This week, I put on my crash helmet and dive head in to one of the biggest issues to hit our state since Prop 26. Its Initiative 27. Voter ID! Are you FOR or AGAINST this is my question. Me personally, I am FOR it. I do not see what the big deal is. Now granted saying that I am for it means that I am for everything that is in the current bill but let's stop right there. I have an issue with some of the language in it. To put it in simpler terms. I am FOR the idea of voter ID.
Here is the ballpark idea of initiative 27: Initiative #27 would amend the Mississippi Constitution to require voters to submit a government issued photo identification before being allowed to vote; provides that any voter lacking government issued photo identification may obtain photo identification without charge from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety; and exempts certain residents of state-licensed care facilities and religious objectors from being required to show photo identification in order to vote.-Wikipedia
OK! There is some of the language. But to go along with this there has been a hurricane of debate that follows the issue like bees to honey. For the record, I am an African American male in a Republican state. I have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the history of my state and my people and where we have come as well as where we can go. But the return of "Jim Crow" to Mississippi is not something I truly worry about. If this proves to be so, it will be because people do not get off their hind ends and get involved in the political world as well as their own personal lives. This is SERIOUS! I for one am sick of people saying that its intimidating to those of us with color. I AM NOT. I know I am one person, and the amount of elders here in our state lived through a lot of rough times where this was proven to be true. But I for one, at this time in my life, am willing to stand up and fight anyone who tells me NO I CANNOT because I am not of a certain caliber.
Let's simplify this. Here is a list of things:
1. Driver's license
2. Buy alcohol
3. Buy cigarettes
4. Apply for welfare
5. Apply for food stamps
6. Cash a check
7. Purchase a firearm
8. Make any large credit card purchase
9. Open a bank account
10. Rent an apartment
11. Be admitted to a hospital
12. Get a marriage license
13. Get into a club
14. When you get ticketed by a police officer
Now that is a nice list. So tell me why people feel that VOTING, and showing your ID to vote, is this huge deal. We as people use our identifications for a number of things, and why should voting be any different. I am not Republican, but I do see where this can cut down on a lot of FRAUD that does happen here in our great state. I do not sympathize nor do I understand how an adult, can walk this earth, work, put food on the table, and have a social life as well as be socially conscience but NOT, have identification. It bothers me that some of us are stuck in a certain point and feel that everything in the area of legislation and enforcing laws, is to keep us as black Americans under rule. I do not feel intimidation. I do on the other hand understand and empathize with the elders of this great state. Thank you for paving the way and you SHOULD BE given a pass on voter ID. To the rest of us who are all of able mind and body and have a huge sense of self concience. Get up! Get out! AND DO WHATEVER YOU CAN to further yourself. Just because your carded to vote, is not the end of the world. It will just be the 15th bullet point on the list of things that you DO need an ID for. We should be more worried about slowing down voter fraud on BOTH parties and getting a better turn out in the Black community for our elected officials instead of this petty issue. And trust me, the younger generation will not weigh the possibility of them voting on, do they have an ID or not. It will be already understood that this is one thing that you should have. Just like your college ID, work ID, and more. But that's just my opinion. Let me know how you feel.
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