Black lives matter? Vote like it’s true
New York City's youth poet laureate on what it takes to win change
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, January 19, 2015, 3:44 AM
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BILL BRAMHALL/NEW YORTK DAILY NEWS
It is fitting that America reflects on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so soon after protesters filled the streets in cities and towns across the nation to demand justice for Michael Brown, Eric Garner and other young people who’ve been killed in recent months.
I joined these protests and I plan to march again. But I wonder if even a whole nation of people crying out at once will be enough to spur the fundamental changes these senseless deaths demand.
To make lasting change, we must all commit to standing up every day to make our voices heard in our communities and at the voting booth. And that is something that my fellow young black men and women do far too rarely.
My reasons for marching are straightforward: As a young African-American woman from the Bronx, I feel that Eric Garner or Michael Brown could be me someday. Yet I had heard and read so many comments dismissing my anger and frustration and sadness, and felt the need to raise my voice.
Witnessing the masses marching through Manhattan, so united in outrage that the street felt hot, let me see first-hand that I wasn’t overreacting. The protests let me know that I have a right to cherish my body.
MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGESThe ballot box is where it counts
They reassured me I’m not crazy to insist that I, and those who look like me, have the right to feel safe in our communities, and that we do not deserve to be killed in the street. Marching in these protests let me know that I am not alone.
Yet our unity in protest could be in vain unless we find a way to move forward together and ensure our efforts produce concrete change.
As we celebrate the achievements of Dr. King and the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we must commit to expressing our emotions and our needs in community meetings, to our elected officials and at the ballot box on Election Day. To be sure we get lasting, positive reforms in police-community relations, we need to carry our movement into these venues.
Sadly, too many of my peers are keeping quiet. In New York City, just 11% of registered voters between the ages 18-29 bothered to cast a ballot to choose our current mayor in November 2013. Turnout in last year’s mid-term elections was the lowest in 72 years. Only 36% of eligible voters cast ballots nationwide, and just 29% in New York State.
Black youth turnout hit a high when President Obama was on the ballot, but it’s at risk of falling sharply in the coming years — especially in state and local elections.
When we stay away from the polls, our issues are not heard. If we raise our voices in protest, but fail to speak out on Election Day, we’ll never see the changes we need in our communities. After all, candidates and elected officials focus their time and attention on the voters who vote. By voting, we decide which issues put them into office, and which can take them out.
Voting is a necessary step towards facilitating change, but it’s only the first step. Other ways to fight for justice include attending your neighborhood community board meetings, circulating petitions, contacting local officials so they can hear your concerns directly and finding your voice on the issues most important to you.
The protests in Ferguson and New York City and elsewhere will eventually dissipate. Our collective push for change cannot. To make real and lasting change that transcends this moment in time, we’ve got to show up every day and be heard in our communities — and we’ve got to show up and be counted on Election Day.
