Councilman Wilson Goode Jr, at Young Philly Politics:
Voting rights for African-Americans were guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified on February 3, 1870 - but not until 40 years ago was there a federal law to fully protect those rights. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on August 6 of that year by President Lyndon B. Johnson primarily to end practices of racial discrimination that blocked voter registration and included the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to politically disenfranchise African-Americans.
As we reflect on the last forty years of progress that has been made in terms of Black political empowerment both locally and nationally, it is now time to also address the generation gap that exists within this community and the nation as a whole.
In Philadelphia, I am the only member of City Council that was born after the Voting Rights Act was signed – in fact; I was born only a few days later. And, although there are seventeen members of council - only two, other than me, are under the age of fifty.
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Young Philadelphians now see a City Council whose average age will probably be at least sixty at the time of the next election cycle and a city government that still does business almost exclusively with white men. They see a state government that raises its own compensation level without even considering a minimum wage hike for the rest of the state. And they see a federal government that has divested from urban America in a way that diminishes their economic hope.
In short, they see an older generation that can not hold its political representatives accountable.
Read the rest at Young Philly Politics.
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