By Dr. Julianne Malveaux<\/p>\n
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I love election season! I love the act of voting. I\u2019ve been loving it since I was seven and my\u00a0 mom let me pull the lever on her vote for John F. Kennedy in 1960. The voting sote was just a block\u00a0 from our house, in a neighbor\u2019s garage, where three voting booths were set up, along with a coffee urn\u00a0 and some cookies set out on a paper plate. The thick Slavic woman checked Mom off without asking\u00a0 for ID \u2013 the neighborhood was small and everyone knew each other. Help yourself to coffee, Marie,\u00a0 the lady said to Mom. Little girl, you may have a cookie and there is some juice over there. There\u00a0 was, indeed, a pretty pitcher of orange juice next to the plate of cookies. Mom poured herseelf a cup of coffee, took a sip, then told the lady in charge that she had to run to work and get this one (me) to\u00a0 school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nOn the short walk to the polling place Mom told me about Black people in Mississippi, where\u00a0 she was from, and how we fought for the right to vote. She spoke of Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou\u00a0 Hamer and told me to \u201cremember those names\u201d. She said I should never miss the opportunity to vote,\u00a0 \u201cno matter what\u201d. Then we stepp into the curtained \u201cbooth\u201d, and she said, \u201cwho are we voting for\u201d,\u00a0 and I said \u201cKennedy\u201d. She said, \u201cshow me\u201d, and I pointed to JFK\u2019s name on the ballot. She let me\u00a0 punch the card, then she did other punches for state and local races. Then I got to push the lever that\u00a0 would allow our votes to be counted.<\/div>\n
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On the walk home, I peppered her with questions. Who are those other people you voted for?\u00a0 Why is voting so important? Why were people killed just because they wanted to vote? Remember\u00a0 your questions, she said, and we can talk this evening. But remember this, more than anything else.\u00a0 Remember that voting is a sacred duty. More than sixty years later, I still remember that day. I\u00a0 remember Mom\u2019s intensity about voting. And I remember, that evening, her telling the five of her\u00a0 children about voting. Brother, a year or so younger than me, only partly understood. The twins were\u00a0 four, and they probably didn\u2019t fully follow the conversation, but they liked it when we all sat together\u00a0 and talked. From that day until this, I\u2019ve loved voting. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve missed an opportunity to vote in my life.<\/div>\n
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I love going to a polling place and enjoying the buzz of activity as people sign in, queue up, and wait for an available voting booth. With technology, the energy is a bit different, as as many as 45\u00a0 percent of us vote by mail. Thanks to COVID, people have changed their voting habits, with mail\u00a0 ballots often far more convenient than going to a polling place. But I miss the buzz of the crush of\u00a0 people, the random conversation one engages while waiting on line. I saw some of that energy, when\u00a0 Roland Martin broadcast from Friendship West Baptist Church on the first day of voting in Dallas.\u00a0 There, the lines snaked around a corner, but people were in good spirits. Voting is a communal act, and even if it less so because so many vote by mail, the lines and the camaraderie are the spirit of\u00a0 democracy.<\/div>\n
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Some Republican have been trying to steal that joy, making early voting more difficult, and\u00a0 using other voting suppression tactics to keep voters away from the polls. And then some don\u2019t need\u00a0 suppression tactics to keep them away. These are the people who have decided that their votes don\u2019t\u00a0 matter, even though we know how powerful a single vote can be, not to mention collective votes. Rev.\u00a0 Jesse Jackson used to say that \u201cthe hands that picked peaches can pick Presidents.\u201d In other words,\u00a0 every single one of us holds power in our hands. If Black people votes were reflective of our\u00a0 population size we could have elected Stacey Abrams governor of Georgia. Our collective votes\u00a0 brought us two Democratic senators from Georgia, Rev. Raphael Warnock and activist John Osoff. But some are not swayed by these facts, preferring to sit out the voting opportunity because they think the\u00a0 system is warped.<\/div>\n
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I am saddened by those who will not experience the joy of voting. Voting is a joy, a pleasure, a privilege, and an opportunity that every citizen must avail themselves of. Sure, the system isn\u2019t perfect. Indeed, it has inequality at its roots when once, only propertied white men\u00a0could exercise the franchise.<\/div>\n
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Now, we can all vote, but many don\u2019t. I will proudly and gleefully cast my vote for Vice President\u00a0 Kamala Harris on November 5. Join the joy. Vote!<\/div>\n
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Source:
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