Voting Special

Hi,

Today's episode is over Voting. Voting is a privilege that a lot of Americans take for granted, especially African Americans. About 151 years ago all African Americans were not able to vote. In 1865 congress passed and ratified the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. This meant that we (African Americans) were now free, but we still did not have the same rights as our Caucasian counterparts. Frederick Douglass said, and I quote “Slavery is not abolished until the Black man has the ballot” (For some people that are wondering why just black men you must remember that during this time women were not allowed to vote). In 1870 the 15th amendment was ratified this led to the Black man being able to vote. By 1919 congress passed the 19th amendment which states that “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 sex. It was not until 1920 that the 19th amendment was ratified now making it legal for women to vote. Even though all African Americans were now able to vote this was not the case in most states, especially in the south. Down in the south African Americans faced voter suppression, due to different forms of intimidation from literacy test, to Poll tax, to white supremacy groups. This lead African Americans to either not vote or be turned away at the voting polls.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed by Congress had provisions that were meant to help with voter suppression in the south, but the provisions were weak. This led to the activist peacefully protesting the violations of African American’s voting rights also known as Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday led to the Voter Rights Act of 1965 which was forced by then-president Johnson in order, to do away with stipulations that were designed to suppress the African American voters.

So make sure you are exercise your right to vote and voting does not start and end only at the presidential election level. Make sure you are voting for your local government officials as well. Especially if you want to see an immediate change within your community. Make sure you know what the candidates are bringing to the table in other words do not be afraid to ask them questions. Also if you do not like the laws that are being passed, make sure your Representatives’ and Senator’s views are aligned with yours. Because these people are a representation of you and they have the power to create new laws or bills on Capitol Hill. So please exercise your right to vote because your vote is your voice. The only way to make an effective change is to vote. Protesting will only get us so far, but if we put the right people into office we will be able to see the change that we want for our people.

If you have not registered to vote yet, it's not too late. Type in ourhistoryandnow.com in the address bar and it will take you straight to my website and if you look within the Latest episode column (on the home page) you will see the U.S. Election Assistance Commission website link. The EAC.GOV website will assist you with all of your voting needs.