The November 6 election is a critical battleground for the fight to retain what is left of our voting rights. This election could have dire consequences to the gains made over the past 50 years in the struggle for civil rights, human rights, and human dignity.
We have witnessed in real time federal policies aimed at punishing and imprisoning the poor. The most recent appointment to the United States Supreme Court gives the conservative right the balance of power. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act opened up the floodgate to voter suppression. The DOJ is erasing legal gains made in immigration, policing, criminal justice and voting rights. The current administration in essence declared an all-out war on people of color and other marginalized people, unleashing blatant racism and hatred.
I am a progressive Democrat, which in the moderate to conservative climate of the Midwest implies that my political goals are usually unattainable. However, I stand solid behind my belief that government has an unequivocal responsibility to care for the marginalized and most vulnerable in society. These core values are why I am supporting U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s re-election bid.
McCaskill believes that one of the most fundamental rights is the right to vote, and she has backed legislation to restore the full protection of the Voting Rights Act. She has stood firm against voter photo ID laws. She has pushed for bipartisan criminal justice reform and called for a top-to-bottom review of the criminal justice system. She has fought to protect the Affordable Health Care and SNAP for low-income families.
I would like to see McCaskill make a stronger commitment to raising the minimum wage, health care for all, free college tuition, and eliminating cash bail, among other issues that I believe are important to making our society and environment safer and better for all. I pledge to work with her, or against her, to aggressively address and attain these things. But what I will not do is stay at home or vote for a third-party candidate.
We must not allow our being fed up with government ineffectiveness and political partisan bickering – or our mistaken belief that our vote doesn’t change anything or that one candidate is just as bad as the other – to keep us from exercising one of the only avenues for change that we really have: our vote.
I know progressives who believe a vote against McCaskill is their only avenue of protest against a Democratic Party that has not been too welcoming. But there are groups of people and communities that need your vote and cannot afford your protest. The results of this election could literally mean life or death for many Americans and others around the world already living in fear, famine, and frustration.
I’ve met with her opponent, Josh Hawley, and he did not give me false hope, or any hope, that he would support my issues. He was clear and has been consistent that he would follow the lead of the current president. That alone was enough for me to fully support McCaskill.
There is, without a doubt, too much at stake in this election, and a Hawley victory would not be a people’s victory. A McCaskill defeat would be devastating to communities of color for years to come.
Claire McCaskill is not the perfect candidate for a progressive like me, but she still gives me hope. I believe that she has heard the criticisms and cries of the people. I’m not going to allow my vote to be about Claire. I’m going to make my vote be about me and the future of my family and community. I trust that you will too.
Rev. Darryl Gray is a civil rights activist, former Kansas state senator, and chairperson of the Missouri Democratic Party Progressive Caucus.
