Flying with the vote

Today is the day to vote in the midterm elections. There has been a huge push for people to vote early and this year over 2.1 million people did which is a state record. We have held voter registration drives on our campus and I know that at least one person who registered for the first time in his 30+ years actually went out and voted. I will admit that I do not understand that how someone that old never thought about registering to vote, but that is fine. It happens and it happens more than I could ever realize for a myriad of reasons. Fortunately for me, on my 18th birthday, my dad took me to wherever one registers to vote in Wedowee, Alabama (yes, that is a real place). 

We are voters in my family. We just never talked about who to vote for. I honestly do not know who my parents voted for in any election. I can surmise, but I honestly do not know. Except for the Roy Moore run-off. I told my mother that we needed to talk about that election. She looked at me and said something like she was not stupid and she knew who to vote for. She said that she did not vote for him before and would not vote for him now. So I quietly stepped back into my place of silence. And that is the only conversation I have ever had about voting in my family. I mean, I think my parents voted for President Obama. But I really do not know and I am grateful for that. I was allowed to make independent voting decisions. 

I will admit that I did not always take that responsibility with the full value that it deserves. There are times when I did not research the candidates and simply voted based on what I heard/saw in the media. I thought that my vote did not count, but I had to do it because too many people died so that I could vote. And now I know that votes do count. And earlier this year I co-founded the Civil Rights Race series which organized a 51-mile relay from Selma to Montgomery in the exact footsteps of those who walked in 1965 for the right to vote for blacks. I also did a presentation at the Beach Institute here in Savannah on Pilgrimage to Sacred Spaces: Commemorating Selma. So I have no excuse not to vote and no reason not to encourage others to vote. 

And today is the day to show up and be counted, yet again. Today is the day to redefine or maybe further define our nation. (I stole that from one of my students). This isn't Selam in 1965, but it is a historical moment and we must rise to the occasion. In Georgia, we have the opportunity to have the first black woman governor in the freaking country with Stacey Abrams. It is difficult to believe (okay, maybe not really) that there has not been one yet. Not only is she a woman of color, but she also has an actual platform. (I never advocate for voting for someone based on skin color or gender since stupidity, greed, and a list of other negative attributes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors). 

Anyway, make today a great day. Get out and vote.