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THE MO'KELLY REPORT: Voting Our Values...Valuing Our Votes?
*I was fortunate enough to have a brief…very, very brief phone conversation with Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) last week on the occasion of the House vote to renew all of the provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
Really I did.
That, and its larger meaning for all people of color, not just African-Americans.
I don’t mention Senator Obama’s name for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or lend legitimacy to anything I’m about to express. It’s purely for the fact that his parting statement was both important and impassioned.
It made me think.
It was simple…he said, “I hope people really understand the magnitude and importance of the Voting Rights Act.”
He’ll get no argument from me…I hope people do too. Black people, White people and people of every subtle hue in between need to appreciate it.
Yet and still, being hopeful is not the same as knowing it to be true. The question is clear and distinct as to whether African-Americans truly understand the seriousness of the recent vote in the House of Representatives.
That is…assuming you even knew the vote took place in the first place.
For the uninitiated, the House of Representatives recently voted overwhelmingly to renew the Voting Rights act of 1965 and all of its provisions by a tally of 390 – 33.
Let’s stop right there. A show of hands please as to those aware that it passed in the House last week.
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…
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And as I suspected, not a lot hands went up. Not to mention, I’m not sure that of the hands that rose, all y’all are telling the truth.
Actually, I don’t know what to think of this fact, given the relentless emails that have bombarded us all alleging that if the act was not renewed; African-Americans and other people of color for that matter would lose their right to vote. You got 10 of them, I got 15 and everybody’s momma got at least 13 of those same emails.
I understand the power of hyperbolic rhetoric and outright scare tactics, but the RIGHT to vote was never in danger. Without going into a long and protracted discussion on constitutional law, just take my word for it. At the minimum, it did get Black folk talking and forwarding an important issue through email…although misleading in many ways.
The central issues were related to renewing of all of the enforcement provisions attached to the Voting Rights Act. It’s one of the few instances in which the ‘fine print’ was working on the behalf of African-Americans. The enforcement provisions precluded individual states from gerrymandering or instituting unconstitutional voting practices or stipulations that would disenfranchise African-Americans. Historically, this took the form of poll taxes, ‘literacy tests’ and blatant intimidation tactics to discourage or block Black folk from voting.
Then again, ‘historically’ we valued our right to vote back then.
Today, voter disenfranchisement is still a problem that must be addressed. The caveats are that ‘we’ have to educate ourselves in order to identify it and care enough to vote, each and every opportunity presented to us.
Rev. Jesse Jackson actually illustrated this point the best. He reminded us in many of his public speeches that you could be an Iraqi citizen living in the U.S. and still vote in the last Iraq election. You could be a Mexican citizen living in the U.S. and vote in the recent Mexican presidential election. But a displaced New Orleans resident living in Houston would not have had any means of voting in the recent mayoral election.
And who exactly does that disproportionately impact?
It begs the question, whose democracy are we fighting for in the Middle East? Some would have you believe the battle ‘over there’ is about ensuring continued democracy ‘over here.’ I’m still not sure I follow this logic.
But that’s another discussion for another day.
On this occasion, it’s about truth and consequences. If we as African-Americans don’t know the truth about what is transpiring on a political level in this country, then we are loathe to complain about our inability to change status as the ever-increasing socioeconomic underclass. Those are the consequences and end results of apathy and indifference.
I’m not pointing fingers on this day, merely postulating. Do ‘we’ know what just happened on Capitol Hill and what lies next for the Voting Rights Act? Do ‘we’ know any of the names of the 33 Congressman who opposed the Act and their supposed reasoning?
Have ‘we’ taken the time to evaluate the prospects of the upcoming midterm elections, ones that feature African-American candidates running for governor of Pennsylvania and Ohio just for starters? African-American candidates are also running for Senator in Maryland and Michigan. Do we know who they are and what they stand for as ultimately, they will have a say in African-American issues? Do we know that most of the aforementioned are Republicans? Is their party affiliation even an issue? Does race identification trump political affiliation?
Have ‘we’ had a discussion about any prospective candidate for President of the United States beyond names like Hillary, Obama and (Jeb) Bush?
Have we taken time (or will we take time) to vote in our party’s gubernatorial primaries…which determine which candidate will run for your party in the election that counts…November?
Just know that voting in many of the primaries is down 40%. We can infer from that number that ‘our’ percentage is also down in a dismal way.
I would submit that if you haven’t had a discussion about any of the African-American candidates in a statewide election or about the recent vote in the House for the Voting Rights Act…but HAVE engaged in lively debate as to the specifics of whether Nia Long actually slapped her ex in broad daylight at the Grove, then you are playing yourself.
You are playing yourself because although African-Americans haven’t figured ‘it’ out, Latinos arguably have. Latinos have realized that their influence and voting power helped decide the 2004 presidential election. Latinos have understood the necessity of actively involving themselves in the political process beyond just voting; as there are more Latino public officials locally and nationally than ever before. This is not by coincidence. We as African-Americans on the other hand are stagnant in our voting numbers and arguably increasing in our collective apathy.
I’m not going to answer any of my own questions. You as readers will. If we can debate incessantly as to the merits of unimportant minutia relating to the entertainment realm and offer nothing substantively as to critical issues confronting us domestically and internationally; then don’t look with ‘shock and awe’ as Latinos fly by us on the political front. Don’t be surprised when Asian-American issues seemingly are also granted more attention in the media and taken more seriously on the floor of Congress.
Remember, there are plenty of Black Congress members and very few of Latino heritage; but the issue of immigration has been taken far more seriously than the Voting Rights Act. The whole of the country is addressing immigration and we’re still stuck on ‘Reparations.’
Let’s ask ourselves, what is it that the Latino community is either doing right or simply better than we are? Remember, we’ve been here far longer than those of the immigration wave of the 20th and 21 century. As a matter of fact, 2007 will mark the 400th anniversary of African people on this continent. What do we have to show for it collectively? Do we care about each other collectively? That needs to be asked too.
Blame can’t be parsed anywhere else than with ourselves. Let’s take responsibility for our own shortcomings. We can argue day and night as to whether Latinos are supposedly taking jobs from African-Americans. I don’t think so personally, but it’s a frequent debate that’s had.
But we can’t argue whether they’re ‘taking’ our votes. We simply have yet to value them. We haven’t taken it upon ourselves as a community to participate in the political process. In the meantime, Latino issues are being addressed and positioned front and center and we have been pushed to the back burner. But don’t blame anybody else but ‘us.’
If we as African-Americans aren’t aware of the importance of world events beyond music videos and award shows, then maybe the Voting Rights Act shouldn’t be renewed. Maybe the Senate should simply table it until 2008 and let all hell break loose on a state level in the interim. Maybe a good two national elections of Black voter disenfranchisement and the subsequent policies enacted will clue us into what’s really important.
Those who vote are those who have power. It’s not rocket science; it’s not even a well-kept secret. Well, maybe not to the rest of the U.S. at least.
The slogan for the recent NAACP convention was “Voting our Values, Valuing Our Votes.” It’s pretty catchy…but do we REALLY do either?
Do we…really?
I’m just asking the questions…maybe somebody else can tell me some of the answers.
The Mo'Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse...as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mokellyreport.blogspot.com. Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.
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