(ThyBlackMan.com) One needs to look no further than the frequent high-stakes omnipresent battles that Americans engage in regarding voting to garner an understanding of the power of the vote. There is little room to debate the ultimate utility of the vote for all Americans regardless of their socioeconomic status or level of politicization.
It is this understanding that the vote is the very foundation of our Representative Democracy that leads me to applaud the action of a group of National Football League (NFL) players called the Players Coalition for the work that they accomplished in the state of Florida with the passage of ‘Amendment 4.’
The alluded to group of athletes that included a swath of athletes in several professional sports leagues made the unusual choice to take their grievances from the locker room into the political arena. Amendment 4 was created to address one of the most unfair practices that the 1.4 million Floridians convicted of a felony who have become entangled in the criminal justice system have been forced to endure beyond serving their prison sentence, probation, and even the paying of restitution; the referenced measure excluded those convicted of murder or sex crimes.
The fact that the proposal received 60% of the popular vote is a testament to the work of former NFL player Anquan Boldin and others such as Grant Hill.
One does not have to look very far to unearth significant threats to American Democracy as they are relatively routine occurrences. Attacks on America’s Representative Democracy have become so common that they are no longer startling; much like physical violence, we have become desensitized to political violence.
It is with these realities in mind that I feel compelled to pause a fartoo busy day and tip my hat to those who diligently worked on behalf of the 1.4 million felons who were not allowed to cast a vote in the state of Florida. There is much that other aspiring activist seeking to accomplish similar feats can learn from this endeavor. The alluded to lessons cover a wide-chasm of political activism that stretches from the need to move past aggrieved petty backroom conversations to the development of reasonable long-term political strategies aimed at changing laws that disproportionately affect Black America.
Most important of all the lessons that the professional athletes mentioned above have taught on-lookers is the reality that anything is possible with proper planning, commitment, and precise execution. It is this lesson that should carry “Leftists” as they examine what went correct and what went wrong in the mid-term elections. After all, we have the future to look forward to; something that our desperate opponents cannot say.
Staff Writer; Dr. James Thomas Jones III
Official website; http://www.ManhoodRaceCulture.com
One may also connect with this brother via Twitter; DrJamestJones.