Alabama Republicans are reportedly working to dismantle the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchise more voters.
For almost 60 years, the positions of mayor and Town Council member in my small town of Newbern, Alabama, were “handed down” by white residents to other residents. Newbern is a small and majority-Black town, yet Black residents could not remember a single election for those positions. Almost four years ago, I ran for office. I was excited to become the town’s mayor-elect and appoint a representative Town Council to govern our community.
Newbern is my home. And I, along with other fellow residents, refused to give in to the discrimination that prevented us, for decades, from being civically engaged in our community. That discrimination meant we were rarely a part of decisions that affected our everyday lives — from how our streets were cleaned to whether we had access to public spaces such as the town hall. There exists a long and painful history of voter suppression across the nation.
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