Photos: Twitter\NAACP
NAACP President Derrick Johnson made the following statement during this year’s Fourth of July holiday and singled out the importance of voting.
What is Independence Day to a Black man denied his right to vote?
What is Independence Day to a woman denied the right to her own body? What is Independence Day to the child shot dead by police? What is Independence Day to a poor household with no access to wealth but a mountain of debt? What is Independence Day to a country with a democracy in flames and limited freedoms for a limited few?
It’s tough for us to celebrate your Fourth of July, because our Fourth of July is still one of oppression.
We’re not free to vote, we’re not free to breathe, we’re not free to choose. Our rights are being slashed.
If our nation managed to free itself from the British, surely we can free the poor from their student debt, or the Black families from voter suppression, or every woman from draconian rulings.
Democracy is on the ballot this November. Your rights and freedoms cannot afford to sit this one out.
It’s not just about the person in the White House.
It’s about those on the Supreme Court, those running our cities and those occupying our state houses.
