Our Voting Rights Are Under Assault

By Bryan Jenkins    

I’m having nightmares about the ongoing assault on voting rights, primarily affecting us voters of color. It’s a not-so-quiet movement taking place in the legislatures of 47 of these United States! In my 66 years, I’ve voted by mail many times.

But now several elected officials are on record claiming – with NO evidence from any state or locality – that voting by mail opens our election to massive fraud! They make this claim despite the fact that, during the Covid scare in particular, voting by mail proved to be the safest, most convenient way to exercise our constitutional right and responsibility to vote.  

Now get this… by-and-large, people most likely to vote by mail are working-class folks – generally people who can’t afford to take time off work to wait for hours in polling place lines. Some states have already insured we’ll face those lines – which serve to suppress the vote – by closing down polling places and limiting the days polls are open. And guess where it’s happening?… in Red States, among mostly working class communities of color!  

Former President Donald Trump installed Louis Dejoy, a loyal donor, as Postmaster General. The man had no USPS experience. A controversial cost-cutter from the beginning, he initiated an austerity plan masked with the title, “Delivering for America”. His track record during the last election? The mail slowed down, services and manpower were cut, and curiously, government mail, i.e. mailed-in ballots, once treated as first-class mail, became classified as bulk-mail — at greater risk of slow delivery, non-delivery and straight-out disposal! I cringe at the thought of what’s in store for election 2024!  

In 2020, just to hedge their bets, the Trump faithful – betting black folks were really stupid – supported a silly-putty side campaign fronted by Rapper Kanye West… even promoting his CDs! This time around, Trump is hawking branded tennis shoes and bibles, telling the world that black folks relate to his experience with the justice system! Yep! Super-rich white dude, indicted on multiple criminal charges and still not behind bars, actually said that!  

Umm… still scratching my head! I don’t have enough pages to respond! Trump went on to say he’s done more for black folks than did Abraham Lincoln! I just… If that wasn’t such a tragic lie, I’d be laughing!!! As if running in gold-colored hi-tops, while brandishing his personalized ‘good book’ holds a higher value than freedom!  

GEEEZ! Will we fall for any of this entertainment “OKI-DOKE”?… or will we fight like our grandparents did, in yesteryear, to exercise our hard-won voting rights… take off work, caravan, pick up neighbors who don’t have a car, and go brave the lines to VOTE! Or better yet… MAIL THAT BALLOT IN! I’m worried whether we’ll stay woke… stay involved… and do what it takes, to tell America we’re not going backwards… and that’s why… I can’t sleep. Can you? 

Bryan Jenkins is a 35-year veteran of Broadcast Journalism… honored for work ‘on the set’ and ‘in the field’, with two Los Angeles Emmy Awards, a Golden Mike Award and The N.A.B.J.’s National Award of Excellence. Bryan is a captivating storyteller and communicator, having worked as Anchor, Reporter, and Producer in major markets across the country, and contributed to successful media campaigns for local politicians and non-profit organizations. He now resides in southern California, sharing his expertise as a writer and media consultant.