Member-only story
The Role of Voting in Bridging America’s Racial Divide
Last year, I arrived in Fulton County, made famous via Trump mug shots, to vote. I told my wife, “let’s go to Buckhead where there are a lot of rich white people. The lines should be shorter there.” The lines wrapped around the block. So we ended up in another part of the county where the line was still 4 hours long. We settled and decided to sit through the line. We typically vote early but were out of town on business for several months.
The polling staff said we had requested absentee ballots. We did and gave it to them. Then they said, after looking at our ID addresses that they had to call someone to determine if we had a right to vote in America despite being citizens with a state DMV — ID that the IRS and State tax authorities recognize. We waited another 30 minutes while they tried to work it out. Then they said, since we were sent absentee ballots, we had a right to vote. We voted but felt as if our vote may not even count because of the strong attempt to disenfranchise citizens Republicans felt were denying them easy undemocratic access to power.
In American society, race and class have woven a narrative that echoes the struggles of the past and the aspirations for a more inclusive future. To get any form of racial inequality, the one most powerful tool that shapes change and dismantles the barriers that divide us…
