Submitted Mikayla Mangome
The U.S. has a shameful history of disenfranchising African American citizens through spurious laws and utter intimidation.
As we mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, it is important to recognize the battles and barriers that women of color have encountered and continue to encounter when it comes to voting.
When it came to fighting for the right to vote, Black women had to fight two battles. Not only did they have to fight sexism, but they had to fight the grueling pandemic of racism.
Women of color often were pushed aside in the fight for women’s suffrage, and the suffrage movement eventually divided over race. When the 19th Amendment was ratified, it largely benefited white women. The South put strategic laws put in place to restrict the votes of Black citizens.
In a Teen Vogue article, U.S. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., wrote this month, “Look at the early days of the civil rights movement — which we’re still in. People always talk about it as some sort of bookend, especially when they are telling the evolution of the experience for Black Americans. They will have you thinking that Rosa sat, and Medgar died, and Martin gave a speech, and John Lewis crossed a bridge, and suddenly we had freedom. That does not acknowledge the many defeats along the way.”
This is imperative for so many reasons. When we talk about women’s suffrage, we do not truly acknowledge the defeats that women of color faced. For example, journalist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells was disregarded by quite a few, but that did not take away her determination and resiliency. We Black women turn pain into power. We are strong, we are resilient, and we are extraordinarily powerful. The attempts to suppress Black women’s votes show how intimidated the white powers that be were by our power. As voters, our votes have consistently shown that we share a common goal to achieve what is in the best interest of the people. Of course, this can be terrifying to men in seats of power that they are on the verge of no longer holding.
As a young Black woman who can vote for the first time this year, I have seen it firsthand. The people in power do everything they possibly can to make it so that young Black voters like me either cannot vote or do not know how to vote.
They tell you, “register to vote,” but do not make it clear what your vote means, or how you can know what you are really voting for.
There is an extreme lack of education when it comes to voting — how to register, how to exercise your vote. They fail to tell us that not voting is voting — you are automatically giving your vote to the person in office, to the status quo. People in power have a vested interest in staying in power, and in erecting barriers to voting them out.
It is very painful to see the people in power — the ones who are supposed to have the best interests of the people in mind — put laws into place that hurt us and help them retain power.
I have vowed to educate myself and do everything in my power to make sure that my vote is not lost. I have decided to turn my pain into power and remind myself that I am just as equal as any other human being. The color of my skin and my gender have nothing to do with my vote — the content of my character does. My right to vote has been hard-won and my vote is important. My determination and resilience are not diminishing anytime soon, if ever.
Mikayla Mangome is a graduate of Manheim Township High School and a leader in the local Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
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