It is a very sad commentary on American democracy when individuals state, “Why should I vote? Voting doesn’t matter.” In the original sense of staying woke, i.e., being sensitive to issues related to social justice, the following question is asked of such pessimistic people. If voting didn’t matter, then why did the following occur?
· When George Washington was elected President in 1789, the founding White “Fathers” limited voting to only White males.
· It took almost another century before the 1870 passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which gave Blacks the right to vote.
· Women had to fight for centuries to get the right to vote, with the passage of the 19th Amendment coming only in 1920 guaranteeing women the right to vote.
· It was not until 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act designed to prevent state and local governments from subverting the 15th Amendment.
· As we approach the November 2022 election, a pervasive Republican Party strategy consists of preventing those who don’t share their agenda from voting.
As the foregoing voting history indicates, the denial of oppressed peoples’ voting rights has been a major method of maintaining systemic racism, sexism, and White male privileged patriarchy. However, history also demonstrates that, when woke folks vote, then significant societal changes take place.
If wokefolks had not voted in sufficient numbers during the past national election, then [1] we would have gained neither our first Black female Vice President nor our first Black Female Supreme Court Justice; and [2] we would not have the following judicial outcomes reported by the Pew Research Center: “As of Aug. 8, the first day of the U.S. Senate’s August break, Biden has successfully appointed 75 judges to the three main tiers of the federal judicial system: the district courts, appeals courts and U.S. Supreme Court. That’s far more than the number appointed by Donald Trump (51) and Barack Obama (42) at the same stage in their presidencies, and slightly more than the number appointed by several other recent presidents – including George W. Bush (72), Bill Clinton (74) and Ronald Reagan (72) – by this point in their tenures…” (August 9, 2022).
As many have said, “elections have consequences” and one of the most significant consequences of the last national election was that President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act which, among other things, lowered health costs for millions of Americans. Biden’s approval of student loan forgiveness debt is estimated to impact many millions of borrowers, with reductions related to Pell Grants possibly as high as $20,000.
Regarding the importance of voting in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area, one needs to look no further than the recent election of Black Mayors. As the New Pittsburgh Courierreported, “Allegheny County is home to just a 14 percent African American population among its 1.2 million residents, but there are eight Black mayors overseeing cities and boroughs in the county…” Those elected include, “Ed Gainey, Pittsburgh Mayor; Joelisa L. McDonald, Rankin Mayor; Dontae Comans, Wilkinsburg Mayor; Delia Lennon Winstead, Braddock Mayor; (Bottom Left) Betty Copeland, Bridgeville Mayor; John Burwell, Homestead Mayor; Val Pennington, Bellevue Mayor; Cletus Lee, North Braddock Mayor.” (February 17, 2022).
If anyone has an iota of a disposition regarding it not being important to vote, then I urge them to consider the following words of former First Lady Michelle Obama, “…In this tumultuous period, they’ve (young people) been learning something that often took previous generations years, or decades, to understand: that life can be unfair. It can be unjust and more than anything is always uncertain. But if you live by foundational truths—like honesty, compassion, decency—and if you channel your frustration into our democracy with your vote and your voice, you can find your true north even in times of crisis.
…So, every single person out there needs to ask themselves, do they trust the folks in charge to make the right call? Whether it’s school boards or statehouses or those in Washington—are my neighborhood’s interests being represented, or are they being ignored? They’re questions we should be asking every year, in every election, and at every level of government. …what happens when you don’t vote, you are giving away your power to someone else—someone who doesn’t see the world the same as you. You’re letting them make some really key decisions about the way you live. And the truth is, that’s exactly what some folks are hoping you’ll do. They’re hoping that you’ll stay home so that they can make these important decisions for you.” (Cox Media Group National Content Desk July 12, 2020).
Regarding Ms. Obama’s main contentions, why would eligible women voters not vote and thereby leave it to ill-informed, ill-willed, misogynistic elected officials to pass legislation that will have adverse impact on all aspects of reproductive justice, including literally the lives of women.
At a time when misguided armed people cause chaos at public school board meetings, why would parents eligible to vote permit the election of officials who will have adverse impact on their children’s education? Why, by not voting, permit the election of school board members with little if any positive regard for LGBTQ children? Why permit the election of school board officials who liken Black children to monkeys?
In my opinion, the conscious failure of an eligible Black voter to vote is tantamount to a betrayal of those who, since the days of chattel slavery to date, struggled to end systemic racism; structural poverty; health and housing disparities; educational achievement gaps derived from the lack of equal opportunities; poor policing; discrimination based on sexual orientation or religious beliefs; White male privilege; violent neighborhoods; absence of appropriate gun legislation; and other major oppressive factors in America. How dare you not vote when, in 2022, [1] a Republican political tool consists of arresting people for voting after Florida officials certified their rights to vote; [2] a delusional, egotistical tyrant seeking to become President again believes he can declassify secret documents “even by thinking about it; and [3] on October 4, 2022, USA Today reported, “Hundreds of elections deniers running for office nationwide in 2022 pose 'major threat' to U.S. democracy.”
Jack L. Daniel
Co-founder, Freed Panther Society
Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media
Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black
October 25, 2022