Great thread.
And as she notes in that thread, when you read this history and understand the obstacles African Americans faced in the fight for the ballot -- jobs lost, homes shot up or dynamited, lives threatened and lost -- the apathy of some voters today will make you sick to your stomach.
While it's troubling that some people choose not to vote, what's even more alarming is that many more Americans are having the right to vote taken away from them.
For the past few years -- ever since the Supreme Court shamefully gutted the Voting Rights Act, which was inspired by the struggles of Hamer and others -- there has been a new movement to restrict access to the ballot, a movement that has unsubtly targeted racial minorities.
I realize that some people who aren't directly affected by these restrictions might not think this is their fight too. But it is.
When the basic rules of our democracy come under attack -- from any direction, with any target -- it's everyone's responsibility to push back.
When the basic rules of our democracy come under attack -- from any direction, with any target -- it's everyone's responsibility to push back.
I always come back to a reporter asking Adam Clayton Powell if he were advocating that "Negroes in New York" boycott chain stores as solidarity for the sit-ins.
"Oh no," he replied. "I'm advocating that American citizens who care about democracy" boycott the chain stores.
"Oh no," he replied. "I'm advocating that American citizens who care about democracy" boycott the chain stores.
(Video here at 2:40: vimeo.com/11870714)
