The Battle for Equality in a Divided Country
“Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we work for the world as it should be?” — Barack Obama
Today, I opened up Twitter…and immediately shut it again. I was not emotionally prepared to take on another day of the news.
So I thought I’d do what I do best, hit the books, and try to grasp reality through history. In my contemplation, I thought of the female vote. Man or woman, black or white, the vote is our freedom, our power, and our right to exercise our political voice in this shriveling democracy. However, in the 19th century, women did not have the right to vote. Further, black women remained excluded from the narrative due to segregation and racism; but in truth, they were fighting a greater battle: Jim Crow.
Today, the end goal goes beyond justice for Goerge Floyd and even surpasses the broken police system. Much like our female predecessors who won the vote — the end goal is overcoming our racial divide, so that we may, together, begin to rebuild this fractured country. In the coming weeks, we will have a chance to exercise our right to vote, and I encourage you to reflect upon how these rights were gained — for women of all color.
