Tag Archives: voting rights act

opinion

I am Not ReaDY FOR A WHITE PRESIDENT

Dear President Barack Obama,

I feel abandoned.

Eight years of having a Black president has spoiled me.

Why didn’t you and the Democratic Party groom a POC to succeed you in office? You have had nearly eight years to do this. The population of this country is increasingly diverse. White people will be the minority in 2045. If most of our elected officials don’t look like the electorate, the United States will resemble South Africa back before Nelson Mandela became president.

What are we doing here? Voting rights have narrowed with the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now, you have to be rich to run for any office. Right now, the only people of color who could afford to run for office are businessmen, professional athletes, and entertainers. I will not vote for Kanye West in 2020. I have standards. You raised the bar, sir.

I just don’t get it.

Sincerely,

Nichelle

Medium Posts

My Dad Didn’t March For Nothing

Voting Rights Act 1965 Selma March

This week I wrote a piece on Medium about the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We’re going backwards,” my mother said today when she heard the news today about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

While in high school, my dad marched for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama. He didn’t march for nothing when he was a teen. He could have stayed at home. He faced the hoses and the dogs. Today, he’s retired and a registered voter who never misses an election whether local or national. This country has made advances, but we’re not there yet.