Lame Excuses for Not Voting and an Action Plan for Voting

What We Blacks Need to Do – Not Voting:

Why are people not voting: People please do not listen to these depressed people with their lame excuses. I challenge them to put their little granddaughter and grandson, who believe everything they say, on their laps and teach them not to vote and explain why. I don’t think many of their children will ask them to baby-sit again.

LAME EXCUSES:

1. I try to stay out of politics because they all are liars.
2. My church said “pay your taxes, but do not vote”.
3. They use legal words that I do not understand.
4. They are all rich and will not do anything for me.
5. I do not have time or money to go across town and vote.
6. I do not want them to call me for jury duty.
7. I do not know who to vote for.
8. I owe back taxes.
9. I can’t climb those high steps.
10. Back in the day, I served time in jail.
11. There is no difference between the Democrats and Republicans.
12. My one vote will not count and I don’t care.

ACTION PLAN:

The republican’s majority who do not want us to vote changed a number of rules, wiped some of our names off the registration rolls, stopped us from voting on Sunday after church and changed many voting places.

We must ask serious questions and take notes we can refer to later. Write down the name of the person you are talking to, including, title, date and time you talked to them. Take your time and ask them to spell their name and title. If they are disrespectful to you or refuse to answer a question, calmly call out their full name and ask to speak to their immediate supervisor. Call your local NAACP branch if you have a complaint. Please remember we do not fight back with vituperative language, knives or guns but with lawyers. (Not Voting Keyword)

1. Call your County Board of Elections to see if you are registered.
2. Find out the address of where you will vote.
3. Get your sample ballot.
4. Learn about ever person and issue on your ballot.
5. Ask about an absentee ballot and how to use it.
6. Encourage five or more people to register and vote.
7. Plan when and how you will vote.
8. Vote early, no long lines and it may rain on November 8^th.
9. Remember your children under 18 cannot vote, they are depending on you to vote for people who will protect their safety and rights.
10. Buy a subscription and read your local Black Newspaper. Some are under $40 a year. (The same price as four large pizzas.)
11. If you have not taken the time to research the issues and candidates, please ask someone you respect and trust to advise you on what and who to vote for.

The worst thing that could happen to us in North Carolina is to wake up on November 9^th to discover that Governor Pat McCrory and Senator Richard Burr were re-elected. For all who have not been paying attention, I must share this with you. Governor McCrory is just like George Wallace and Senator Burr is just like Jesse Helms. The majority of the extreme conservatives in the U. S. House, General Assembly and local races are turning the clock back to 1953. The guiltiest organization is the coldblooded New Hanover County Board of Education with their neighborhood school / segregated school policy.

The nightmare for the rest of the civilized world would be the election of Donald Trump as president. In 1968, George Wallace, won around 3 percent of the black vote. Donald Trump is receiving less than 1 percent in 2016.

We good people have the power to determine who will win on November 8^th. The ball will be in our court and our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren lives will be affected by our vote.

If two uncontrollable world leaders like Donald Trump and Kim-Jung-UN get into an argument about who has the worst hair, it could be war not college or work for our children.

Matthew 18:6 (Paraphrased) “If anyone causes one of these little children—these who believe in me—to stumble—it would be better for them to have a 50 lb. iron weigh hang around their neck and be drowned in the deepest part of the sea.”

James J. Hankins is a graduate of all “Black” Williston Senior High School, three years in the U S Army stationed in Germany, NC A&T State University alumnus, retired vocational education teacher, past president of the New Hanover County NAACP, seven years as construction manager of Wilmington Youth Build, charter member on friends of Abraham Galloway and author of the book “What We Blacks Need To Do; go to www.jhankinsrealty.com for his contact information.