The War on Our Youth—Voting

I have spoken about the violence against our youth, the need to reform how we educate our youth and I have even spoken to the fact that parental responsibility needs to be addressed as well as applied properly. However no matter how we deal with those issues, one thing that continues to plague our youth and why so many of these issues are never going to get addressed unless our youth take a more active role in politics especially in the voting aspect if they are eligible to vote.

Last year’s 2008 Presidential election made youth come out in larger numbers than ever before especially during the primary season and even during last November’s General election. However on Tuesday, November 4, 2009, many youth across the nation decided to sit out important elections that will play a critical role in many youth issues. In fact some youth decided not to vote because they didn’t feel connected. It makes me angry to hear some of these lame excuses after seeing so many youth break their necks to argue with friends about last year’s Presidential race but so few of these same youth during an off year election took the time to engage their friends by telling them to go vote this year.

Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said.

Many of the young, first-time voters who propelled Obama to the presidency stayed home this year, a glaring absence that helped Republicans win governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey. More than 3 million voters who cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election — many of them minorities — failed to show up at the polls in either state. Obama carried Virginia with 52 percent of the vote last year, but only 43 percent of voters surveyed in Associated Press exit polls Tuesday said they had voted for him.

So the reality is that, young people are waiting for candidates to appeal to them but we as young people are more of an unreliable vote than a reliable vote. If we as young people want to feel welcomed or want candidates to reach out to us than we have to appeal to candidates. No matter what race is on the ballot, each election is about the past, present and future and if young people would show up to vote than more elections will be about the future than the past. One of the major reasons why President Obama was so successful in winning the Presidential election last November is because his election made a calculated decision way back in 2007 to go after the youth vote because the traditional Democratic vote was leaning toward Hillary but the youth vote was up for grabs.

That calculated decision paid off but during off year elections such as 2009 and 2010, such calculated decisions have not shown to pay off and time is everything, which is why if youth are waiting for candidates to come after them so aggressively than they can keep waiting. The reality is youth need to find their own sense of belonging in political races. Youth need to figure out where candidates who are running for school board, city council, county commissioners, Mayor, State Senate, State Representative, Governor, U.S. Senate or U.S. Congress stand on youth issues such as education, public safety, after school programs, healthcare, etc. There are so many things that youth need to be concerned about and need to find out when making a vote such taxes especially property taxes since many youth plan to buy homes eventually. It is time for us as youth to stop making excuses for why we didn’t vote and start voting because if we don’t vote than we could continue to see many of the issues that directly as well as indirectly affect us to not get addressed.

Youth know that people dead just so they can have the right to vote, however so few of us take advantage of it. Still youth are not eligible to vote can still play a major role in the political process by encouraging their parents, relatives, and friends who are old enough to vote to vote or to vote for the candidate that appeals to them. It is time for youth to be consistent in how we vote but this starts with us showing up in the 2010 midterm election primaries and general election. No longer can we think that we as youth have did something by just voting in President elections just because that’s when it seems as if the media and other organizations try to appeal to our vote. Imagine how if we as youth voted in large numbers in non-Presidential elections and how we could impact the outcome those elections more so than senior citizens who right now decided non-Presidential elections than any other age group but not more than independent voters.

The youth vote today is more valuable than ever and if we as youth don’t wake up and realize just how important our vote is then no matter what happens in D.C. or in the White House, we as youth can continue to see many problems plaguing us as we do now because we failed to change the policies of local and state politics that plague this war on our youth. All politics are local and that is why until we as youth actively engage our local politics as we did with the national political scene than we will forever see many of the problems affecting us to continue.

It is when the people lead that our leaders will follow but right now, no political leaders on the local or state level in many instances are following us as youth because we are too busy either following them or we are too busy ignoring local elections while paying too much attention to the nation scene. We as young people know we can multi-task because for too many of us, we text on our phone, drive, and eat all at the same time. Then for some of us, we are on our computer, our phone and we are in class trying to pay attention all at the same time. Time and time again, we have multi-tasked on various things but when it comes to multi-tasking on politics by paying attention to local, state and national politics all at the same time, we act as if it is so hard. However we as young people multi-task sports games by watching basketball—NBA and college at the same time as well as football—NFL and college along with other sports. Then for female youth, you all keep up with the latest fashions, your soaps, and all the reality T.V. shows as well as shows like American Idol, America’s Top Model and Dancing with the Stars.

