This post is personal.
This is for all the black men who:
- can figure out how to pay their child support on time, even when they are between jobs, without selling drugs or robbing anybody.
- have survived Iraq, Afghanistan, Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea, and even World War II.
- are preaching their hearts out this Sunday because they know in these final hours how much we need it.
- take care of their elderly parents.
- teach other peoples children how to read and write.
- introduce music appreciation into your life.
- clean your teeth, listen to your heart, and keep your eyes healthy.
- ride on the back of garbage trucks to make sure our streets are clean.
- deliver packages, or groceries, or gas, or lumber, or concrete, or office supplies.
- pledge their very lives to protect and serve.
260,432 of the 676,063 black men registered to vote in Georgia have already cast a ballot in this presidential election. Which isn't bad...
...until you see that twice as many black women -
439,434 - voted last week.
If you will lose your job because you stood in line for eight hours to vote, I can understand why you haven't gotten to the polls yet. But the guys like the ones I listed above, who are as busy as you are, are no doubt a majority of the black men who made a way to vote early last week.
Which means, guys, that here in Georgia, the ball is in your hands on Tuesday. I say "yours" because I already pushed the button. And I'm a "three days before Christmas" type of shopper, so I know how it is when you are prone to wait until the last minute to get something done.
The reality is, if you haven't voted yet, you probably aren't reading this blog. But the people who do read this blog know exactly who you are. They are your brothers and sisters. They are your parents. They are your children. Your poker buddies. People who go to your church. Your neighbors. Your video gamer friends. Your MySpace and Facebook friends.
So if you know someone who you think has not voted yet, just ask them. I was out of town for a couple of days last week, and I asked almost every black man I saw whether he had voted yet or not - harder than it looks when you try to work a question like that into casual conversation.
LeBron James gave Obama more than $20,000. Jay -Z asks us to vote every time he steps in front of a mike. Emmitt Smith not only wrote checks, he's on the streets, getting people organized. EVERYBODY is getting in the game this time, fellas.
I just don't think, when the dust clears on Wednesday or Thursday, and the numbers start being totaled, that we could live with ourselves as men if we didn't turn out to push that button on Tuesday.
Is Obama going to fix our problems over night if he wins? Nope. He may even have to leave a whole lot of them untouched, depending on where our economy goes.
But that doesn't mean that getting him elected isn't important.
We can't put everything on the "government" without acknowledging that at some level, the government is us. It isn't a mirror of who we are on a literal level, but rather a reflection of the things we are passionate about as well as the things we choose to remain ignorant about as a collective.
So between now and Tuesday, especially my blog readers hear in Georgia, but readers everywhere - tell the guys you know who are prone to let voting slide:
They can "get on their grind" AFTER they stand in line.
They can "stack that paper" AFTER they help complete this election caper."
They can "handle their business" AFTER they they do this .
Labels: African American, Barack Obama, black men registered to vote, early voting, Election Day, Georgia, vote
