Lift every voice and vote
9th October 2017 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Saturday, October 14, is Election Day in New Orleans, an opportunity support local elected officials who have demonstrated their commitment to making life better for everyone who lives here and not just those who shell out campaign contributions. It is also an opportunity to give those who have repeatedly failed to represent the interests of constituents their walking papers.
Several media reports have said the turnout for early voting has been low, which does not bode well for seeking to move New Orleans toward justice, democracy and equity and away from corruption, inequality and glaring ineptitude/
We need everyone who cares about the city and its residents to get out there and lift every voice and vote. After witnessing what ineptitude and indifference look like in local government and getting a front-seat view of how these things negatively impact all of us, this is not the time to shirk the responsibility to vote or to trust that someone else will cast the votes needed to elect the best possible candidates.
Each of us has to do that for the collective us.
Many have said that the ballot is the cornerstone of American democracy but it only works if we use the vote as a means to an end and not view it as an end. It is the beginning of the political process, with constituents needing to pay close attention to what those they elect do during their time in public office and to hold those who come up short accountable.
With tragic results, the Black community in New Orleans has failed to follow through with the political process and hold elected officials’ feet to the fire. That’s why we find ourselves still being treated like third-class citizens and sharecroppers in the 21st century.
That has to change if we are ever going to be taken seriously by elected officials and move closer to harnessing our collective political and economic power.
A good first step would be to remind ourselves that no mater how hopeless things may seem, there will always be things worth fighting for and voting for.
On Election Day, cast a vote for you, your loved ones and all of those who are being locked out of the American Dream by systemic racism, political chicanery, mass incarceration, prosecutorial misconduct, unconstitutional policing. housing discrimination, educational apartheid and economic injustice.
If you’re tired of paying monthly rents that are higher than home mortgage payments to live in neglected, substandard housing, make sure your voice is heard on election day.
If you’re tired of not being told the truth by the New Orleans Police Department and tired of being racially profiled by local police officers and state troopers, make sure you weigh in on election day.
If you’re tired of seeing people elected to public office who don’t know the first thing about integrity, transparency or public service, do something about it on election day.
If you’re tired of folks who don’t live in communities of color trying to dump toxic materials or build potentially harmful power plants in your neighborhood, get your vote on.
If you’re tired of seeing property taxes continue to rise with no comparable rise in city services, vote about it.
If you’re tired of living in the Mass Incarceration capital, do something about it.
If you’re tired of a criminal justice system and political system that refuses to fund the Public Defenders Office and wrongfully arrests, prosecutes and convicts boys and men of color to fuel the ever-growing prison-industrial complex, make sure the powers that be hear your voice on election day.
If you’re weary of watching your tax dollars being handed to underworked and overpaid deputy mayors and consultants, let your voice be heard on election day.
If you’re weary of seeing many of the people you know being forced out of their homes by rising property taxes, steep insurance rates and a myriad of unscrupulous business practices, vote about it.
If you’re tired of watching Black, Brown and poor people being routinely overcharged by bail bondsmen and those same bondsmen using those ill-gotten gains to gain favor with mayoral and councilmanic candidates, let your vote do your talking.
If you’re tired of hearing local elected officials say that there’s nothing that they can do about discrimination against Black, Brown and female firms seeking public contracts and refusing to acknowledge that the reason there are so few contractors of color out there is longtime discrimination, vote about it.
If you’re tired of being represented by local elected officials who never seem to have the time or the power to effectively fight for you but always seem to have time and energy to bolster their campaign war chests or seek political and business allies to keep them in office for as long as is humanly and legally possible, vote about it.
If you’re tired of worrying about flooding and drowning every time it rains in New Orleans, get out there and vote about it.
If you’re tired of elected officials wasting your tax dollars on pet projects and on polls to convince the same people that they have lied to and let down since they entered public office that they are doing a good job, show them how you feel on election day.
At the very least, we ought to get what we pay for as taxpayers and be privy to what is or isn’t happening in local government. That way, we can make informed, judicious decisions about where this city is going, what we need to make it work for everyone who calls New Orleans home and who is best qualified to lead us in the right direction.
This article originally published in the October 9, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
