Frederick Douglass Organization

"I Never Thought I'd See a Man of Color Elected President in My Lifetime!"

I called my father to discuss the the Historic events of November 4, 2008,  and he made me ultra proud when he told me what he did on election day.

"When I woke up this morning, my knees were aching with pain.  I laid in bed for a while and I really did not want to get up.Then I remembered that I had not sent in the absentee ballot that you all had obtained for me.  It was 5:15 AM and the pain in my legs was intensifying.  My body was fighting me and didn't want to do what my mind was saying I had to do.  I turned on the television and there were two elderly Black women struggling up the steps to go vote.  They told the reporter that after all they had been through, after all they had seen, they were not about to let any one or any thing turn them back from going to the polls.  I made up my mind right then and there that I was going to go vote.  I got up, took a bath and was at the polls before they opened at the Senior Center.  In fact, I was first in line to vote for Obama.  Next, I went and drove  some of my friends to the polls."

When I asked my father why he went through so much trauma to vote, he said, "My father was very active in politics and he always stressed to me the importance of voting.  He came to Pennsylvania from the south and he experience the full brunt of segregation and racism.  I knew that if I didn't vote, he would be turning over in his grave.  I thought to myself, what if Barack Obama were to lose by one vote, my vote.  I would never be able to bear the guilt of having to carry the burden of knowing that I did not vote in such an historic election."