Thus it is clear that until us as youth vote and vote consistently than we will continue to see youth violence to increase, how to educate our youth to be a problem, and a host of other youth issues put on the backburner. Or at worse, bad political policies implemented i.e. “No Child Left Behind” which in turn created a system of teaching our youth to take tests rather than a system that educates them. If we are youth vote than we can control what type of political policies are being implemented on behalf of future generations of youth. When we as youth vote and vote consistently than we can control not only local or state politics but national politics as well. Now is the time for us to win this war on our youth but we can’t do it from those who are 18-24 or even those 18-35 don’t get out and vote for candidates and for issues that are will improve the future rather than allowing the status quo to continue to hold power year in and year out. It is time that we as youth start showing how powerful we are not by simply marching, protesting and complaining but by voting every year than marching, protesting and offering solutions to the problems that exist. This is our time to finally do that and I believe that what happened last Tuesday was simply a matter of us as youth not realizing why local elections are just as important as Presidential elections.

Voting is yet another key to winning this war on our youth and I believe that we can win a few battles that can lead to winning the war by voting for candidates that will address many of the issues that plague our youth. Still voting is just one component but politics alone will not address or solve all the problems plaguing our youth but creating policies aimed at addressing some of the issues plaguing our youth can help in winning this war. So vote must vote no matter what.

SAVE OUR YOUTH!

My Perspective: Changing The Way We Vote

It time that we elect people based off where they stand on the issues and not based off their personalities or celebrity status. It seems as if anyone can run for public office these days. No matter where I go in America, it seems as if anyone can run for public office and win if they have celebrity status. Sports athletes, television anchors, comedians, actors, actresses, relatives of former or current politicians run for public office and it seems as if they win time and time again without even talking about the issues. It is time that we in America change the way we elect people. I’m not saying that people with celebrity status or personalities don’t make get politicians or lawmakers because some do but the reality is that some don’t.

We have to change how we vote in this nation. We have to stop voting for people based off name recognition or who they are related to or the fact they have a great personality. We have to stop voting for people who don’t speak about the issues or who simply attack their opponents without talking about the issues that are plaguing us as a people. People we have to do a better job of voting in this country or we will continue to see the status quo remain. We can’t allow people to run for office without truly vetting their candidacy in terms of where they actually stand on the issues and what they plan to do while in office.

It is time to stop voting for people because we grew up with them or they are dating my cousin, my sister, etc. We have to truly vet all candidates and stop voting for our friends and family because they are friends or family. All of our friends and family are not suited for politics so why do we continue to waste our vote on them when we know from jump street that they are not suited for the job they are running for. People we have to change the way we vote in this nation and we have to start looking for the best candidate even in a crowded field of candidates that claim they are all the best. Everyone who runs for public office doesn’t have the best interest of us the people. That is why we can’t ignore this issue voting no longer. We can’t allow candidates with celebrity status or huge personalities to run for public office and we don’t vet their candidacy in the sense that we don’t question where they stand on the issues.

We can’t continue to vote for people without really understanding their positions on the issues or their platform. We can’t allow people who run or seek public office to go through the campaign season without answering the questions of us the people. The day for that is over. We must be active in the political process more than ever because this politics is slowly but surely becoming corrupt because of the people we put in office. Corruption is not nothing new to politics and political bickering is not either but it is people we elect on Election Day that cause this bad stain on politics to begin with. It is people we vote for on election days that create much of the negativity in politics. People we think who are good people because they husband is good or their mother or father were good politicians that cause much of the problems we see in city, state and national government.

We have to do a better job of vetting our political candidates and we have to start voting for people who care about us the people. We can’t continue to go down the path of electing people to office that we don’t vet or we don’t ask them questions about where they stand on the issues or what their platform is. We need to change how we vote for people running for office. We can’t continue to vote off name recognition or celebrity status. We need people in office who understand the issues, who have worked to resolve issues in our community and who have ideas and plans to improve the conditions of our communities. We can’t allow people who run for office to not answer any of the tough questions that need to be answered in our communities. We need people who have some type of plan that we can critique or at least hold them accountable for once they are in office if they don’t deliver on their plan.

