Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 11-4-22

Vote Like Your Life Depends On It - It Does
If you are reading my column and have not voted or do not plan to vote, stop reading this article and go vote.
Don’t pay any attention to polls unless someone called you and asked you who you would be voting for. Go to the polls and vote like President Obama is running for office again.
Not voting is tantamount to committing political suicide. If you plan on not voting, you don’t know your history and are wasting the blood, sweat, tears and deaths of our ances- tors who fought for the right to vote. And, their blood was shed in vain.
I believe I told you years ago that I didn’t know that all of my family up north were Re- publicans until I registered as a Democrat at the age of 21. Be- cause my parents and family appeared to have voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, I thought they were Democrats. Dwight D. Eisen- hower was the only Republi- can that I remember them
voting for. My mother told me, “we don’t vote for the party, we vote for the man.”
I am passing her advice to me on to you. Know what the people you vote for supported before you vote for them.
This year’s election caused me to reflect on a resolution the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo- ple (NAACP) issued at the 1926 NAACP Convention which read, “Our political salvation and our social survival lie in our absolute independence of party allegiance in politics and the casting of our vote for our friends and against our ene- mies, whoever they may be and whatever party labels they carry.” When the platform and priorities of a political party do not reflect the concerns of Black people, the omission is a “You don’t count” statement.
This year’s election mandates that we remember the party that wants to choose what books you allow your children to read, prevent your choice to terminate a pregnancy whether you were raped, your life is in danger, or the fetus is severely deformed or may be born dead.
Remember the party that wants you to carry a child full term, but will not give you as- sistance to clothe, feed or take care of the children once they are born. That same party cut funding for food, health and education every year. This is also the party who is trying to stop President Biden’s for- giveness of student loans for education.
Do not forget the party that is trying to make contraceptives illegal. The possibility of mak- ing condoms and birth control medications illegal is already lurking in the corner of some elected control freak’s mind.
Female voters should re- member the party that voted against the Violence Against Women legislation as well.
People of color should re- member the party that held up voting rights legislation and voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; that tried to eliminate Sunday voting and reduced the number of voting sites making it harder to vote and shortened early voting days.
No, I will not tell you who vote for, but I will certainly tell you WHO NOT TO VOTE FOR. Do not vote for Republican candidates who still say the 2020 election was stolen and who condoned the January 6th attack on our nation’s capitol and elected Congressional offi- cials.
Now, Please Get Up And Go Vote! If you don’t vote, you can- not complain about who did or didn’t win. Harambe!
Because Of Trumpism, Law Now Needed To
Protect Elected Officials
We extend our well wishes to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her family. Since learning the depths of Mr. Pelosi’s attack, and the details of the de-
mented mind of his attacker, we feel that such attacks on city, county, state, and federal elected officials and Supervisor of Elections employees should be violations prosecuted consecutively on each level with life sen- tences.
We think that President Biden should issue an ex- ecutive order (if possible) until legislation addressing the issue is written and passed at all levels of govern- ment.
Moreover, any attempt to intimidate, scare or inter- fere with a voter near or on property at a polling site should be arrested and punished for voter intimida- tion. Having to spend 25 years or more in prison for these violations should make everyone think ten times before attempting the vicious act. The brazenness of anyone who seeks to harm elected officials and elec- tions employees should be met with swift action.
Elected officials can be removed from office, if the majority of voters agree that the official is performing poorly. The audacity of anyone making themselves jury, judge and executioner should never qualify for early release or reduced sentencing.
The pain, suffering, strain, and pressure on Speaker Pelosi’s family could have happened to each Senator or Representative elected to Congress. Therefore, we do not want to hear that there are no funds to keep our elected officials safe. If security or secret service pro- tection is required, we suggest that some of the money sent to foreign countries be allocated for the cost of providing protection to federally elected officials.
We cannot afford to ignore the potential here for at- tempts to overthrow our democracy.
Editorial/Column
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022