Make a Plan to Vote!
It’s not enough that we must organize, mobilize and motivate the largest feminist voting bloc in our nation’s history this November—and make no mistake, that’s just what NOW is doing—but there’s another big step we need to take together.
The right to vote is now our fight to vote—especially during a pandemic. Voter suppression efforts are in full force, so we all have to make plan to vote that takes into account all the forces assembling to disenfranchise and erase our voices this year. Make sure you know when, where, and how you plan to vote.
NBC News has a helpful state by state guide on the mail-in and early voting process. Our friends at Voting Rights Alliance also have a great wealth of resources for voters. And over at Ms. Magazine, you can find this essential guide, Vote 2020: Start Planning Today. It quotes the late Rep. John Lewis: “Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
I was glad to see that NBC News posted this blog about “How Black women have continued the fight to vote 100 years after suffrage.” It’s important to remember as Valethia Watkins, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Howard University says, “for Black women, our right to vote is only secured with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black women have only had the legal protected vote for half the time of some other women.”
This new report from the Poor People’s Campaign, “Unleashing the Power of Poor and Low-Income Americans: Changing the Political Landscape” asks the question, “How would the political landscape change if the needs and demands of poor and low-income voters were better represented in the electoral process?”
You can click on this map to see state-by-state numbers on the voting potential of low-income Americans, but one key finding is “if low-income voters participated at similar rates as higher income voters, and voted against the winning party, there are 15 states where new low-income voters could flip the results from the 2016 presidential elections. This includes key battleground states and states in the South.”
No one is working harder to emphasize this particularly political fact than Stacey Abrams. Have you seen the new documentary, “All In, The Fight for Democracy,” that features her? Here’s a conversation with the women who made the film, a clip of the trailer. I would also like to thank the film’s co-director and producer Lisa Cortes for providing me with a complimentary pass to the film’s special premiere screening last week. If you would like a reminder of one of Stacey Abrams’ first appearances on the national stage, her response to the 2019 State of the Union.
Finally, here’s one of my favorite poems from Maya Angelou, Caged Bird. If this has a special meaning or interpretation to you, we’d love to hear more about it over on social media. You can find us at: Twitter: @NationalNOW, Facebook: @NationalNOW, Instagram: @NationalNOW.
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his ownBut a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.The caged bird sings
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.