It is time that we the people change the way we think so that we can change the way we vote. Our nation needs leaders not personalities or celebrities running government. We need thinkers, workers and doers in public office not just people with a name and great smile. We need people who are willing to sweat and who are willing to get their hands dirty not people who only want to look good in front of the camera and people who can deliver good speeches but aren’t working to implement any of the rhetoric they talk about. We need people who can negotiate policies, who can relate to the working man, who can understand our youth and who are compassionate about the elderly in public office. People we need people who are proactive and not reactive. We need to elect people to public office who understand where our communities have been, where they can and where they want them to go.

It is time to truly think about how we elect people to public office. We can’t elect people based off of just what they previously did or just off what they plan to do but it is a combination of as well as what they say while on the campaign stomp or how they answer our questions. It is time to change the status quo in government and the only way we can do that is by electing people who make themselves available to us the people and who are not afraid to accept criticism as well as are not afraid to answer the questions we the people have of them. We have to start getting smarter about how we elect people to office and we can’t continue to recycle or reshuffle people from one office to another when they have not shown any proven results for us the people. We have to change this people.

It all starts and ends with how we vote people. The way we vote determines the way our governments will govern. Therefore we can’t elect people who have no clue about the issues or no sense on what is going on. We have to elect people who understand the issues, who understand us the people and who are willing govern fairly. There are two politicians but they are all one person. You have the campaigner who can campaign well and who can speak well while presenting themselves in an articulate and intellectual way but then you have the governing politician or the policy maker and that person might not be as good as the campaigner. That is why we really must ask questions to political candidates in order to find out how they will govern and what are their policies. We have to ask as many questions as we can no matter how tough they are, how long they are and how embarrassing it might be.

If we begin to do this than we will start to have politicians who are not just good campaigners but are good policy makers. This is where it all begins people and I am confident that we can change the way we vote people. We have to change if we want to see better results. This is the time to begin the change and this is the moment to start making these changes now rather than later.

VoteForChange.com: Alicia Keys

Singer, songwriter, actor Alicia Keys asks you to register to vote on November 4. Visit www.VoteForChange.com to check your registration or request an absentee ballot.

VoteForChange.com: Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah doesn't want you to be one of the 50 million unregistered voters. Go to www.voteforchange.com to get registered.

VoteForChange.com: Ballot Box

Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson want you to visit www.voteforchange.com to register to vote by October 6, 2008, request an absentee ballot, and find your polling location on November 5, 2008.

Enough is Enough! Part III

I have said a lot the last few days but the key to American politics, is understanding that we are all human and we all make mistakes. However when we go vote, we must hold our politicians accountable. We can't just go vote and expect our politicians to be perfect. We must make sure our politicians are making decisions that help mankind. We can't continue to allow our politicians to make decisions that harm one group of people. Decisions need to be made that bring equal rights and equality to all of society.

Therefore we as Americans and as human beings must be able to lean on one another for support. The sick and needy won't be healed or uplifted by just a pass of a new bill but solutions to those problems and making sure that the law of the land is enacted depends on us. We must make sure that people aren't breaking the laws of this land. We must make sure that our politicians are upholding the law and when they don't we must call them out. I don't care who it is or what party they are affiliated with, we must hold all our politicians accountable by leaning on our neighbors to help in our efforts to make sure our government is equal to the laws of the land. The rich shouldn't be exempt from the law. John Edwards has been campaigning about there are two Americans and he's right. There are two Americans and no person has to look any further than the Paris Hilton situation. Would a sheriff had let a poor person go home for a day because that poor person wasn't eating? Is this type of treatment that Paris Hilton is getting in jail, the same type of treatment that any regular middle class or poor person is getting in jail?

Now I remember years ago when Martha Stewart went to jail and how her jail resembled nothing like the jails that the regular prisoners are placed in. So Presidential candidate John Edwards is right when he speaks of two Americans and how divided we are as a country. When the poor is in need, what will the rest of us do to help them? When our children are left behind grade because they failed an standardized test when statistics show that must people aren't good test takers to begin with any way, so what do we do to address this problem? When a dying man or woman is turned away at the emergency room because he or she doesn't have health insurance, what do we do? I will tell you what we do, we lean on each other to change the laws of the land and to make sure that the laws of the land apply to all Americans--black, white, rich, poor, etc. We must make sure that the laws of the land are eqaul and fair and don't hinder one group from succeeding but insteads encourages all people to succeed. It doesn't matter, we as Americans must unite like we did for that brief moment after 9/11. We stood united as nation.

