Conservatives represent a minority of African-American voters
The scene was disheartening.
There I was standing in front of the
Center for Civic Engagement on campus and hearing students say things
about Quanita May, the newly elected
Zone 3 City Commissioner for Daytona
Beach.
Hearing someone say "I'm not voting
for her. She's Republican" was disappointing, to say the least because while
I am a registered Democrat, I campaigned and voted for May.
Party aside, however, my disappointment in these young black men and
women turned into confusion. Several
questions flooded my mind such as do
they even know why they are making
these comments? Does he understand
the fundamentals of politics? Does she
know the history behind the Republican
Party?
That is when I realized that there are
so many things that college students,
including myself, are unaware of when
it comes to politics.
After the campaign was over, I decided I needed to come up with a plan
to raise student awareness about the
fundamentals of politics. But, in order
to do that I needed to first do the thing
that I was urging every young voter to
do--research.
I think that we, as the young minds
who are going to one day lead this
country, have either forgotten about or
do not care enough to learn about the
things that affect us every day in terms
of government. While I did my own research on basics like U.S. Constitutional
Amendments, I started to wonder why
there was a social stigma against the Republican Party in the black community.
I have come to think of it as a ramification of what has happened over the
centuries involving African-Americans
in the United States.