The air in Wallis Annenberg Hall filled with applause as I began to stress over the chaos of placing a radio package together in Adobe Audition. For a split second in the media center, I escaped the demands of an overly ambitious graduate student and reminded myself this was a night I would never get back. For the first time in my late-20s, politics reflected a familiar shade of cerulean.
Other students and I gasped in astonishment as states like Texas and Iowa began to reject its red roots. Watching South Carolina choose a Democratic senator left me in shock. Seeing Keisha Lance Bottoms become the first Black woman governor in the country’s history made me ecstatic. By the end of the night, Democrats had rescued both the House and Senate.
The last couple of years taught us elections matter. When I went to Leimert Park to visit the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex on Election Day, many voters in line expressed the same sentiment.
“There’s a lot at stake. I have a daughter. I look for my future and I look for her future. So much could be lost,” said Lauren Quarles, patiently waiting to cast her ballot. “It is so important that our voices are heard.”
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has three significant sections, section two, section four and section five. Section two eliminates all methods that deny the right of any citizen to vote based on their race or color. This is permanent and nationwide. Section 4 previously extended to ‘covered jurisdictions’, certain areas of the country that had a history of racial discrimination, under a specific formula. The formula was within Section 4b and prevented knowledge and literacy tests from being used to prove a voter’s eligibility to vote. Section 5 covers preclearance, “provides that no change in voting procedures can take effect in covered jurisdictions until approved by federal authorities.”
Before the act was established, only Black men were given the ability to vote through the 15th Amendment in 1970. That still was not enough to protect the voting rights of Black Americans and other groups of color. There were many states, predominantly in the South, who developed literacy tests to make voting difficult for these groups which led to the creation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Our ancestors fought for this day, so we are taking advantage,” said Quarles.
However, under Shelby County vs. Holder in 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that Section 4b was unconstitutional, meaning the covered jurisdictions do not need to seek preclearance in Section 5 to determine changes to voting. Last April, the Supreme Court ravaged through the foundation of the act, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier to redistrict congressional maps and voting influence harder for communities of color in certain districts.
Leading up to this year’s midterm election, Trump pushed for the redistricting of congressional maps. The encouragement led to the swift passing of Florida’s new congressional map, created by former Gov. Ron Desantis earlier this year. It also prompted gerrymandering in Texas, Ohio and Alabama, whose Democratic representatives maintained their federal positions of power.
The president tried and failed to get the Supreme Court to limit mail-in voting. Earlier this year, he signed an executive order that would require states to submit a list of voter’s names and addresses with specific barcodes on their ballots to then be delivered by USPS. The order was thankfully blocked. This move comes from the fact that he still believes that he lost the presidential 2020 election because of mail in voting, claiming it is “the biggest scam to American politics.”
In his last ditch effort for a Republican turnout, the president spent all of October campaigning around the country, vomiting words of bigotry and ignorance. During a rally in Michigan, he referred to the now first Muslim senator, El-Sayed, a “jidhadist” who is “on the side of terrorists,” comparing him to the 9/11 attackers.
At another rally in Georgia in response to criticism from former president Barack Obama about the renovations (if you can call creating an unnecessary ballroom a “renovation”) to the White House, the current president said he [Obama] “wouldn’t understand.”
Yet still, we rise.
His desperate tactics concerned me, but they did not scare me. His attempts to turn public opinion around proved only one thing: the pendulum is swinging back progressively. The same demographics that formerly voted for Trump, working-class white, Black and Hispanic men turned Democratic. And Gen-Z turned out in droves.
There is no denying this is all great news. But we are here for a reason. America could not handle a Black president for two terms and chose to punish itself by electing bigotry and ignorance personified.
Despite the Democratic projections in the hours leading up to election night, it has been extremely difficult to remain hopeful in a Trump-era presidency. Gen-Z knows this country has a bad habit of shooting itself in the foot, even if it means it shoots others as well. As a Black woman, I am annoyed that it took a painful, fascist 21-month spanking filled with a war, higher gas prices, groceries and a terrible job market to knock some sense into America.
The surge of emboldened racism seen through the lack of representation onscreen, the slashing of DEI initiatives and attempts to ruin my ability to vote is not what my 20-something and older year old generation signed up for. It’s amazing how what were supposed to be the best years of our lives became the most unbearable.
As the night came to a close, the results posed one thought – the onslaught of Democratic voter decisions displayed that we in the country are at least in the same chapter (lest we all eventually get on the same page). Many of us in this country can no longer handle the reality we are currently living in. Is there hope for us yet?
I pray it does not flicker then cease. I can’t take any more disappointment.
Edited By Robert Hill