Blacks who take voting for granted -- don't vote -- dishonor the sacrifices of many Blacks and whites who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for Black voting rights. Viola Luizzo, Goodman, Schwerner, (white), Chaney, Medgar Evers, Vernon Dahmer, thought that Black voting rights were important enough to sacrifice their lives. John Lewis & Fannie Lou Hammer bravely stood up to rednecks fighting for Black voting rights. Blacks who know their history -- know how hard is was to gain the right to vote -- how precious the right to vote is and act accordingly.
Well said!! Unfortunately, it's a mindset that's growing the further away we get from the Civil Rights era. So many black folks in this country have come of age in a time when they've never
really experienced direct, blatant, in your face racism that they don't take these blessings we have seriously.
For example, I work in downtown Houston, and I use the Metrorail train to go downtown and avoid the parking fees. I started to notice that a lot of black folks (mostly men, for some reason) always sit in the very back seat of the train, even when there may be very few people on the train. Out of curiosity, I asked one of the brothers who worked as a train operator if I was making too much out of nothing, and he assured me that I wasn't. He told me he had previously been a Metro bus driver, and he noticed that a majority of the black men on his route routinely sat at the very back seat of the bus, even when there was literally no one else on the bus but them. And what makes it worse, is that in Houston, every Metrorail train or Metro bus has a single yellow seat at the front in honor and memory of Rosa Parks and her sacrifice. Yet, they will go past that monument to run headlong to the very back seat of the bus. After hearing what he said, I started looking in Metro buses to see for myself, and damn if he wasn't right. I'm hoping it's simply a Houston thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't. If this election goes the wrong way, a whole lot of folks who have enjoyed a lot of things they've always had in their lives and taken for granted, like voting, living where they want, seeing accurate expiration dates on their milk or meat at the store, having accurate hurricane warnings from the National Weather Service, and so many other things, are going to suddenly find themselves living in a harder, colder, much more vicious world than they or their parents have ever known, and their lack of interest and unwillingness to simply vote will be part of the reason.