A Wisconsin matriarch and her granddaughter take seriously their role in American democracy, even though the system hasn't always delivered for them.
MADISON, Wis. — Sadie Pearson still remembers the first time she voted. It was 1964, and after years of being barred from the ballot box in Florida, she was able to participate in her first election at age 26 on the south side of Madison.
Nada Elmikashfi, one of just a handful of Black staffers in the Wisconsin state legislature, is frustrated that Democrats in Washington, despite controlling the White House and Congress, have struggled to address the issues most concerning to Black Americans, including confronting racism and addressing police use of excessive force.
Nearly 60 years after the Voting Rights Act led to suffrage for the vast majority of Black America, some Black women who pride themselves on their sparkling voter turnout records said they were struggling to see the fruits of their participation. They described an America where racism is on the rise, voting rights and the electoral process are under attack, and politicians seem unable or unwilling to protect Black Americans.
Even after leaving the Deep South, they continued to encounter racism on the road to Madison; people shouted slurs at them at the gas stations and rest stops along the way. “I was asked if I wanted to work the polls in South Madison, because all the poll workers were White, and more and more Black people were moving into the neighborhood,” she recalled recently. “I ended up working the polls for 25 years. I wanted to be there for people like that person I was, Black people showing up to vote for the first time. I wanted to be there to tell them that their votes really count.
Elmikashfi’s frustrations reflect those findings. She said that she understands why so many Black people are disillusioned with American democracy, particularly given the obstacles Democrats in Washington, with a razor-thin majority in Congress, have faced in fulfilling campaign promises.
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