The cavalry isn’t coming. We have to fight for our freedoms collectively
5th August 2024 · 0 Comments
Reporting for News One, Bruce C.T. Wright, in his article posted on the National Urban League’s website last week, posited that pollster John Couvillion blamed Louisiana’s Black registered voters for Jeff Landry’s election as governor.
Landry’s comments and actions while he was Louisiana’s attorney general smacked of racist intentions. Sending troops to stop crime in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Landry’s campaign promises to publish the criminal records of juveniles in predominately Black parishes, and his support from Donald Trump Sr. confirms his white supremacist ideology.
Couvillion posted on the social media app formerly known as Twitter that on Saturday (election day, November 2023), an estimated 17 percent of voters who went to the polls were Black. Seventy-two percent of Louisiana’s white voters participated in the election compared to 24 percent of Black voters (including early voters).
It’s conceivable that had more Black voters cast ballots, Shawn Wilson, Louisiana’s former secretary of Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the only Democratic candidate and a Black man, stood a chance to become the first governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction.
Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, suggested that the Louisiana Democratic Party inadequately invested in Black voters. He said the Party only spent $28,000 on the gubernatorial race.
Had we come out in record numbers, Blacks would have had a chance to elect Shawn Wilson, the first Black governor since Reconstruction.
According to Stacker.com, the percentage of Black or African-American voters in Louisiana is much higher, 31.9 percent, compared to the rest of the country. Still, those numbers pale compared to the nearly 200,000 “other” voters (other ethnic groups) combined in the Democratic and Republican parties, plus voters who claim membership in “other parties” are X factors when it comes to voting in Louisiana.
We often talk about voodoo math, but strangely, Louisiana reports more registered Democratic voters – 1,130,469 – and Republicans totaling 1,023,871. Again, we can’t overemphasize the unknown regarding the voting habits of members of “other parties.”
We need a concise count on how others and other parties vote. Still, we must recognize that we are our salvation. Not the DNC (Democratic National Committee), the Democratic State Central Committee/Louisiana, or any other institution.
Much of the funding raised by the state Democratic Central Committee is a pitiful $2.2 million, of which only $48,648 cash on hand was reported by June 21, 2024. According to Open Secrets, the majority of the money was transferred to “national parties.”
Given that we are now, thanks to unfairly gerrymandered districts that favor Republicans, contending with a Republican-leading electorate and a Republican trifecta government–they don’t call Louisiana a “Red” state for nothing – Black Louisianans must see that if freedom is to be, it’s up to we the people.
Freedom to learn about all cultures, freedom to protest peacefully, freedom of expression, freedom from violence and unsafe streets, freedom from citizens bearing weapons of war in our neighborhoods, freedom from killer cops, freedom to choose what to do with our bodies, freedom to keep government out of our bedrooms, all of this is on every ballot in every race.
It is easier to be cynical, distrustful, and apathetic to politics and politicians than to stand up for our rights and fight with our best weapon, the ballot. Our responsibility is clear, and our engagement is crucial.
We don’t have the luxury of not voting. If you want more scorched earth dictatorial governments, political violence, more book bans, more abortion bans, higher interest rates, higher grocery costs (who is picking fruit, nuts, and vegetables?), more police brutality, dangerously hot climates, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, no healthcare for preexisting conditions, no social security, no head start, no FASFA loans, no equal opportunities for jobs, no living wages, no Medicaid, no Medicare, no access to affordable housing and higher education, no constitutional rights, and rampant injustice, stay on the couch. Don’t vote.
But if personal freedoms mean anything to us, if we want equal opportunity and inclusion for our children and grandchildren, if we want to keep our constitutional rights, the right to body autonomy, and the freedom embodied in the Preamble of the United States, and if we want justice, we must run not walk, to our designated voting poll. We must vote against injustice, tyranny, and domestic terrorism via legislation and vote in every election, up and down the ballot.
This article originally published in the August 5, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
