By Xavier James
Now, some of you don’t vote. Others of you believe that your vote won’t count. Well here are the facts: I vote. Sometimes my vote counts, sometimes it doesn’t. However, I vote because the people whose shoulders I stand on died so that I could vote. I feel a kind of disloyalty to them when I don’t go out and vote. My uncles and cousins felt that voting was important enough to die for. And a couple of them did.
I vote because there are often other amendments on the balled I want to chime in on. I vote because if I don’t, I cant complain about what’s wrong with this country. I vote because mayors and councilmen decide what happens in my son’s school by selecting superintendents and school board members…. and how much taxes I pay on my house and car…. and if the pot hole at the corner gets filled in a timely matter. One time my vote helped make it possible for a recreation center to be built in my neighborhood. It kept a lot of kids off the street and doing something constructive. People decide budgets. You see, local and state elections actually do affect your life.
Furthermore, I vote because racist white folks don’t want me too.They thought my vote was important enough to kill, lynch and burn us over; am I wong? My grandparents paid poll taxes in order to vote. So, whether I believe my vote counts or not racist whites sure as hell do and are still in 2012, trying to stop black folks from voting. They create laws that keep our sons and daughters with non violent felonies from voting. Out of all my childhood friends I'm the only one without a felony which allows me to vote. Then there’s Florida and Ohio’s black voter disenfranchisement and fight to keep black folks away from the polls. And of course they're trying to make black folks(not exclusively of course) show I.D. at the polls. When someone tries this hard to stop you from doing something as simple as voting, believe me there's a reason. That in of itself is motivation enough for me to go vote. How about you?
White Man Boldly Says He
doesn't want Blacks To Vote
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