Voters Rights and Civil Rights

I went to see the movie Selma http://www.selmamovie.com/ earlier this year.  I thought I had blogged about it, but maybe I did not.  It is a movie marking the 50th anniversary of the march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, in an attempt to get voter's rights guaranteed for Afro-Americans.  It depicts the brutal treatment that not only the black people, but anyone who stood with them, received at the hand of the Alabama authorities. It is a bittersweet movie, at best. 

It is a story that needed to be told to the young people of our country who have no idea how racially divided we were until the Civil Rights Act http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm and the Voting Rights Act http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_b.php. were passed. Even passage of the acts did not guarantee equal treatment for people of minority status, as events of today indicate. These acts did not unite us by race or color, but helped with movement towards equality of civil rights, and responsibilities. But we are not there yet.

We have a President of Afro-American origin.  I was dismayed from the outset of his Presidency at the disrespect that the media showed him, often calling him Mr. Obama, instead of Mr. President. He deserves the title. He was elected.

Someone commented that with Mr. Obama as President, Dr. Martin Luther King's dream has been realized. I think not. Not as long as Mr. President Obama, and other black men have to have the talk with their sons, especially about being aware of where you are in public, how you present yourself in public, because police might perceive you as a threat just because of your race (racial profiling https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/racial-profiling), Dr. King's dream has not been realized.

So, the commentary at this point in time of our nation is sad:  The public spokespersons for the minority communities talk about the fact that there is only about a 35% turnout of voters for elections. This is a travesty!  The people who fought in the Civil Rights campaigns, and the Voters Rights campaigns did not give their lives and their selves for 35% voter participation.

I am not sure what I can do to encourage voting, but I think this is another of my social work missions that I need to embrace.  I have been too complacent, too long.