. You might say that one vote will not make a difference but if millions of people say the same thing then they failed the rest of the body that depended upon them to make the difference. If we end up with crooked politicians, incompetent leaders, raciest bigots, criminals with a badge, and other unsavory characters it is because of people that say one vote will not matter. Every vote matters like every life matters: Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American, male and female, gay, straight, or trans lives matter. Each of their votes matters because their very lives could be at stake.
Why is America in such a state of disarray? Why do people in power act as though they are above the law? Why is lady justice so unequally balanced against people of color? Perhaps in times past there was nothing that could be done to knock these evil bastards off their high perches but now that all these rights have been fought over and won it would be a slap on all who waged the battle for our rights. Each of us is responsible to one another. We can become one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.
When one cell of this body is infested with cancer it could cause the death of the entire body. Not upholding your weight as a citizen infects the entire body with a deadly cancer, all that could have been avoided if we become our brother’s and sister’s keeper.
Even if this is not yet one country under God with liberty and justice for all we know that if we exercise our right to vote we can make this country the best that it can be. Aren’t you tired of all those bigots thumbing their noses at us while sitting on the highest perches that were paid for by blood, sweat, and tears of many? Unless you really don’t care, set the time and space now to ensure that you will vote in this next national election. Take it on your shoulder to assist an elder or someone that may not have transportation or knowledge of how to overcome the hurdles that the system tosses in front of them as a deterrent to keep them from voting.
VOTE! IT IS YOUR RIGHT AND I WOULD ADD, A DUTY TO YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS! CHANGE IS FINALLY IN THE AIR BUT WE MUST ACT OR ALL WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR NAUGHT!
May the better side win! When you vote you would have done your part. The rest is in God’s most capable hands… Selah!
