This image is of Peggy (R), then a 19 year-old SNCC member, next to future civil rights icon, Dr. Dorothy Cotton (L), after a 1962 church burning in Georgia—the state that Peggy's great-great grandparents, William & Ellen Craft, famously escaped from slavery nearly 115 years earlier...
MY
W E E K L Y
W O R D
V O T E V O T E V O T E V O T E V O T E V O T E V O T E
9.14.2021
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
Dr. Dorothy Cotton
If you're in California it is imperative that you VOTE TODAY! All votes count, as we've seen with the last election cycle. I and many others, put our lives on the line to fight for your right to vote, others lost their lives. Please don't take your vote for granted and squander an opportunity to have your voice heard. I'm proud to say that my granddaughter, Kayelynn voted, while her brother, my grandson, Izaiah, 18, voted for the first time for this recall election! It's surreal that I was his age when I was with SNCC ramping up my fight for voting rights...then at 19, I was down in the segregated Deep South trying tor register citizens to vote, who'd been too long denied... And now we see it all rearing its ugly head again...the only way to combat it again, is to vote... So, VOTE! As extra motivation in honor of today's vote is my "Vote" poem that I wrote in recognition of the March on Washington... VOTE!
"VOTE"
​​by Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
There it is
That ancient call to reach forth
To stretch against the tide
To ride the wings of promises
Made In darkness
In the chains that bound us
In the holds of ships
In the cabins of bondage
In the arms of captors
That we would arise
Find ground on which to forever stand
Be the people who
Face harsh winds
Spurn the fears
Ride the rails
Run through forests
Beat the drums
Call the ancestors
Carry one another
Dodge the bullets
Outlast the hatred
Outrun the dogs
Resist the hoses
Endure the jails
Organize the people
With heads high
With hearts intent
To voice a thought
To select a leader
To choose a destiny
To right a wrong
To make our mark
To check the box
To lift a hand
To pull the lever
To mail the ballot
To brave the cold
To sweat the heat
To stand in line
To talk the talk
To walk the walk
To take a stand
To find the rainbow
To set the compass
…and just carry on.
© 2021 Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely. All rights reserved.