A piece that I tweaked from over 5 years ago. In light of the current candidates running in this year’s election, I wanted to encourage you to exercise your right to vote.
Voting is a right and a responsibility that I take seriously. One of the things that I learned at an early age is the appreciation of my history. I learned not only African American history, but my family’s history as well. My great grandparents were sharecroppers and my grandparents and their children picked cotton.
According to the U.S. History Encyclopedia: Sharecroppers were agricultural wage laborers who raised crops on farm plots owned by large landowners in the post–Civil War era. Both landless whites and blacks worked as sharecroppers, although the majority of sharecroppers were African Americans. The system of sharecropping primarily existed in the southern states and was the end result of struggles between former planters and recently freed slaves over the terms of a new labor system. The sharecropping system was financially oppressive and most sharecroppers were unable to break out of a cycle of poverty and debt. Sharecroppers…
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A Thomas Point of View 
It’s always been a bit difficult for me as I can’t bring myself to vote for people I don’t like. As I live in a place with such a tiny population that every vote does actually count, so much so that politicians are willing to pay people to vote for them, I do vote. When I lived in the UK, I only did it once as there was only ever once a candidate, who happened to be running in a local election, that I felt that I could vote for without being a hypocrite. I have mixed feelings about voting and elections, the majority winning and so many other things. Were I in the USA, my feelings would run even deeper as no one actually gets to vote for the President at all and it’s not a true democracy. I do understand and respect those who feel strongly about doing it themselves though and I will be participating in the UK’s referendum on leaving Europe as it is such a pivotal issue and it’s not about supporting a person but aligning with a position.
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