Merrill, Winfield.
The past year represents a small space in the arc of history but one that has bent dramatically toward justice.
Propelled by a bipartisan zeitgeist both locally and nationally, our criminal justice system — which has wreaked discriminatory havoc on communities all over the country — is in the midst of a historic overhaul. Last summer, our courts finally accepted that everyone’s marriage must be recognized. And events in recent years have given new meaning to the words: ‘black lives matter.’
When we talk about wage disparity, the impact of violence, the educational achievement gap and the very issue of life itself, and the problems facing modern America calls for “the fierce urgency of now.”
Whatever one thinks of the means or ends, what we are witnessing is democracy in action. In our democracy, more expression is better. In our democracy, more engagement is better. To make change we depend on civic action in our streets, college campuses, airwaves and legislatures.
But what about the ballot box?
Nationally, the news is not so good. The past few years may have handed us as many losses as Shelby County v. Holder gutted major provisions of the Voting Rights Act. In addition, a number of jurisdictions have introduced draconian laws that are suppressing minority votes. A recent report suggests that these changes suppressed turnout among communities of color and potentially disenfranchised minorities during the 2014 midterm elections.
In Connecticut we must guard against these toxic policies. We also must work harder to ensure that everyone in the Constitution State votes.
While the candidacy of President Obama mobilized African-Americans like never before, we still see minorities vote in lesser numbers than their white counterparts, especially in critical midterm elections. Young people (18-to-29-year-olds) of all races turnout less than any other age group in Connecticut.
This is a problem.
Today, just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. recognized more than 50 years ago, we have yet to “make real the promises of democracy.” As we try to measure inequality, we see income gaps, achievement gaps, disparities in the quality of services and extreme differences in the basic treatment that people receive in everyday life. Changing these injustices requires us to understand that voting is more than just a right or responsibility it is also a tool of direct action.
In other words, black votes matter.
The ability to choose an elected representative is a critical instrument of power. It is visible, tangible and functional. As Dr. King — who was murdered 48 years ago this week — once wrote,
“So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind — it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact — I can only submit to the edict of others.”
Your vote is your voice in action.
Elected officials count votes. They read returns and are aware of who elects them. When they speak to crowds, they see who shows up.
This is our call to citizens: vote.
However, the challenge goes both ways. Policymakers we must do better. Those of us in government have a continued obligation to remove barriers to voting wherever they appear.
We need to expand our information networks that will keep people’s voter file up-to-date and enable citizens to automatically register.
Registering for school, housing or other public services should be interconnected with our voter registration system in order to give people the option of registering automatically. This will bring more people into the electoral system.
We do not expect this to happen immediately but in the wise words of President Kennedy, “let us begin.”
We need to permit early voting. An effort to do so by state constitutional amendment failed in 2012 perhaps due to confusing wording. We should try again.
We need to work tirelessly to reach the tens of thousands of men and women who have been disenfranchised by a criminal justice system, which has operated in a dramatically disparate way towards communities of color.
Democrats and Republicans are working together to keep non-threatening ex-offenders in the community. Many of them lost the right to vote in prior contact with the system. Though these rights could be restored, people in contact with the criminal justice system must know that once supervision ends, they can vote. All of us have a stake in reintegrating returning citizens as much as possible.
Lastly, we must vigilantly guard against the kinds of voter restrictions that are being introduced elsewhere in the country, which have had dramatically disproportionate impacts on minorities.
Will any of these measures actually increase voting among African-Americans or anyone else? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
The legacy of Dr. King challenges us to aspire for justice and to act.
Gary Winfield of New Haven is state senator for the 10th General Assembly District. Denise W. Merrill is secretary of the state of Connecticut.
DR.king also said.
Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudice, and undemocratic practices of the Southern Dixiecrats . The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of the right wing reactionary Northerners-----DR. KING
I don't profess to have much political knowledge. I would not go out and endorse either party. I see some short comings in both parties, and some good in both parties, but I would not endorse either party----DR. KING (interview with Mike Wallace, 1958)