Unbelievable! Freedom Is Not Free

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, and we all thought that true freedom had come, and we would not have to struggle for the right to vote ever again. We thought that we had won the right to be full citizens in the United States and that our chance to have our voices heard in the political arena had finally arrived. We had no way to know how wrong we were. It is unbelievable and hard to accept that freedom is not free. We are fighting for voting rights protection in 2024, which means we are still fighting for freedom.  

 This week in Georgia a law will be passed, that will make it easy to remove over 200,000 from the voter rolls in Georgia less than three months before the presidential election.  This move comes after Republicans have worked rather tirelessly to pass such legislation to make it easier to remove folks from the voter registration lists. Why does that matter so much to them? If they cannot figure out a way to win elections in a fair process, they should get out of politics. In the past many of those interfering with elections spent time worrying about folks being given bottles of water when they were waiting for hours to vote in lines that were longer than they should have been because polling places had been closed. The right to vote has been under attack since it was won for women and black people. The hunger for freedom in women and blacks that led us to seek it seems to have caught many white men by surprise and they cannot accept that we are not going back to living without it.   

I don’t know how the white men and their allies, who spend so much of their waking life working to undermine freedom for people of color, for women and the impoverished look at themselves in the mirror on any given day. It is difficult to understand what fuels their behavior and I am deeply disturbed by the lack of decency that is being expressed across the planet toward people who are the victims of the powerful. There seems to be a preponderance of energy for bullying, abusing power, denigrating anyone who is considered an adversary and simply honoring all of the ego- centered desires presenting themselves to be honored as if they deserve the honor. The notion that those who have power can do whatever they wish needs to be interrogated and those who hold such views need to be held accountable in every way possible for the harm caused by their power abuses. 

 This is only going to happen when we who see what is happening choose to stand together proclaiming that it will not be tolerated on our watch. We have to decide how far we are willing to go down into this ditch with those whose only agenda is to be powerful. There is no commitment on their part to the notion of doing what is good for the collective. They have no interest in the impoverished or anyone who is not able to further their agenda. We who can see, cannot be seeking to hide from the challenge of confrontation. We cannot continue to think that turning a blind eye to the power abusers is a choice. It is not a choice. We cannot be paralyzed by fear. We have to act.  

 The current disrespectful political scene, the violence, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, classism, lying, and all of the collateral behaviors designed to control, denigrate, enlarge the narcissists and give more power to those who are not worthy of having any power is tiring. Tonight, as I sit here writing this and thinking about the voter purging in Georgia, I hope that this election season will bring a new and cleaner breeze. A breeze that will allow us to get out of the echo chamber and listen more carefully to our hearts and heads as we continue to hear that still small voice within calling for us to choose to stand up and confront all of the people who choose to use their power for their own benefit and to abuse others in the process.  

Running for cover and hiding is not one of our choices! We have to be a half shade braver! Join me in being a half shade braver