You can’t afford to not vote

Do not let apathy rob you of your voice. Go vote and be heard. We are sometimes not silent when we ought to be, so we must definitely not be silent when we shouldn’t be.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has said, “we will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

This is not a time to sit idly by on the sidelines and hope for things to continue moving forward. Educate yourself on the real positions of the candidates on the issues that will have an impact on your life and/or the lives of those you love. Remember that people show their most authentic selves in the company of those like them. So, when people tell us who they care about and those they do not, it may be wise to believe them.

If you care about access to affordable and quality education and health care, equal rights for everyone and not just for some, then you have to vote. If you care about your aging parents or the well-being of your grandparents and their access to the Medicare and Social Security they’ve earned, a woman’s right to be in control of her health, and economic growth designed to strengthen the lives of folks like you and your friends and provide access into the middle class for those with even deeper struggles than yours, then you know there is too much at stake to sit this one out.

Young folks, please go vote. There are so many who are counting on you to sit this one out, but you cannot afford to do that. The time has come for us to take our places and high step proudly into a process that has long denied us access. We cannot afford to let this time pass us by. We must show up and make our intentions reality.

We must be able to answer “present” this time, this year. No excuses will be accepted for those who choose to be absent. You must be concerned with keeping our country moving forward and together we must not let disinterest, indifference and/or laziness to drag us backward.

Be encouraged.

Email LaTonya Dunn at [email protected].