(AURN News) — For Shirley Thomas, a registered Democratic voter from Dayton, Ohio, today’s presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump carries profound personal significance rooted in her early life experiences in the Jim Crow South.
As a daughter of the South who lived through the Jim Crow era, Thomas reflected on her journey and its influence on her political perspective. “I started working in the fields at four or five, carrying water to the people that were in the cotton fields,” Thomas recalled in an interview with American Urban Radio Networks. “I was too young to work, but I did that all the time until I was old enough to pick cotton myself. If we go backwards, all those things are not impossible to happen again.”
“I couldn’t figure it out as a child. I thought maybe the people in Washington don’t know, the people that are supposed to represent us don’t know what’s going on,” she told AURN News.
James Early Chaney was a 21-year-old Black civil rights activist killed by the KKK in 1964. “All that stuff happened in Mississippi, with Chaney and all of them down there in Philadelphia, all that stuff, I saw all that. It’s a terrible memory.”
Thomas also emphasized the stakes of the election for younger voters, particularly in the Black community. “These are things we will not have any control over with the judicial system because it will not work in our favor if Madam Vice President is not elected,” she warned.
She also pointed to Trump’s appointment of more than 200 federal judges during his presidency, including three Supreme Court justices, and drew parallels to past Supreme Court nominations. Thomas talked about her particular concern about recent judicial decisions affecting voting rights. “America must realize a panel of Donald Trump-appointed judges issued a ruling on October 25 that an election law expert called bonkers,” she said, referring to a Mississippi voting case. “How such issues are decided at the High Court in the future could effectively be decided Tuesday.”
Despite polls showing Trump leading Harris by 8.8 points in Ohio according to Real Clear Politics averages, Thomas remains steadfast in her message about the importance of voting on Election Day, particularly to those who feel their votes don’t matter and to young people.
As voters head to the polls, Thomas urged them to ignore distractions and focus on what matters. “Please don’t watch that foolishness on social media. Don’t pay any attention. How dare you allow somebody else to tell you what’s going on in your home,” she said. “Vote your conscience. And if you still have doubt, pray on it.”
For Thomas, who witnessed the civil rights struggles in Mississippi firsthand, this election represents more than just a political choice – it’s about the direction of American democracy itself. “We cannot turn back,” Thomas insisted.
She also believes that voters shouldn’t let polls discourage them from participating. “You never know until it happens, and if you don’t get out there and vote, you’re not going to know what happened,” Thomas said. “I look at the polls, but you can’t trust the polls to me. So you shouldn’t get discouraged and not vote because of the polls, because if you don’t vote, they could very well be true.”
“I think our young people need more civics. I think they need to be taught the educational process, the electoral process, they need to know the importance of their vote,” Thomas said. “You have to vote your pocketbook. You vote for a person that has been in your shoes, a person similar to you. A billionaire wouldn’t dare know.”
Thomas, who attended President Biden’s inauguration and White House Christmas celebration, expressed concerns about healthcare under a potential second Trump presidency. “He’s talking about rolling back Obamacare. He hasn’t done anything in all these years. He has a concept of a plan, which is hogwash,” she said. “I think there are 50 million people registered with Obamacare. And why would you go and do something because you’re jealous of the success of another president?”
Thomas’s final message to voters was clear: “Vote everything that affects them, what will make their life better, what is important to you, and whomever you feel that has your best interests at heart. That’s who you should vote for.”
Click play to listen to the AURN News report from Jamie Jackson:
