I write to you as I enjoy my off term in Memphis, TN working for the Blues Foundation. I arrived at work early the other day, as I do every morning, so that I could check my BlitzMail and read the "D" before my boss arrives. And then I came upon this op-ed piece by Mr. Dan Galemba, entitled "A Little Experiment." In it, Mr. Galemba writes, "For those of you who missed it, once Florida's turn came, every member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and several of its supporters in the House, came up, one by one, to deliver an objection ..." I gauged from the article that Mr. Galemba had issues with this demonstration.
Let me say that I, a registered voter from Texas, who didn't vote for Bush but would have voted for John McCain over Gore, was pleased and elated with the objections the black caucus made during the joint session. Call it whining if you want, but I call it standing up for people who were treated unfairly. No matter how you spin it, Mr. Galemba, when you have voters getting stopped before they reach polling places by police, ballots being found days after the election when no one realized they were missing (it happened in my hometown during the November election), polling places closing early or running out of ballots, or 60,000 votes not being counted, and all of these things happening in certain areas, wouldn't you say there are serious problems in our system? And I'm not pulling these things out the sky. I listen to the local news report these stories during just about every election in Houston. I doubt very many, if any, of the voters who told these stories were making them up.
I live in a predominantly white, suburban area in Houston. When elections are held, there are no shortage of polling places. When you go to the polls, don't worry about standing in a long line to vote. There are plenty of stations, so everyone gets in and out of there in no time at all. Now, go to a predominantly black area, like the one where my aunt lives. Voting places are scarce. Once you get there, you're going to have to wait in a long line because there are only a few stations. Don't be surprised if they run out of ballots or close early! And both of these situations are being run by the same city and state governments. I'm frustrated that these issues have not been alleviated. Now, that I've gotten older and understand the significance of it all, I, too, definitely want to do something about it. This was definitely a wake-up call for all of those disenfranchised citizens. Hopefully, they will take action.
I'm not whining about the election. Though I am unhappy with the outcome, this was Al Gore's election to lose, and he lost it. (The Supreme Court was helping "W" out a bit.) G.W. will be the president for the next four years, and there's no denying it. But, you can only expect the Democrats to give him the same courtesy that Clinton received from the Republicans.
Beyond that, there are still thousands and thousands of people, including myself, who object to the way this election went down. As American citizens with as much right to all of the privileges that come with being a citizen as you, Mr. Galemba, shouldn't their grievances be dealt with?
By the way, yes, Bush still needs to reach out to those Democrats who felt they were wronged. He's going to be the President of the United States of America, not the "President of All the People Who Voted for Me." Forget about the politics and the attitudes of "Well, you have to reach out to me first," G.W. is still running our country and will need to look out for ALL of its citizens. If he doesn't, he'll be saying bye-bye to the White House in January of 2005.
