“Never forget where you came from.” How many of us have heard those words of wisdom?
It’s a way to keep us connected and grounded in our values. However, in the African-American community, it’s also a call for us to remember those who fought, bled and died for the civil rights we often take for granted today.
Many civil rights activists, both Black and white, were hanged, shot or tortured, so that we could exercise our right to walk into a voting booth and select the political candidate of our choice. Some of them left an indelible mark on the history of our nation.
Rev. George Lee led voter registration efforts in Mississippi in 1955. When he refused to stop, an unidentified assailant reportedly drove up to his car and fired three shotgun blasts that took his life. A voice silenced.
Lamar Smith, a World War II veteran, organized Blacks to vote that same year in Mississippi. Witnesses saw a white man shoot and kill Smith in broad daylight on a courthouse lawn, but no one spoke a word. Another voice silenced.
Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, white men, along with James Chaney, an African-American man, teamed up to register voters in Mississippi in the 1960s. The Ku Klux Klan shot and killed them in a brutal attack which was later brought to life in the movie, “Mississippi Burning.” Three voices silenced.
All of these men stood up against ominous forces of that day, knowing that they faced the threat of death. Despite that, they bravely said, “No one can steal our voice. No one can take away our right to vote.”
The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The Amendment was ratified in 1870, yet it took nearly a century to quell the turbulence and the murders that confronted some African-Americans who dared to consider voting.
Decades later, it’s still not a perfect voting system. There are reports, even today, of more subtle efforts to suppress the minority vote, but it’s a long way from the days of our ancestors.
Let’s honor their sacrifice with our vote.
Yes, you can choose not to vote, which is a freedom we also have as Americans, but I choose to exercise my vote for our children, grandchildren, and all future generations. I won’t let my voice be silenced.
Go to the community page of wthr.com for a list of polling places and more voter information.
You can email comments to Angela Cain at acain@wthr.com.
