Senator Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches # 1238

  Voting is powerful. It’s the difference in being spoken for by others and speaking for ourselves. It’s the difference between being half a citizen and being a whole citizen. It’s the difference between being recognized as fully human as opposed to being a little less than human. Voting is that powerful.

  When I reached 21 years of age, I could not vote in Alabama. My mother could not vote even though she had been grown for years and had given birth to 13 children and raised 12. My father could not vote either and he was older than she was and had raised as many children. Not being able to vote somehow said we were not intelligent enough, not worthy enough, not capable enough.