Let your voice be heard

By MOLLIE FINCH BELT

The Dallas Examiner

A large majority of the Black community is too far away from history to know the sacrifices made by many people so that African Americans could vote. Additionally, many of us have not studied our history to know the sacrifices made by others so we can vote today.

The stories have been told, but have we listened?

The story I like to share is about a student from Dallas, Lewanda Kayrette Jordan. After she graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, her parents sent her to Fisk University, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fisk, Kayrette Jordan joined the Nashville Student Movement, an organization that challenged racial segregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement. This organization was created during workshops on nonviolence taught by activist and professor James Lawson. The students from this organization initiated the Nashville sit-ins in 1960.

Kayrette Jordan participated in sit-ins at lunch counters in Nashville and was arrested several times. Because of her young age, each time she was arrested she was sent to a juvenile detention center. Julia Jordan – now deceased – told me she and her husband were told by the authorities in Nashville that if they did not stop their daughter from protesting, they would put her somewhere where they could not get her out.

Julia Jordan said she asked her daughter why she continued to protest – though they continued to get her out of the detention center she would go back to protesting and get arrested again and again.

Her response was, “I am doing this for generations not yet born.”

When Kayrette Jordan died she had scars on her back from cigar and cigarette butt burns that she sustained while she was sitting-in at lunch counters in Nashville.

Kayrette Jordan’s story is one of many stories of young people who sacrificed during the Civil Rights Movement. Many lost their lives in the movement. They are not here today to vote and have their voices heard, but we are here and do have an opportunity for our voices to be heard.

On Nov. 8, we must let our voices be heard.

Martin Luther King Jr. said in his Give Us the Ballot address in 1957, “Give Us the Ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.”

Today, we have the ballot because of the sacrifices made by all of those who protested against injustice and the fact that Negroes could not vote.

On Nov. 8 there is a very important election. There are vast differences between the candidates. You will have an opportunity to choose the candidate who best represents your position, beliefs, etc.

Be an informed voter.

All of the Monday Night Politics: Meet the Candidates forums are on our website at https://www.dallasexaminer.com and The Dallas Examiner app available on iOS and android.  Furthermore, on our homepage in the News tab under the Voting category, there is information about the candidates running for each race.

Elections give us the agency to voice our opinions about issues affecting our city, state and country and help leaders put our priorities at the forefront.

Do not miss this opportunity to let your voice be heard.

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