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 By Jerry Dunfey and Nadine Hack Editor's Note: Jerry Dunfey is the 1974 founding president of Global Citizens Circle (GCC).. Nadine Hack has been actively involved with GCC for 40 of its 50 years. They are fervent citizen activists. We asked them to share their views on the importance of voting. There is a Sweet Honey in the Rock song that we love. Its lyrics are: We who believe in freedom cannot rest We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers' sons That which touches me most is that I had a chance to work with people Passing on to others that which was passed on to me To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on Is when the reins are in the hands of the young, who dare to run against the storm.  So many people dedicated their lives to the struggle for all Americans to have the right to vote. We were privileged to know many of them like Congressman John Lewis to whom in 2003 prior GCC board chairs Eleanor Dunfey and Tito Jackson presented the Global Citizens award. We love his anthem, ‘Make good trouble!’ It’s a struggle that continues today with too many people disenfranchised from the right to vote in the US and throughout the world. Lewis and his colleagues like Coretta Scott King who GCC honored with the same award at a 1999 Circle joined by GCC Honorary Chairs Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Ambassador Andrew Young. Lewis worked for the 1963 Voting Rights Act struck down in 2013 and being championed by a new act in Lewis’ name. Long-time GCC friend John Hume, fighter for the rights of all in Northern Ireland was there too. Hume led a 1978 Circle.   We were honored to present the Global Citizens Award to Nelson Mandela shortly after he was released from prison in 1990. Over the decades from the 1970s, GCC hosted many Circles anti-apartheid freedom fighters including Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, Desmond and Leah Tutu and other lesser-known champions of a free and just South Africa so every person regardless of their race or political view would have the opportunity to vote. In that country, as in the US, Northern Ireland and other places around the world people gave their lives for this right, murdered because of their activism. We must honor them and keep their legacies alive by ensuring that everyone who wants to vote can vote.  With so many having sacrificed so much, we feel a sacred obligation to ‘make good trouble’ and ensure that people take seriously their right to vote. This is why we were and are active in social justice movements throughout the world and why we campaign during every US election. Jerry began in 1952 and 1956 with ‘Madly for Adlai." Nadine began a decade later in the 1964 election. The two of us have campaigned in every election since, including Barack Obama in 2008 and now Kamala Harris in 2024. Regardless of your personal political perspectives, we encourage you to vote as it’s the price of democracy. We hope you vote for the person you believe will best protect democracy, a choice that’s clear to us; but whatever your persuasion, do not give up this hallowed responsibility to your nation.  From 1974 until the present, Global Citizens Circle has highlighted the voices of democracy activists from China, Afghanistan, Syria and countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Coretta and Dr Martin Luther King’s granddaughter Yolanda Renee King co-led a 2019 Circle "In the Footsteps of Giants: Grounding and Growing the Dream." In 2020 then 22-year-old Jahnavi Rao founder New Voters and then 96-year-old Robert Jay Lifton National Book Award winner, life-long advocate of peaceful, socially just and an economically sustainable world co-led a Circle "Defending Democracy." We hope that our democracy comes through with flying colors in Tuesday’s election! Please note: Each week, we invite members of the greater Global Citizens Circle community to contribute to GCC Voices. The views and opinions expressed in each blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Global Citizens Circle. Regardless of your personal political perspectives, we encourage you to vote as it’s the price of democracy. We hope you vote for the person you believe will best protect democracy, a choice that’s clear to us; but whatever your persuasion, do not give up this hallowed responsibility to your nation.
6 Comments
11/4/2024 07:14:22 am
I'll share links to this post on social media as tomorrow is election day! 11/4/2024 09:33:25 am
Nadine and Jerry, you remind us of the vital importance of each person's vote. My parents instilled this in me at a young age, and my mom was a precinct officer in her town for many, many years and took the responsibility of helping people cast their votes very seriously. 4/7/2025 06:56:07 am
Pamme - How fortunate you were to have had parents who taught you the importance of every person's vote. It's a lesson that everyone needs to know. 4/7/2025 11:23:17 am
I sure was! It's something I've tried to incorporate in my own kids as well.
Judith SCHRAEMLI
4/5/2025 03:09:44 pm
I was told to vote because my life depended on it . Then my godmother told me stories of how we struggled to get the right to vote which had been taken from us . She was from a town in Cleveland that white rioters destroyed because they ( black people) would vote . I became a coordinator in my district for 20 years . When I first met Nadine she had me doing voter registration in San Francisco . Which blew my mind because it was not the Deep South . But it made an impression on me . I was participating in truth to power . Thru my life I’ve seen long lines of voters . But the miles people walked in South Africa for Nelson Mandela some lines 1/2 mile long , that imprinted on my soul ! Vote like my life depended on it . Vote and pray 4/7/2025 06:54:37 am
Judith - Yes, we must vote like our lives depend on it because they do! I've been registering voters since 1964. I remember doing this in the Bay Area of California with you a decade+ later. I'm still doing it via Democrats Abroad in Switzerland. Keep hope alive! Leave a Reply. |
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