Past Reunion Vesper Service ministers (also Rev. Larry Atkins and now add 2024 Pastor Prince Charles Ray)

THE COMO VOTES

The Como votes are getting scarce. This past election cycle was pathetic. We have 2009 registered voters in our community and only 8% voted. At the very minimum, you got to garner 10% throughout all districts. This cycle was low throughout the area but that is no excuse for the Como Community whose numbers are always a plus.

We can point out that over the years the community has transformed. During my early lifetime, the community was close to 100 % a black community. The fewer likely voters relied on assistance and received help to get to the polls. Some family member or a neighbor who helps with any shortcomings for not voting.  Even as a kid I remember the blowhorns from cars, telling folks to go vote.

Voting was the most reliable way to be heard other than an organized protest, and we were heard in bulk. Politician found that this block of votes could turn a close election. This was mostly directed to local races where the margins were usually close. Many elections were decided by the Como block of votes. We had a voice that would be heard by most politicians and would usually get us a seat at the table to voice our needs.

The Como community is well over a third if not half now diverse. We have a language issue and a more reluctant population for a variety of justified reasons where name recognition could mean a house call from ICE.

We now have laws designed to make voting more of a job than a right. Mail-in voting is a chore, some polls have armed bandits intimidating voters by circling the polling locations, and there is a desire to disallow votes in targeted areas because of voting patterns.

I do know for a fact that most of my colleagues still make it to the polls, but they don't all live in Como anymore. I know because I get so many calls when my voters' guide is not out when voting starts. They grew up knowing that voting was a privilege and it really meant something. And they could always say that "I did not vote for that crook."  

They have always been laws to keep convicted criminals from voting, but those rights could be returned after some time frames and a clean record, but we have missed out on getting those folks back into the system.  We have not reached out to the Hispanic to bring them in.  And perhaps I have not brought our kids along for the voting ride. We drop the ball in most cases, they in general don’t see voting as we (my generation) do. Our churches were once rallying point for voting registration, speeches and endorsements. But now the churches have to be careful in keeping religion separate from the state, if not a tax audit will just happen to appear if in opposite of the ruling party.

Especially these days with an all-out attempt to control your vote by gerrymandering you into a district where you are considerably outnumbered and render your voice speechless. Where your political representative can annoy you with any consequences. Let Make America Great Again now is code phase for returning to days in the sixties and before. (see narrative below)

Black Americans and the Vote

The struggle over voting rights in the United States dates all the way back to the founding of the nation. The original U.S. Constitution did not define voting rights for citizens, and until 1870, only white men were allowed to vote. Two constitutional amendments changed that. The Fifteenth Amendment (ratified in 1870) extended voting rights to men of all races. However, this amendment was not enough because African Americans were still denied the right to vote by state constitutions and laws, poll taxes, literacy tests, the “grandfather clause,” and outright intimidation. The Twenty-fourth Amendment (ratified in 1964) partly addressed this injustice by prohibiting the use of poll taxes in federal elections. In addition to these constitutional amendments, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 secured voting rights for adult citizens of all races and genders in the form of federal laws that enforced the amendments.

RCNEZ_PUBLIC

       COMO/Sunset Neighborhood Empowerment Zone

                                      (NEZ) Strategic Plan