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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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(7/29/00 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Dr. King once observed that "the most revolutionary act our people can engage in is to assert the full measure of their citizenship." The wisdom of that observation was reinforced this month for everyone who attended the 91st annual convention of the NAACP.
Ten thousand delegates left Baltimore's Convention Center understanding that November's elections will shape our lives for a generation. That is why the NAACP is working to register 2 million new voters - why the organization's theme for this year is "Race to Vote."
In his July 10 NAACP address, President Kweisi Mfume outlined what is at stake this year. His speech should be required reading for anyone who mistakenly believes that it will not matter who wins the White House or controls the Congress during the next 8 years.
"This is a fight for all people," my old friend and colleague observed. "It is not for us a matter of having come a long way, but it is in fact a matter of having a long way to go."
The questions for America posed by the NAACP are those I confront every day in the Congress.
Which candidate for President and which party in the Congress will maintain the peace and prosperity we have achieved during the Clinton-Gore Administration - while diligently working to eliminate the poverty that persists for too many Americans? Who will act affirmatively to include all Americans in the educational opportunity, jobs and businesses that provide economic empowerment?
Who is more likely to expand affordable health care to protect everyone and restore medical decisions to us and our doctors through a patients' bill of rights with real teeth? Who is determined to eliminate racially-based health disparities? Who will protect Medicare and Social Security while providing seniors with an affordable and accessible prescription drug plan?
Who will enthusiastically support public education? Who will do what is required to help our children cross the digital divide?
Who will support community policing that provides real security from crime without condoning racial profiling or police brutality? Who will insist upon a fair living wage for every working family and more-effectively encourage financial institutions to invest in the communities that support them?
Who will choose the three or four Supreme Court justices during the next 8 years who will hold the fate of affirmative action, a woman's right to choose and other constitutional safeguards in their hands?
These were the questions that dominated discussion during the NAACP Convention, just as they do in our daily lives. Now, as America watches the Republican presidential nominating convention in an attempt to find some answers, Hillary Clinton's advice is worth heeding. "Watch what they do," she suggested, "not what they say."
Life remains difficult for far too many Americans. I agree with Kweisi Mfume that compassion is laudable, but the American people need and deserve constructive action by a national government that respects us and wants us to participate in the decisions that affect our lives.
Like 1960, when African American voters in Chicago helped to elect John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, this year's election will decisively affect our lives. That is why each of us should join the NAACP in encouraging everyone we know to register to vote by the October 13 deadline.
Anyone not yet registered can receive an application form in the mail by calling 1-800-222-VOTE or the local Boards of Elections (Baltimore City: 396-5580 and Baltimore County: 887-5700). Churches, fraternal organizations and other groups can also arrange training and certification for their own voter registration drives.
President Clinton, who journeyed from the peace talks at Camp David to address the NAACP, left the 10,000 convention delegates with words no American should forget.
"How a nation deals with its prosperity is just as stern a test of its judgment, its vision and its values as how a nation deals with adversity," he warned us. "We will never forgive ourselves if we don't say we are going to use this moment to build the future of our dreams for all God's children."
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
