On Voting, History, Communication

Saturday, August 24, Our Time Press met the morning with thoughts of the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Summer Voter Registration project in Mississippi top of mind.

We were heading out of the month without a reference in our August issues to the Summer Voter Project, tragically marked by the assassination of three young voter workers and the attempts to register 17,000 Black Mississippi residents, resulting in the registration of only 1,200 – due to racist interference. The three-month bloody Freedom Summer ’64 began in June and ended in August.

Attention to the Project’s story influenced President Lyndon Johnson and Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin. It is believed the Project also helped establish the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The possibility those crucial chapters in America’s history could be lost, or undelivered to today’s young prospective voters of today, hit full force when we met a young man at Miss Lillian’s community block party.

He told Our Time Press leaders are not providing the information he needs to make decisions on voting. They are not reaching him where he is, he says. His older sister, Nicole of Decatur Street, explained to him why she thinks voting is important. Nicholas offered insights into his generation.

Nicholas speaks:
(The candidates) want to win you over. But they’re not talking to me. My sister talks to me. I would have to do my research on everybody before I even decide whether or not I will change my mind and register and vote in two months.
“I don’t get the information. I can’t make a determination. I am mostly online at least five hours a day, always on Twitter. I watch the Call of Duty video game.

“Lately, I’ve been wanting to pick up a book to exercise my brain by reading. I just found out I enjoy short stories. I am getting curious and beginning to search random things, even articles.”
“It would be helpful if you posted your article online or sent it through email. I will search for and read articles that interest me and resend them to my friends.
“But truth be told, I haven’t read enough. I am part of the youth movement.“
OTP: Heard of James Baldwin.
“Yes.”
OTP: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
“Financially stable.”

Nicole speaks:
“I invited my brother to this event so that he could experience community building and leadership.
“Where my brother lives, there are no events like this. Here, there is always an effort to serve the community, even if it is a business that is doing it. Things are offered to bring people together, whether through food, information, or services.
“I brought him here to show him how communities can stay alive, stay thriving, and grow strong if they are connected to policies and the economy.

“My brother and I talk about why he isn’t registered and why he doesn’t want to vote. He said he does not feel he has enough information to make an informed decision, and I understand. He’s been through a lot of challenges, time after time. Without the proper information, it’s like moving through life without a compass.

“(He wants to understand) what information is accurate information, and how is any of it applicable to (him)? It’s always hard to decipher when there are so many voices and so much out there in the media and even in printed news.

“I empathize with him when he says he does not know how to be involved or which leaders best represent him. And it is because of a lack of information. He’s very honest and a lot of young people are experiencing the same thing.

“I tell him he should (get involved) so he can know who is representing him in the City, State, House, Senate, all levels. (I tell him) it’s a large chain (of electeds), but you are making decisions on the people who run our entire nation, and your life… when you vote.
Turning to her brother, Nicole said, “You’re making decisions on funding for our schools, libraries, and other places where you use resources, for police, city hospitals, and all of the things that are important where you live, how you live, and how you want to live.”

by Bernice Elizabeth Green