Why I Vote: Thomas L. Reynolds

From a young age my grandparents instilled in me a need to vote. My maternal grandmother would talk about the struggle her generation made to gain the right to vote. She would turn off the old black and white TV she had in the kitchen after the news and give me her history of Black America. Every election day, National, State or local, she would bring me in the voting booth with her and let me pull the lever. As I grew older, that understanding of what it meant to be black in America and how our greatest tool was the vote was never lost.

My paternal family were immigrants from Jamaica. My grandparents would spend winters on the island to escape the cold and visit family. 

They grew up on an island under colonial rule of England and did not have the right to vote for their leaders until independence in 1962. To go from a sovereign nation to a parliamentary democracy to the United States’ constitutional republic was a change my grandparents always reminded me of. They could vote for their president, a right they did not have in Jamaica growing up. Every year, and still to this day, they plan their trip home to Jamaica around the second Tuesday in November. In addition, every spring they made sure they were home before the second Tuesday in May (our local election date). They guaranteed that every election, their voice is heard.

When I reached high school, our school had a program in its infancy, “The Civics and Government Institute,” a small-learning community focused on government and civics through the History, Philosophy, Reading and Writing coursework. At the time, you could count the minorities on one hand. We had our own mock government that dictated the activities of the Civics and Government Institute (CGI). We had elections for positions on the executive branch, we had an appointed judicial branch, and at the time, everyone else was a member of the legislative branch. Every spring we would take a trip to Washington, DC and gained a sense of pride in the role of government, and the social contract we all enter as citizens. We were not given rose-colored glasses; we knew that the system was one that was always in need of fixing. We had the privilege of meeting some of the “top guns” in DC at the time, Attorney General Janet Reno, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, secretaries and under-secretaries of various departments.

There was one trip the conflicted with another big school event and I ended up being the only person of dark skin on the trip. Sitting in a room with the only sitting minority justice on the Supreme Court. As he explained why he did not support affirmative action, I looked around the room for another face like mine to remind myself of the struggle my grandmother told me of that gave us the chance to level the playing field. I looked for someone who knew what Presidents Kennedy and Johnson boldly stated when signing the executive orders that called for hiring without discrimination. And there was me, only me, looking square into the eyes of a supreme court justice.

I vote because I know that our next president has the potential to shift the direction of the courts. I vote because I know that in Jersey, a vacancy of over 50 seats on the bench means we are not guaranteeing a fair and speedy trial. I vote because my values need to be heard by my representatives. And not only do I vote, I hold my representatives accountable, because voting is simply not enough.

I heard a great quote the other day “There is no second place trophy for a black man in this world.” Until we reach a day when there is equality for all, I will vote for those who share my values and actively advocate for it.