"Takin' It to the Streets"

"Best and Worse of Times" A Retrospect:

In a myriad of ways this post is a retrospect of how my blog "Where Do We Go From Here?" dated October 13, 2009 began.  I moved to Charlotte to foster the concept of change and opportunity. In the days since, I have continued to invest both time and belief in a process our country has both celebrated and lamented - The right to vote. My volunteering in the 2008 Presidential campaign not only gave wings to my rebirth in Charlotte but also taught me the importance of grassroots organizing. Today those experiences underscore my feelings of being both blessed for that lesson of empowerment but also being angered today by the the seemingly lack of outrage by those who at once benefited from the Democratic process during that historic election but who now seem to exhibit no sense of outrage over the current onslaught of voter suppression. 

Apparently, media giant Clear Channel thinks it’s a-okay to use its billboards to intimidate voters in an effort to keep people of color from voting.

As a result of President Barack Hussein Obama's historic election in 2008 we can never declare we didn't know or understand the importance of one man's vote. To not fight for that right is unacceptable! Every citizen has to have access to the election process to make this country a democracy. Today the rights of citizens are being compromised. Voter suppression is real!! And it is this fact which leads me to a saying I've imparted to my friends and children for many years - when your civil rights are at stake you need to collectively "get real", go "old school" style, - "Take it to the Streets"!!

As a kid during the '67 riots in Detroit I witnessed the physical outcry of frustration, pain and disillusionment of people fed up with injustice in this country. Since then one essential fact has always resonated with me - race matters.  I was born Black and proud but no matter how high my level of education or success, for some I will always be looked at as "less than". This statement is an ongoing struggle not only for a race but for a country. This country.  Let's get back to that Doobie Brothers lyric "Takin' It to the Streets." At this moment, juncture, spirit in time, today, it's on!  Standing online for 2 1/2 hours to early vote during the 2012 election in Charlotte, NC, I was amazed by a story I was told about a woman who wasn't going to early vote because she believed it would give someone the opportunity to change her vote. Change it? She didn't even get the point that in 2012 she wasn't even suppose to have one.

Only a month after the President's re-election - by an overwhelming majority of the American people - 51% to be exact! - Chief Justice John Robert's conservative led Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by striking down Section 4 which required preclearance for states and jurisdictions, mostly in the former Confederate States, that historically used voter suppression tactics to prevent minorities from participating in the voting process. Under Section 4 these states were required to submit any voter law changes to the Justice Department prior to enacting them. Within hours of this atrocity, the same states that committed these discriminatory practices couldn't wait to pass extreme voter id legislation. If, according to Chief Justice Roberts, the need no longer exists to require these offending states to get pre-approval for any voting law changes, why the rush to return to Jim Crow days? New voter id requirements (what was wrong with the id we used in all the previous elections?) Oh that's right - Obama. Less days available for early voting. (What's that got to do with so-called voter fraud?) Oh that's right - Obama.

In North Carolina, where I live, Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed into law the nation's most restrictive and draconian voting law - voter id, cutbacks to early voting, an end to same-day registration and the repeal of public funding of judicial elections and many more harsh and unnecessary anti-voting measures. That legislation passed a month after the Supreme Court ruling. The Republican majority House and Senate have accomplished and set the model for the national Republican Party strategy. Prevent minorities, people of color and the disenfranchised from voting.

With the overwhelming voter turnout in both the 2008 and 2012 elections, the Republicans know with the shrinking majority of the white vote and their extreme right wing mindset of exclusion and lack of any policies that the majority of the country wants, their time is done. So, what the heck, if you can't win elections fair and square - cheat! 

We, the people, have got to stand up and push back against this fear and hatred. Too many great souls fought and died for equally and justice for ALL.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  It's time to start "Takin' It to the Streets!"