Global Grind's Michael Skolnik uses the story of a wheelchair-bound man's commitment to President Obama's re-election to emphasize that "anyone who can vote, needs to vote!"
… [T]oday, in his mid 60s, he looked frail. He looked sick. His wheelchair was evidence of that. But, his sickness did not stop him from trying to vote for the first time in his life. An accomplishment he achieved in 2008, when the law changed and allowed him to vote for the first black President of the United States, Barack Obama. I felt like a human being for the first time in my life. His words quieted the room.
Silence. The room went silent. Silent out of respect for the words that were just spoken. A man in his 60s who never felt human? Many in the room could relate, as they shook their heads up and down as if they understood. Instead, I wiped my eyes of the tears that had formed, as I had absolutely no comprehension of this part of the American reality. These conversations don't happen in rooms full of White people. This is not the reality of White America. Reality bit this old man again when in 2012, under Republican leadership, the law in Florida changed again and his right to vote was taken from him again. He was silent. Made silent. Put back on the back of the bus. Wheelchair de-motorized. His pursuit of liberty, roadblocked…
So, there is only one way to combat this despicable treatment of our fellow Americans and that is that anyone who can vote, needs to vote! If you have this right, remember the old man in the wheelchair who would do anything to feel human again. Do not sit this one out. Early voting has begun in many states across the country and people are waiting in line to do what the old man can only dream of. If we will wait in line for hours for iPhones and Jordans, then we must get in line to vote. The old man's pursuit for our happiness should be rewarded by us showing up to the polls in the record numbers and letting "Money" Mitt know that the White House is not for sale. He may have more money than we do, but he doesn't have the power to stop us now. We will ride for Obama until the wheels of the wheelchair fall off…
Read Michael Skolnik's entire piece at Global Grind.
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