Because there has been so much going on in the past week socially, politically and personally, I didn't realize National Voter Registration Day was today until I watched this morning's broadcast of TV One's NewsOne Now. (BTW, thank God for Roland Martin because I wouldn't know a significant amount of the information I do without his platform.) Having this information on the heels of last night's first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton heightened the urgency of this particular post. I have read and seen the grumblings from many folks within the Black community who are so disappointed in and suspicious of American politics and government that they are threatening to remove themselves from one of the most important aspects of the political process: voting. Now while the Electoral College has been constitutionally selecting the "leader of the Free World" since President George Washington, Kathleen McCleary gave this breakdown in an April 21 article for Parade: "When you cast your vote for president this November, you're not voting for the candidate on the ballot, you're voting for which group of electors from your state--Republican, Democrat or some third party--get to vote for president." While I know that does nothing for the skeptics, perhaps this two-part series outlining the six reasons why the Black vote absolutely matters in the most critical election in our country's history will be more convincing. Specifically, the first three reasons in Part 1 all deal with America's shameful legacy of voter suppression and disenfranchisement...
