OCTOBER 15, 2024
BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA
WEEKLY DISPATCH
By Leslie Fields-Cruz
Three weeks from now, U.S. citizens will pick our next president. This tradition is not only our civic duty, it is a cornerstone of our democracy. For African Americans, voting is especially precious, considering what it took to secure that right. Regardless of who you choose for president, I sincerely hope you’ll honor our foreparents’ sacrifices by voting on Nov. 5.
It is soul crushing to see how cavalier some Americans are about their right to vote these days. Especially African Americans. It took our people 178 years of struggle to win the right to vote. One-hundred-and-seventy-eight YEARS! That’s more than six generations!
Remember the Sacrifices
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Black folks and their allies fought and died for, granted voting rights to U.S. citizens of all races and genders. Sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder removed many of the acts’ provisions. Not surprisingly, Black voter participation in the states most impacted by Shelby has since dropped significantly.
Many pollsters forecast a lower voter turnout among Black men this year than what we saw in 2008, when Barack Obama was first elected president. Personally, I don’t know any Black men who do not intend to vote next month. I’m sure some are out there. I just don’t think they’re nearly as plentiful as some pundits would have us believe. Of course, underestimating Black men is nothing new in the United States of America. I look forward to our brothers proving the pundits wrong. For anyone who remains reluctant to vote though, I offer a few film recommendations:
- Eyes on the Prize (Part 6): Bridge to Freedom, by Henry Hampton (producer), Callie Crossley and James A. DeVinne (co-directors)
- Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed, by Shola Lynch (producer and director)
- VOTE! BE HEARD, Whitney Dow (producer) and Sophia Clark (director)
These films chronicle our struggles and bear witness to just how much blood sweat and tears our foreparents shed to secure our right to vote while also advancing the idea of “a more perfect union.”
Participatory democracies are only as strong as the will of the people they serve. Black people remain among those most harmed by unjust policies and practices. We’re also among those who greatly benefit from policies and practices that expand access to opportunities. Voting is not only a way to honor our foreparents’ sacrifices, it is a way to show our children how to be heard in a nation where some would prefer we sit quietly and accept whatever they decide to give us. We must not sit quietly. VOTE! BE HEARD. We owe it to the ancestors!!
Finally, as we were preparing this blog post, we learned that our latest BE HEARD project: #ShopLikeNana, and another program we’ve supported, Razing Liberty Square, have both won Anthem Award nominations. Congratulations to all who’ve contributed to bringing these powerful projects to the public.