To vote: Yes or no?

 I have been struggling with what I feel has been a real dilemma for me. The question has been should I vote  and if I vote who should I vote for?  

Woody@rgbstock.com

Last night my friend took me to see a film called SELMA (highly recommend). Within the first few minutes I was hit in the head, and my heart, over my so called "struggle".   What planet have I been on?  How dare I insult the sacrifices made for me so that I can sit here pondering whether I should vote or not!  I don't have the right to ponder. Vote I must. Whilst the whole film resonated loudly impacting upon my mind, body and spirit there was one line that hit home. Now I am not quoting the exact words but it said something like...... our ancestor’s blood pumps through our veins and so we are ready........ How could I really have thought it was not worth voting this year?

My struggles/ dilemmas around voting have been internal and personal. I have always voted but it has got harder to tell the good from the bad. One mess after another and every one is slating the other off rather than really solving the problems. I'm fed up with the new kid on the block writing crap that sounds like they thought it was a great idea in the bath until it's exposed to the real world! Then when challenged they back pedal, run for the hills or attempt to bury it under other news items. They cross their fingers hoping that we so called lesser mortals forget their mistakes.  Or they thought it was a good idea amongst their friends and can't see what all the fuss is about when ordinary people go into a 'rant'.

 

vote here woman by prolife@rgbstock.com

The other thing I have been watching since the beginning of this year has been the drip feeding of so called 'good' news stories.  You know the headlines stating petrol is down for the first time in x amount of years thus proving the measures put in place are working. Inflation, unemployment, houses prices at their lowest proving the economy is the best it has been in years and thanks to the current measures put in place by this government. I like cheap fuel like anyone else but give me some meat on the bone please. Other, almost unbelievable, occurrences have been taking place too where political members have being caught out on radio or documentaries  revealing either their real thoughts about people within the community or their lack of preparation when faced with some simple questions. This doesn't give you much faith. I mean if you can't  prepare for the questions what faith do I have you can prepare for what is to come if you are in power? Do I sound a little cynical? Well welcome to my weary brain. 

In the UK things around voting have changed. For the first time in my memory we are now required to use our national insurance numbers to register to vote! Might not be a big deal to you reading this but we used to complete the census that arrived on our doorstep every year. It asked the householder to complete a form that registered the over 18 year old household occupants who were eligible to vote at the address. OK those annual letters have been a bit of a pain and it was only a matter of time before they asked the population to register details on line. However there were a few years when they sent the letters to us and gave instructions on how to use their on line service. We were given a deadline to submit the information. However I have to really believe that when they informed the nation, that we now needed our national insurance numbers to register to vote, that I must have been asleep somewhere! 

I suppose the changes are to be expected but what I am so surprised by is the lack of publicity surrounding the changes. I have been watching, and I guess waiting, with each passing week to see if anything might spike. I have subconsciously been wondering if next week they are going to really push the publication to the masses. But I haven't seen it. 

 So what I been doing? A friend of mine is very political. I don't think that I am but  know that I am always interested in learning something new so I have been engaged in some interesting debates, attended some lively events and been reading more. I was asked by this friend if I could ask another person in my circle for some help to publicise changes in the registration for voting. So I did and was so surprised that in just talking to people, who I thought would know what I was talking about, was that they didn't actually have a clue. This surprised the heck out of me. I don’t think that I am anyone people would really listen to and because as I say I felt I had been "sleeping" I thought I was in a minority .

I have found it surprising that by just talking to people and raising their awareness that I am being political in a very basic sense. One such person was a Bishop at a very large Black church. When I spoke to him he wasn't aware of the changes. I felt that if he was not aware that maybe people in his congregation might not be aware either. When I happened to call him it was a good time because he was going to be meeting with his senior leadership team. I sent an email with more information and a operation black vote (obv) link so that he would be able to use it to explain what we had been talking about. http://www.obv.org.uk/ I have also been speaking to my friends about the issue and raised it at the hairdressers: the matter of needing national insurance numbers to vote. Well you can image where this conversation ended up. It became clearer to me that people within my community are not so widely aware of this change.  The hairdresser /barbers are really the hub of politics if only politicians knew it. 

I can't see David Cameron or Ed Miliband chilling in  say a Brixton hairdressers talking to ordinary people. Do you?

I don't think that my community is not political. I think we just haven't engaged in the process as much as some other communities might have done. That said I think there is much more work to do on this matter.  When our boys are dying on the streets because of guns we are vocal. We just need to follow it all the way to the top and even become a swarm of people in the system. Sending one person does not have impact and can be very isolating.

I can't count the never ending commercials on TV promoting various products. Yet when it comes to something as fundamental as our right to vote I have not seen any adverts, commercial or news items.  I find this perplexing. I wonder if you have noticed or have we just been too busy trying to make ends meet that we actually let this slip under our radar? 

So the pressure has been my ‘spirit’ to write this blog, which was started weeks ago, but now seems the right time to bring it out from the shadow of my computer into this open forum for whoever needs to read it. 

At church this week they asked if anyone had any notices. I like when they do this because any member can share something. Yep you guessed it. I popped up my hand and informed the congregation that we now need to register with our national insurance numbers to vote!  It got people talking and now it is going to appear in the weekly service sheet so that people can be reminded.  Some members came up to me afterwards to air their thoughts/ views. I just told them to go and watch the film Selma. I told them that after they'd watched the film they could come and tell me what they intended to do. It’s a small act but I hope it has a positive ripple effect.

got a letter - Lusi @ rgbstock.com

Today a letter landed in my post box confirming my right to vote! Yippee but the deadline for new registrations must be received by Monday 20^th April 2015. So to those in the UK here is your deadline.

While I now focus on whom I intend to vote for the question that I had, about whether I would vote or not, no longer arise. It is now a given. My homework if you like is about looking at more detail on the policies these political parties have circulated and whether there is anything that relates to me and the matters I hold dear. Let me say this. None of the political parties should take my vote for granted.  They have work to do and I am going to make up my mind. My vote will count and will effect change.  I have no intention of surrendering my vote that easy. Will you?