It’s time to step up
12th October 2020 · 0 Comments
It should be crystal clear by now that if the U.S. is to remain a democracy, we who love freedom, fairness, and justice have to step up, as never before, and vote for what is in the best interest of ourselves and our nation.
The Louisiana Weekly’s job is to educate its readers and point out life-threatening situations, dangerous people, and acts that can potentially undo the gains we the people have made, especially Black people, toward the American ideal of forming a more perfect union, one nation under God, and to preserve our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Has it been centuries of struggle for Black people? Absolutely. Is the struggle over? No. A luta continua. Throughout our struggle, we have vigilantly watched what those who mean us ill do and we have taken the necessary steps to call the perpetrators out, whether they were skin folk or not, whether they pretended to act in our best interest or not, and when they blatantly acted against our self-interest, we stood against them.
At some point, some of us grew complacent after reaching our life goals, ascending to heights never before afforded to us, and some of us just threw our hands up and decided not to participate in any form of resistance or political activity.
But now we face domestic enemies, within and without, that are motivated by power, greed, paternalism, racism and white supremacy. As such, we must again rise up and call them out, get politically involved, and participate in getting rid of those who would strip us of our human rights and constitutional rights, and turn back the clock to 1930s Germany.
So, it should come as no surprise that we are watching and witnessing the slow destruction of democracy and Republicans’ efforts, writ large, to take away the social safety net and to further entrench and codify discrimination, in all of its forms, into our national government.
Malcolm X advised us that securing justice would only come through the ballot or the bullet. Rather than taking up arms and refighting a useless civil war, we must use the most powerful, non-violent tool we have: the ballot.
We also know that the saying “All Politics is Local,” means more than just the impact of federal legislators and politicians on our local affairs. Consider this: Louisiana’s Republican-led legislature bears watching and some Democratic legislators in Baton Rouge, too. There are also Black people in those ranks who are going along to get along, to feather their own nest, while selling Black people out in the process. As Carl Galmon once said about some Black lawmakers, “They’ll sell their own mamas for a ham sandwich.”
It’s a shame that we have to be so vigilant and watchful of those who purport to represent us, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.
As we near the November 3 election, we need to do our homework. Who are these people who want to represent us in the courts, in the legislature, in Congress, and on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana State Supreme Court and other offices where people are elected to be “public servants?” Who are their contributors and donors? Find that out and you will know a lot about who controls the candidates, who is pulling their chains, and what they are expected to do, and for whom.
Beyond the candidates, we must study the seven Constitutional Amendments that are riding on the ballot.
Louisiana Amendment 1 is an anti-abortion Constitutional Amendment that will ensure that women in Louisiana will have no right to have an abortion, whether Roe v. Wade is stricken down or not.
The measure would add a Section 20.1 to Article I of the Louisiana Constitution: To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.
Everyone who has a moral compass knows that human life is indeed precious. But we are of the opinion that government should not be the decider of what goes on in a woman’s body. In fact, why is government even contemplating laws to control what a woman can and cannot do with her body?
What is this about, really? Does anyone really think the politicians care whether Black women sustain their pregnancies and bring healthy babies into this world? Clearly not, judging from the infant mortality rate in the Black community and the thousands of African-American children who are less likely to be formally adopted.
Could it be that the real reason behind efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade is the fact that the white birth rate is down, and projections say the American workforce will be predominantly people of color and immigrants by 2050?
Remember the U.S. Supreme Court struck down, in June 2020, the Heartbeat legislation, which was sponsored by then-State Representative Katrina Jackson, that Governor John Bel Edwards into law in 2019.
Amendment 1 on the November ballot is a second attempt to ban abortions in Louisiana.
State legislators are also trying to help corporations to pay fewer taxes. Amendment 5 allows for a property tax exemption for property that is subject to an agreement with local government; allows certain property owners to make payments instead of paying property taxes. This doesn’t apply to homeowners. Businesses and corporations, that own property, can negotiate the amount they will pay, over a certain period of time..
Amendment 7 will allow the state government to use citizens’ unclaimed property funds for investments and put any investment earnings in the general fund. Claimants must still be paid for their unclaimed property but it’s easy to see that the unclaimed property fund could end up being depleted and claimants will have to want for their money.
There is also a Sports Betting Proposition on the ballot. For more information go here http://parlouisiana.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PAR_ConstAmend2020FINAL.pdf
November 3 is around the corner. The deadline to register in person and by mail has past. But the last day to register online is October 13. We have got to get off of the couch, off the internet, and do what is best for ourselves and our community.
The bottom line is we have to educate ourselves about exactly who or what we are voting for, vote, then hold those we chose to represent us accountable.
If they turn out not to be the public servants we wanted, then the next time they are up for re-election, we must vote them out. But vote we must.
Democracy is on the ballot, criminal justice reform is on the ballot, racism is on the ballot, Obamacare is on the ballot, COVID-19 is on the ballot and the 250 years that we’ve struggled for equality and justice are on the ballot. To not vote is a vote for the destruction of our democracy and all the gains we’ve made.
We have a choice. We must step up. We must vote. Choose the ballot.
This article originally published in the October 12, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
