What Black America is talking about...or should be.
For years many Black politicians and activists have lamented at the dismal level of voter participation in the African American community. They issued dire warnings about what would happen if we didn't take the right and responsibility seriously. There were predictions that efforts would be made to once again deny Blacks the right to vote. Well, it appears that "the chickens have come home to roost". Years of Black voter apathy have apparently given some whites the mistaken notion that we don't care about our votes. There have been numerous complaints about Blacks being harassed on the way to the precinct, police intimidation, ballot tampering, and the outright refusal of some poll workers to allow registered Blacks to cast their ballots.
The ironic part is that Black voter turnout reached record levels in communities all across the country. In Missouri, for example, the Black vote increased by more than 140 percent from five percent in 1996 to 12 percent in 2000. New York increased by 22 percent; North Carolina increased from 18 to 21 percent; Tennessee from 13 to 20 percent; and Mississippi from 27 to 34 percent. Florida was one of the key states that saw a substantial increase in Black voter participation. In 1996, the Black share of the vote, meaning the proportion of all voters who were African American, was 10 percent in 2000, the Black share of the vote was 16 percent, representing a 60 percent increase.
Have we dispelled the myth of Black voter apathy? Will this participation
extend beyond election day? I feel if we don't do more to hold those parties
that Blacks voted en masse for on election day accountable, they might as well
disqualify our votes. Carter G. Woodson said, "Any people who will vote the
same way for three generations without thereby obtaining results ought to be
ignored and disenfranchised." His reference was to the Republicans then. To
whom would he be referring today?" If we don't do more to elect grass-roots
leadership at the local and state levels then we get what we deserve.
Join
in this conversation. Click here to provide your comments, criticisms or feedback.