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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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(8/26/00 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
At the Democratic National Convention, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., called this election "a moment that we have waited for more than a generation to come our way." For the good of America, the weeks remaining until November 7 present us with an opportunity we dare not waste.
If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were alive today, Georgia Congressman John Lewis has observed, "...he would be in the forefront of reminding the government that its first concern should be the basic needs of its citizens for food, shelter, health care, education, jobs, livable incomes and the opportunity to realize their full potential as individual people."
In 1963, Dr. King taught America that our national dream of freedom and tolerance could not be fulfilled in a land where the poverty of some supports the affluence of others. "We cannot be satisfied," he declared, "as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote."
This year, Republicans profess inclusion while they seek to deny us the power of the ballot. Right wing Republican leaders in the Congress denied us a census that would accurately reflect African American voting strength, and a conservative Supreme Court crippled the Justice Department's ability to enforce the Voting Rights Act.
The leaders in the Court's highly questionable voting rights rulings were none other than Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, whom George W. Bush considers his models for future Supreme Court appointments.
Governor Bush and his congressional allies continue to preach that the national government is not to be trusted - that we should rely upon charity, not government programs, to uplift those Americans whom history, prejudice and neglect have left behind.
Yet, "we the people" are the ultimate force behind government in America. It is our will that the Republicans do not trust. With kindly smiles and soothing words, these same Republicans ask us to trust them with our future.
In contrast, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman have earned our trust. African Americans have compelling reasons to vote for them. In Baltimore, we know Al Gore's worth - he helped me save the Healthy Start program that is reducing infant mortality here.
Al Gore is a good, determined and committed man. With a Democratic Congress, he will take on the powerful old guard who would take America back in time.
By supporting the Vice-President, we vote for ourselves - for pre-schooling and health care coverage for every American child; modernized public schools, smaller classes and bridges across the digital divide; an increased minimum wage and a patients' bill of rights with real teeth; Medicare-based prescription drug coverage for every senior citizen; an end to racial profiling and a Supreme Court that will guard our liberties, not ignore them.
"This election takes place in that moment of great possibility and unmet need," Rev. Jackson declared in Los Angeles. "It presents each of us with a choice: two teams, two plans, two directions."
African Americans need a President and Congress that share Dr. King's vision. This year, we hold the key to that future in our own hands.
In the 1998 mid-term elections, our votes were decisive in statewide races in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. This year, if we maximize our voter registration and turnout, we can complete the peaceful American revolution that men like Dr. King, freedom rider John Lewis and Rev. Jackson began 40 years ago.
Democrats are only six seats away from winning back majority control in the House - a transformation that would place African Americans in power as chairmen or subcommittee chairmen of 19 important committees and subcommittees, including Judiciary (Rep. John Conyers, Jr.), the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Rep. Julian C. Dixon ) and Ways and Means (Rep. Charles Rangel).
That is why it is so important that each of us - and the organizations and churches to which we belong - help the NAACP register new voters by the October 13 registration deadline (in Maryland, call 800-222-VOTE for more information).
This year, it is time to assert the full measure of our citizenship. This is our time, the moment we finally can take our rightful place in the nation we helped to build.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
