WS Chronicle

By James B. Ewers Jr.

Don’t underestimate the power of the vote. We live in challenging times and events that are threatening to our way of life are happening every day.

Recently, there was an uproar about the selection of Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice. There are other issues on the American landscape that bear our attention. It is not necessary to delineate each one because we know them all too well. However, I will say that issues of Social Security, immigration and gun control will not go away. They are here to stay.

We hear about and read about these issues but what can we do about them? How can we get our voices heard? It’s simple. We vote! Currently, we have too many people in office that vote no to the issues that affect us. Just yesterday, there was a commercial on television about a politician who doesn’t care about us. I switched channels. I have no patience for legislators who want to keep a certain segment of the population down.

Now is the time to be proactive. Early voting has already started in some states, including North Carolina. If you cannot vote early, then vote in November. Reports suggest that record numbers of people will vote in the upcoming midterm elections. The reports sound good, but I am cautious. We have all read about projections before and they turned out to be untrue.

The only way to ensure a strong voter turnout is to galvanize the electorate. Our community organizations and churches must make special efforts to get our citizens out to vote.

There were a lot of independents who voted the wrong way in the last election. If you voted for men and women who sold you a bill of goods, then you must vote them out of office. Some states are worse off now because of it.

Unfortunately, too many independents believed the hype of hope that was being spread. It is my hope that large numbers of them will vote for the much-needed change we need. Despite hard evidence to the contrary, too many white women voted for men who were sexist and against women’s rights. They, too, were hoodwinked during the last election cycle. I hope they will finally see the light.

If you are a person of color like me, leave your house and vote. Let us be restless about our voting privilege. And let us be bold and beautiful enough to vote. We cannot let apathy stand in the way. Statistics show that minorities have poor voting records. We can rail against it but those are the facts.

There are two races for governor that are getting national attention. Two African-Americans are running for their state’s highest office in Georgia and Florida. Stacey Abrams is running to become Georgia’s first black female governor. Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, is the Democratic candidate for governor.  Let’s vote to make changes at all levels of our government.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There is no separate black path to power and fulfillment that does not intersect with white roots. Somewhere along the way the two must join together, black and white together, we shall overcome, and I still believe it.” I do, too.

James B. Ewers  Jr. Ed.D. is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University, where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator.  He can be reached at ewers.jr56@yahoo.com.