ABOVE: Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks before the annual D.C. Peace Walk: Change Happens with Good Hope and a Dream for Dr. Martin Luther King Day on January 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. She is joined by her parents Martin Luther King III (L) and Arndrea Waters King (R). Democrats are trying to pass John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act this week which will counter the various voting suppression laws passed in multiple Republican states in the wake of the 2020 elections. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“The concern is misplaced because, if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”
When Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) made these controversial comments about African American voters last week after the U.S. Senate failed to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act voting legislation, he drew rightfully deserved criticism.
Democratic House Representative Bobby L. Rush (D-Illinois) responded to McConnell’s remarks on Twitter, boldly stating: “African Americans ARE Americans.”
McConnell’s remarks appeared to differentiate African Americans from all other Americans, which is reminiscent of a dark time in this country when Blacks fought a longstanding battle to move from being identified as property to American citizens going back as far as the original constitutional sin of the 3/5ths Compromise.
For history’s sake, in 1787, the 3/5ths Compromise was enacted, where Delegates to the Constitutional Convention accepted a plan to determine state’s representation in the U.S. House. The issue of how to count slaves split the delegates into two groups. The northerners regarded slaves as property who should receive no representation. Southerners demanded that Blacks be counted with whites. The compromise between the two factions clearly reflected the strength of the pro-slavery forces at the convention.
It also highlights the importance of how legislation has always played a major role in the freedoms African Americans now experience, and how others have fought long and hard to ensure Black people never obtain those freedoms through controlling the legislative process.
Voting rights have emerged as the modern-day civil rights issue of our time, and a major point of concern for Democrats as they continue to fall short on getting any substantive voting rights legislation passed before the upcoming Midterm elections in November.
If passed, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act includes provisions that would make Election Day a national holiday, expand access to early voting and mail-in ballots, and enable the U.S. Justice Department to step in and deal with states that have a history of voting-rights issues.
The Senate filibuster has been the only thing seemingly standing in the way of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act legislation being passed, with many critics calling the filibuster racist.
Speaking of former Rep. John Lewis, for whom the legislation is named, President Obama spoke at his funeral in 2020 and called the Senate filibuster a “Jim Crow relic” that needed to be done away with.
Sen. McConnell and his Republican caucus have refused to support the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, and as has been widely reported for months, Democrats Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) have been unwilling to change the 60-vote requirement through the Senate filibuster.
Shortly after the U.S. Senate failed to deliver on the requisite votes needed to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act legislation or change the Senate filibuster rules, President Joe Biden took to Twitter to express his disappointment, stating: “I am profoundly disappointed that the Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed—but I am not deterred.”
So, President Biden has stated that he is disappointed, but not deterred, but do African Americans share those same sentiments?
I know there is a shared sense of continued disappointment, but there must be a continued commitment to staying the course and not giving up if change is to come.
In the 1960s, the Rev. James Cleveland delivered to the world a very popular gospel song entitled “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” which featured the lyrics:
I don’t feel no ways tired
I’ve come too far from where I started from
Nobody told me that the road would be easy
I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me
The song itself encourages individuals to look past their frustrations and fatigue and focus on God during difficult circumstances in life, having faith that things will change for the better.
As we continue to witness the voting rights of Blacks being targeted and threatened every day, Blacks must not become disgruntled, apathetic, and disengaged politically.
The issue of voter suppression, disenfranchisement, and intimidation is not new.
The issue of voting rights has been an ongoing fight for centuries and one that cannot be ignored by refusing to engage or vote.
After the Civil War, Black men were elected to the U.S. Congress, including Black senators in the South. These political gains and the progress made by African Americans because of the Reconstruction governments in the South empowered many Blacks, which angered many Southern whites. Those Southern whites knew that the only way they could stop the social and political gains of African Americans would be to take control of the political landscape and stop Black people from voting by any means necessary.
As we know, the Ku Klux Klan formed, and they swept through the South with a violent and aggressive form of voter suppression, voter intimidation and voter disenfranchisement.
Today’s voter suppression, voter intimidation, and voter disenfranchisement tactics are not as bold and violent. They are more subtle, strategic, and tactical.
Those who have sought to disenfranchise and discourage African Americans from voting know the importance of voting, as well as the profound impact that voting has on representation, political outcomes, and important resources.
The Bible says in Galatians 6:9 (KJV):
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
The worst thing African Americans could ever do at this moment in time as it relates to politics and voting is—nothing.
Black people must not grow weary, must not give up, and must not stop.
Choosing not to vote at all is detrimental to the overall growth of the African American community. It does not help—it hurts.
African American adults and voting-aged young adults must not grow weary and throw in the towel. The precedent has been set by generations of African Americans before now.
If African American adults aren’t engaged and involved in the political process, then more than likely their Black children won’t be. If African American adults refuse to care about who makes important and life-altering decisions on their behalf, then chances are their Black children won’t either. African American voters and African American votes matter, and everyone knows it.
African Americans must know it more than anyone and must show it during every Election cycle and must not grow weary. The future of the African American community depends on you.