“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” — Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights leader and voting rights organizer.
Climate Emergency, Elections & Mother’s Day
A Note in My Mother’s Spirit: To Voters in Gerrymandered America
I write this with my mother in my heart.
If she were still here, I believe she would speak plainly. She would not whisper around racism. She would not excuse cruelty. She would not pretend that silence is neutrality when democracy itself is being bent, carved up, and sold off district by district.
She came from a generation that saw people march, organize, suffer, and stand tall so that this country might finally begin to live up to its own promises. She knew that voting was not just a civic errand. It was a responsibility paid for by the courage of people who were beaten, jailed, threatened, and even killed for demanding the right to participate in a democracy that had long excluded them.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law on August 6, 1965, after generations of Black Americans and civil rights organizers fought against literacy tests, intimidation, and discriminatory barriers to the ballot. The law outlawed many of the practices used to suppress Black voters, especially in the South. (Department of Justice)
But we are watching that protection weakened. In 2013, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down the Voting Rights Act’s coverage formula, removing a key part of federal preclearance that had required certain jurisdictions with histories of discrimination to get approval before changing voting rules. (Brennan Center for Justice) More recently, the Supreme Court’s 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais struck down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district, intensifying national concern over racial gerrymandering, representation, and the future of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. (Supreme Court)
So let us be honest: gerrymandering is not just mapmaking. It can become a tool for choosing voters instead of allowing voters to choose their leaders.
And when voting districts are drawn to dilute the voices of Black communities, Latino communities, Indigenous communities, immigrant communities, young people, working people, and poor people, then those who benefit from those distorted maps have a special moral obligation to reject that advantage.
This is a note to every voter living in a district shaped by political manipulation: do not let anyone use your ballot as a weapon against your neighbors.
Do not vote for racism.
Do not vote for cruelty.
Do not vote for leaders who seek power by blaming the vulnerable.
Do not vote for those who treat democracy as an obstacle, faith as a weapon, public office as a business deal, or human beings as disposable.
Vote for ethical leadership. Vote for people who defend the right to vote. Vote for people who place human life, truth, public service, racial justice, climate action, and democracy above greed, domination, and control.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He also reminded us that “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” (National Park Service) That is not poetry for a monument. That is instruction for a nation in danger.
John Lewis, who was nearly killed on the Edmund Pettus Bridge while marching for voting rights, called the vote “precious, almost sacred.” His words should ring in our ears every election season. A ballot is not something to waste on hatred. It is not something to hand over to those who divide us by race, religion, class, gender, immigration status, or political fear.
At the same time, the Climate and Ecological Emergency is worsening. Heat, storms, floods, fires, displacement, food insecurity, and ecological collapse are not waiting for our politics to become decent. The planet is telling the truth, even when politicians refuse to.
We now face two emergencies at once: a climate emergency and a democracy emergency. They are connected. A government captured by greed will not protect the Earth. A government built on voter suppression will not protect the people. A society trained to hate its neighbors will not be prepared to survive together.
Many people are being encouraged to blame African Americans, immigrants, Latinas and Latinos, Indigenous people, Asian Americans, poor people, young people, and other communities for problems they did not create. But racism is a choice. Cruelty is a choice. Hate is a choice. So is courage.
Artificial intelligence, like every powerful tool, can be misused. It can consume resources, displace workers, and amplify harmful ideas when controlled irresponsibly. But it can also help people learn, organize, communicate, analyze climate data, expose injustice, and build more resilient communities when used ethically and sustainably. The danger is not simply technology. The danger is who controls it, who benefits from it, and whether it is used for liberation or domination.
My mother would have told us not to be fooled.
She would have said: look at who profits from division. Look at who benefits when neighbors fear each other. Look at who wants people too exhausted, misinformed, and angry to notice that wealth and power are being concentrated above them.
Our children and young adults are watching. They are watching how we respond to racism. They are watching how we respond to voter suppression. They are watching how we respond to climate collapse. They are watching whether we choose comfort or courage.
So on this Mother’s Day, let this be more than remembrance. Let it be a recommitment.
Speak.
Organize.
Write.
March.
Protect the vote.
Defend your neighbors.
Reject racism.
Reject authoritarianism.
Reject maps drawn to divide us.
Reject leaders who seek control instead of service.
And when you enter the voting booth, remember the mothers who raised us, the ancestors who fought before us, the children who will inherit what we leave behind, and the communities whose voices have been pushed to the margins for far too long.
A democracy worthy of the name does not belong to the wealthy.
It does not belong to racists.
It does not belong to dictators.
It does not belong to those who hide behind religion while practicing cruelty.
It belongs to the people.
And the people must defend it—together.
Give light and people will find the way.” — Ella Baker, civil rights organizer often associated with grassroots leadership and movement-building.
Tito
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