Telling the Truth

connecting the dots of my life

Tag: Voter Suppression

November 7, 2020

At the Purchaser’s Option | Rhiannon Giddens

It’s worth the fight. I can’t get this phrase out of my mind as we wait. Not just for the announcement about who will be our next President, but for the backlash that will surely follow.

Rhiannon Giddens’ song is about slave trade in the USA. Blatant back then, it’s somewhat more sophisticated today. Yet the bottom line is the same. Being disenfranchised isn’t only about voting. It’s also about being denied full humanity because of race, color, gender, age, religion, wealth, or any other test for who counts most.

Yes, we need a President and Vice President who can help us move in a humane direction. Still, we can’t afford to sit back and coast. The evils of yesterday’s blatant racism are still with us in a thousand permutations, compounded by Covid-19.

In the meantime, here’s a song that invites me to stay strong and focused on the work ahead, not on the ever-present backlash.

Elouise♥

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 7 November 2020
Rhianna Gibbon’s song found on YouTube

6 Comments
April 14, 2020

What matters most in Election 2020?

Some say we’ve lost our way
Or never found it in the first place

Ask anyone where we are
and you’ll get a different answer
or spin on today’s evils
deplored by many yet
tolerated by others who keep
peering into their fat pockets

Some even higher on the ladder
hide behind protective measures
meant to procure a place
at the Right Table if not a voice
in anything but business as usual
which means nothing when we’ve
lost our way and don’t know how
to get out of this endless loop

Others say we’ve lost our way
Yet leaderless non-governance
guarantees we’ll do that because
it’s part of the campaign
for another America already lurking
behind niceties and small talk
masked by forever grins on faces
of perpetrators at the top and bottom
making their way one stolen vote at a time

As I see it, voter suppression has become a tragic tradition in the USA. The thought of Honorable Stacey Abrams becoming former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate (no, he hasn’t invited her to do this) gives me hope and clarity about what matters most.

There’s a lot that needs to be restored in the USA. Yet talk about important plans is vain if we can’t come up with a plan to abolish voter suppression. It stares us in the face every day, not just during election campaigns. Abrams is more than ready for this fight.

Abolition of Voter Suppression!

A goal worth pursuing with all our hearts before the door slams shut.

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 14 April 2020
Image found at learn.kqed.org

4 Comments