Ensuring the Future for the Young
Voices of a Generation: A Series in Black History Essays
This February as we celebrate Black History Month, we commemorate the people and events of the past and present who have contributed to the success of the African American race. Today’s African American youth are indebted to those who sacrificed so much of their lives or commit their lives so that we can enjoy the comforts of others. Over the past four decades, we have been able to enjoy the luxuries that our ancestors only dreamed of. While we are fortunate enough not to have to endure the hardships of the past, we have the responsibility to protect and secure the progress that has been made to assure that the hard work of the past was not in vain. For young African Americans, there is one simple and easy way to protect our future and ensure that we only continue to move forward, and that is to vote Democratic.
At the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Rev. Al Sharpton gave a rousing speech about what the Democratic Party meant to African Americans. In his preacher’s voice, Rev. Sharpton took Americans through a time line of the struggles that African Americans went through and had to overcome to receive basic civil rights and liberties in a racist America, and how the Democratic Party worked with the African American community as they fought these battles. If any person did not understand why so many African Americans vote Democrat, after his speech they did.
Many say that today the country is polarized when it comes to politics, but I can say for millions of my peers, we are not polarized at all. We know what we stand for, we know what we believe in, and we know the Democrats are the people who listen to our concerns and take action. Thousands of African American children do not receive a quality education. Affordable higher education is still a dream for some. A well-paying job remains out of reach for many. Voting rights are now threatened in several states. Democrats have always been the champions of education. Democrats always seek to build a strong economy and create more jobs. Democrats have always been the defenders of voter rights. Forty years after the passage of the nation's major civil rights laws, when it comes to our economic, social, and political issues, the Democratic Party has the right stance on each issue. It may have been the Republican Party of Lincoln that freed the slaves, but it is today's Democratic Party that seeks to maintain the rights and enfranchisement of African Americans.
The Democratic Party has never wavered from its message of equal rights, liberties, and opportunities for all. By voting Democratic, we are voicing that we, too, believe in these basic principles and will support those who share these common beliefs. The issues we face today as young people may be different from those of our grandparents, but they are issues that make up the core beliefs of the Democratic Party.
During Black History Month, as you watch the documentaries and read the stories of how African Americans have risen from slavery to prosperity, think about the untold story behind it and the role that politics played. There is a reason why the majority of African American elected officials are Democrats. There is a reason why only the Democratic Party has African American presidential candidates. And there is a reason why African Americans continue to be a strong base vote constituency for the Democratic Party. No party has worked harder to help African Americans than the Democrats. This has proved to be the case in the past, the present, and will continue well into the future.
A'shanti-Fayshel Gholar of Las Vegas, Nevada
Student, College Democrat, and a proud African-American
