Quote:
Originally Posted by persiphone
the actual ins and outs of voting laws in each state is near mind boggling. it's a huge source of discouragement for many.
|
I understand this, but can't accept that it can not be changed- and I can see OWS as a vehicle to this change- not entirely, but a big part of what needs to happen. I honestly do feel this way. I know that the obsticles are many and so many of us are so damn frustrated too. I have been in this space many times before- but I also can look back at some very critical change factors following social movements that I have lived through. The ending of the Vietnam War is one example as well as the end to a military draft. Roe v. Wade is another. I was a kid for brown v. Board of Education and did not live in the South, but I remember changes even here in CA due to it. Also, civil rights legislation actually brought many people in states that are usually viewed as non-racist
out of denial about the fact that racism is everywhere in the US. We may not have had signs posted about where and when POC could go- but it sure was implied behaviorally.
The only way a democracy can work is for people to participate even when we feel frustrated and angry. It has taken a hell of a lot of injustice, especially for younger people to say that is enough, but they are doing so and participating more and more. More and more older folks will join in too as they see that OWS isn't going away. POC unable to trust that this is their movement too will change that and participate in larger numbers. I have to have hope and the only way I can keep hope alive is to do whatever I can as an individual to participate and support this movement. No way am I going to sleep in a tent in winter- those days are gone for me and my older bones, but I will march, vote, reamin involved in local politics and sit with the old fart Republican poll workers during elections and watch every damn move they make!