We didn't look at ourselves as African Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Chinese Americans or Japanese Americans, etc. but we looked at each other as Americans, united against the face of danger. We looked at ourselves as Americans so why do we continue to divide each other instead of unite. When Barack Obama speaks of hope, he means the type of hope that will lead to action to make a difference in the lives of all of mankind. When Senator Clinton speaks of America being more diplomatic and peaceful, she means that each of us have to look inside of each other and put our pity differences to the side to look at the bigger picture, which is when there are dying people, mis-educated or uneducated people, and poor people, we must find solutions to those problems.

Now I know many of us say that the poor chose to be poor and the mis-educated or uneducated people chose to be that way. Well I say that is not the answer. No one chooses to be uneducated if the proper resources weren't given to them to begin with. For example, if I give you nothing but something to write with, paper, a textbook and no teacher when you were first born. Then will you know how to learn, how to write and how to teach yourself if I completely isolated you from the rest of civilization from the day you were born. Well I know that case sounds extreme but in some ways that is what is taking place in American society. Must places have teachers who only want to deal with the best behaved students while leaving the rest of the class behind and in some areas, students are only taught in school because their mother and father are not around to completely teach them everything else they need to know. So this results in students having to learn survival from their peers or others.

So that is when we as a community must start teaching our children. The school is just apart of the foundation of learning but we need to go back to the old days when we leaned on our neighbors to help us raise our child. Remember the old African proverb, "It takes a whole village to raise a child." Therefore if America is going to change than it has to take a whole village united as one to make sure equal rights and justice is preserved throughout the land. Its going to take all of us to make sure that America is no longer divided by race, creed, religion, economical status, sex or sexual perference, etc. So let's start holding our politicians accountable and let's start holding ourselves accountable in the process.

We must solve these problems now so as the 2008 election approaches think about this when you decide who has the best solutions and heart to deal with these problems.

Enough is Enough! Part II

Now while African Americans have been oppressed in America far too long their, is a group of people that has been held back just as long as us and for every gain that African Americans have made in America, not to far behind were Women. For every gain that Women have made in Ameria, not too far behind was African Americans. The fight for equal rights and justice didn't just stop with the civil rights movements of the 1960s & 1970s. Let's face it, Women and African American are intertwined in America. We both have fought for justice and our place in American society. History books ignore our struggles for equality or barely speak about our movements and the people who led us.

History books barely speak of all the Women and African Americans who have contributed to American society and the building of this land that we call the Home of the Brave & the Land of the Free. Yes that is true, Women and African Americans were full of bravery as they each led corageous movements in order to obtain their freedom in a white man's world. For years, America will a man's world and not just any man but a white man. Women were just as oppressed as African Americans because they couldn't vote or own land. However as we look at the 2008 Presidential Election, we can see just how far both of our groups have come.

However, I don't want people to think for a minute that I am telling women that they should support Hillary Rodham Clinton or I am telling African Americans that they should support Barack Obama. However I am telling women and African Americans this, you need to look at the issues and how far in the race in equality we have come together. While Hillary has our flaws and so does Obama. I want to state this that one flaw of Hillary's shouldn't be that she is ambitious. What politician isn't ambitious or better yet, what human being isn't? If you have no desire for the future than why are any of us living? You must have a dream in this world or something you want more than anything in the world, otherwise why do you get out of bed especially those of us who can get out of bed. Even those who can't walk anymore are ambitious in the sense that they hope to one day walk again or hope to do this that or the other. So let's stop with all this talk about Hillary is ambitious and that's why I can't support her.

Also let's stop with all this talk about Obama not being black enough. What does it really mean to black now days? Must of the people who are black don't even know what black is any more? Trust me I know. How can we claim that this man isn't black enough when he knows more about Black History than many people who seat up there and try to ridicule him. I guess Barack isn't black enough because he didn't grow up in the poorest of poor neighbors or he didn't struggle through life like the typical African American. However he has had his own strugglest in life like any of us and just because he didn't grow up in the slumps of the ghetto or the hood doesn't make him more privileged than the next black man. That just shows that Barack Obama made the best of his situations like any black person can do as long as they are motivated and have those around them to motivate them. Barack had a great family structure which is missing in the black community. So don't blame him for not going through all the struggles that the typical black person goes through but as black people if we reached out to each other and helped raised each other's children as a community than must of our black plight on an educaitonal basis would be defeated.

