A Reason to Vote… Just Because

by Bob Smith

I spoke to my youngest son last weekend. His first year at college is a whole new world.
When he was growing up, I would take him into the voting booth with me whenever there was an election or any other issue “we the people” had an obligation to decide on. He is excited that at last he will be able to vote for the first time and make a difference.

We would whisper to each other as we pushed the buttons for the various candidates. We educated ourselves on who we voted for. He asked me about the straight vote lever and I told him “ that lever is like the electric rail on the subway. You never touch it. You inform yourself so that you know about those people who best represent how you think, how you feel. You will never find anybody who will perfectly represent you but you just find the best person you can and vote for them.”



I
taught him to “cherry pick” the best people you can find. “I have never
found them to be in one party; I pick and choose good people wherever I
can find them.” That is the essence of good voting: serving not your
party, but your country.


We used to go up
to the Montford voting place so often that if we weren’t there by 7:00
a.m., someone was ready to call me and see if I was all right. All the
registrars knew our names. When Kids Voting started, Chris was the
first one out of the house on Election Day.


We took a lot of
time talking about history and why it was so important to make your
concerns known by voting. We talked about the many people who suffered
and died so that people could vote. There were laws against women,
Jews, blacks, Chinese, and a host of other folks preventing them from
voting. It is one of the most precious freedoms we have as a free
people. It is the franchise and we must cherish it.


I remember
“colored only” water fountains in Asheville. I remember when my mama
went into the side of stores to buy our clothes and hoped they would
fit. I remember paying to get on the bus at the front door but always
sitting in the back. I still remember.


I remember going
to the Catholic School, St Anthony’s, and getting a good Catholic
education and feeling good about myself. One day I found a magazine
called “ Our Colored Missions,” and there we were in the middle of the
book: a colored mission school. I still treasure my history and my
education but something happened the day I found that book. We ought
not forget our history.


On Election Day,
every election day, I think the whole town should shut down because so
many people are at the polls. I think traffic should stop and schools
should close because that’s how important our voting is to us, all of
us. I think people of color ought to be there from the time the doors
open until they tell us to go home. We ought to vote as if our lives
depended on it. It was not so long ago that they did. The real news is
that our lives still do.


I don’t know
whom Chris will vote for, but he has a good head and I trust him. He
will be a dangerous man, a man who does his homework – he will be
prepared when he goes into the booth.

I look forward
to his calling me the way his brother did the first time he voted, and
telling me, “Dad, I did it. I voted. It was great.”


Bob Smith is Executive Director of Asheville-Buncombe Human Relations Council.