When I was first elected as the mayor of a small city, I was pretty young. OK — very young; I was 24. One day soon after I started, a Black teenager happened to come to the building where I worked to visit his mother and got into the elevator. An older woman looked at the 15-year-old and asked, delightedly, “Oh, are you our new mayor?”
A funny story, but the great part of it is the effect on that kid. His mother later told me that, sadly, her son had been mistaken for a lot of things, including being a dangerous person. People had even crossed the street to avoid him. This was the first time he had been mistaken for a person of authority, and it practically had him floating off that elevator. He could see himself as a mayor one day, or a senator or president. It changed him.
I tell that story because it so beautifully expresses the power of representation. Seeing more people who look like us in office is one of the reasons why it’s so important for Black Americans, and especially Black men, to vote. But it’s far from the only reason. With a critical midterm election ahead, it’s vital for us to get to the polls.
When we vote, we see great leaps forward for our communities. More of us get health care, our friends get better jobs and our neighborhoods become safer. Ask ourselves whether we make the greatest gains when we are the least politically engaged or the most politically engaged, and the answer is obvious. Voting is the ultimate expression of love for the community; I truly believe that.
At the same time, I know that Black men face unique obstacles to voting. We are more likely to be targeted by a racist criminal justice system that incarcerates and disenfranchises us. If we’ve had this experience, we might not know if we can vote safely and legally. Worse, we may be the targets of deliberate disinformation campaigns to intimidate us.
In 2020, thousands of Black voters in Detroit received a robocall warning them that if they voted, the government would come after them for outstanding warrants and credit card debt. It was a scam perpetrated by a couple of far-right white guys, and we’ll never know how many people were effectively scared off.
These are external obstacles, and there are others — including voting made more and more inconvenient by voter suppression laws aimed primarily at us. But there are internal obstacles, too. The greatest resistance I hear is from Black men who say, “My vote doesn’t matter.”
My answer to that is, “Look at Georgia.”
In 2020, increased turnout among Black voters and young voters in Georgia flipped control of the U.S. Senate. Because of that, the Senate confirmed the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson. The CARES Act was passed, extending unemployment insurance and the child tax credit. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.
In this election, a lot of rights and freedoms we count on are teetering on the brink. Our votes could make the difference in whether our moms continue to get Social Security, or our sisters have access to abortion care and the right to control their bodies. And if that responsibility isn’t enough to persuade us, the debt we owe our ancestors ought to be.
We can’t forget that people literally fought and died for our right to vote. In addition to the people who lost their lives, there are heroes who put their names and reputations on the line for civil rights: John Lewis, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to name a few. We owe it to them to use our vote; we owe it to ourselves.
The next generation is counting on us. Our children born this year will, God willing, live past the year 2100. The choices we make today will determine what kind of world they live in. My choice to vote is one of the investments I make in their future, and that gives me joy.
So, vote – early if you can, or on Election Day, Nov. 8 — and share the joy.
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Svante Myrick is the Executive Director of People For the American Way. Svante Myrick is one of the most dynamic young, progressive Black leaders today, former mayor of Ithaca, New York, Rabbi Beerman Peace and Justice Award winner, and an experienced political analyst. Myrick and People For are coordinating national and Georgia-based GOTV efforts through election day.