So let's face it, Hillary and Barack are great candidates that Women and African Americans should be proud of. However to the same extent don't just give them your vote but instead challenge them and make them earn your vote. Listen to their stances on perserving Affirmative Action which helped both of them get to where they are right now. Make Senator Clinton and Senator Obama speak out against what is taking place across America as affirmative action is being taking away one state at a time by a man named Ward Connaly. He first started this campaign in California where it passed and than went to Michigan and once again it passed. Now he is in Wisconsin with it and going state to state getting his anti-affirmative action bill on ballots so that it can pass.

Think about it, without Affirmative Action, we wouldn't be hearing about Clinton or Obama as Presidential candidates. Therefore they should be the main two speaking up and coming up with a plan to perserve Affirmative Action. Like I said, affirmative action was orginally created for Women and it just so happens that minorities like African American and Hispanics have benefited from it. Therefore I need for voters to think rationalely by challenging candidates to develop policies and plans that deal with the issues of Affirmative Action, Education, Poverty, Health Care, Social Security, and the Economy/Job Employment. Those are the issues that really affect Women and African Americans. While the war in Iraq is a major issue, Women and African Americans need to demand solutions to those issues as well and the candidates should be able to give solutions to them.

However just don't ask Obama and Clinton to give solutions but demand it from all Presidential candidates from both parties. All the Democratic and Republican candidates should be able to give solutions to these problems so that you can have choices in terms of who you want to support for the Presidency. It's always great to have choices and I believe that there are great choices out there more than the ones that the media chose to cover night in and night out.

Enough is Enough! Part I

Now come on people. Can't we see what is happening here. Now most of you who read my blog, usually read it and look to see what the latest headline is. However I am going to speak the truth today. So bare with me. Why can't an African American like someone other than Barack Obama without other African American's saying why not Obama. He's the best African American Presidential candidate we have had ever. While that may be true, I am not a supporter of a candidate just because they are African American. Barack Obama is a great candidate and would make a great President one day. However he doesn't speak on the issues that pertain to me as an American but an individual first. I'm not saying Barack isn't black enough because some of our current black leaders aren't black enough and must have paid their dues to society and have forget about the struggle for equal rights and justice once they made it to their leadership positions.

Therefore I want to say that Barack needs to retune his policies and go against the traditional political talk and speak to the heart of the American problems such America's educational system. No candidate has spoke on this grave issue and I am not just going to attack Barack but the issue of the war in Iraq is not the major issue but the major issue to me is what will be America's foreign policy for the future. What will be America's solution to the woes of the education? What will become of the sick and needy and must of all what will become of our neighbors, illegal or not? I don't support Barack Obama as my first choice for the Presidency because his policies don't reach out to me. While Barack speaks of hope and of a new day in America, I haven't seen him create the hope in the Senate yet. I need to see change and I need to hear him take action on the change that he seeks to make. So I need for him to not make decisions based off political glory like the rest of the politicians in DC like he did in the Senate vote to not fund the troops.

So African American's don't just give your vote to any politician because he is black but give a politician your vote because you like their policies and the actions that they take on issues that plague the black community. So let's stop selling ourselves short. Let's stop voting for candidates because they are black or because they are Democrats as well. I know for me, party affiliation means nothing. I vote for the best candidate regardless of their sex, race, or party. I listen to the issues and what solutions they have to the things that plague me right now or will plague me years from now. That's why this is not an attack on Obama but I just wanted to speak to the heart of the matter and say that while Obama brings hope for change, I can't give him my vote just yet until I see more change from him in Congress. Where's the reforms on pork legislation and the No Child Left Behind Act? He isn't my Senator but he is seeking my vote for the Presidency so I need to see something other than what I currently see from him if he wants it.

So while I wish Mr. Obama all the best and if he wins the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, I will surely consider giving him my vote but in the primary as it stands right now, he doesn't have my vote and I encourage others to actually look at all the candidates and their policies. Let's make Mr. Obama and all the other candidates earn our votes in 2008 and every election year after.