Just Go Vote!

I'm going to go off the topic of romance this month only to discuss the importance of voting in the upcoming general election on November 6.  Why not in October, you may ask?  My day is the 16th, and if you are not yet registered, you only have until October 9.  I'm not going to electioneer at you either, though obviously I'd love to have you support the candidates of my choice.  But the important thing is that you vote.

I took the training to become a volunteer registrar 6 years ago.  My 4 kids are all young adults and either in college or just finished, so I work 2 part-time jobs in addition to writing and trying to squeeze in time to promote my books.  I have very little time to do any volunteering to better my community.  But I realized that many people don't know how to register, or to change their name or address, so they can legally vote.  FYI, all of that can be done at your local DMV.

Why do I care? I was in high school back in the tumultuous early 1970s, when the Viet Nam War and the draft were splitting our country apart.  Hmm, diametrically-opposing viewpoints seem to be an intrinsic element of functioning Democracy, not something new created by our current situations.  I remember having friends talk about losing brothers or cousins who turned 18, then were drafted, put into a uniform, and later sent back home to their mothers in a zippered body bag.  (Tim O'Brien has written excellent books on what those soldiers faced.  I read "The Things They Carried" in one night because it was so horrifying in its senselessness that I never wanted to pick it up again.)  Yet since the voting age was still 21, the young men being asked to give their lives for their country's war, had no choice in who was their commander-in-chief.  The voting age was dropped to 18 right before I graduated from high school, and I promptly registered and have voted ever since.

I've been at polling places that were crowded and busy, but that's not the norm. Americans don't seem to value what people in newly-Democratic countries wait in line for days and risk their lives for: the right to choose their leadership.  I've done voting drives in high schools, junior colleges and trade schools.  I've registered relatives, friends and total strangers.  And despite their attempts to discover my personal beliefs, I've told teenagers who spout slogans and sound bites at me from both sides, that I'm okay with their vote possibly cancelling mine, as long as they don't just think what they are told to.  I advise them to learn what the issues are and what each candidate proposes to do about them, and to make their own mature decisions now that they are legally adults.
   
We learn much in school about the fight for equality for African Americans, who fought too long and hard for their rights to vote, to allow newly-designed voting restrictions to keep them away now.  I wish schools also taught about how long and hard the battle was for women.  Even the white wives of the men who ran things were told they weren't capable of thinking about such complex issues.  The arrests, the forced-feedings, the beatings...all of that was endured to ensure that each and every one of us has the right to speak our mind at the ballot box.

The polls are open in most states from 7am to 7pm.  If you can't squeeze time into your day, fill out an absentee ballot form and vote from home.  Or contact your local Election Commission and ask them how you can vote there in person.  In my state it can be done the first couple of weeks in the month prior to the election.But use the rights that others fought for and won for us.

I'll close with a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville: "In a Democracy, the people get the government they deserve."  Please vote and ensure that we do.

Note: I usually don't preach at you.  I  try to entertain you with realistic contemporary romances. 
Learn more at: www.fionamcgier.com

African-American Deputy U.S. Marshals

In researching the job of Deputy U. S. Marshal for the hero in my new book, LOST HEARTS, I discovered that many African Americans also rode for Judge Isaac Parker, Federal Court judge for the Western District of Arkansas, which had jurisdiction over Indian Territory.

In a time of post-war, southern reconstruction, when blacks were deprived of citizenship and the right to vote, Judge Parker gave these deputies the legal authority to arrest whites and to shoot whites--or anyone else the situation warranted.

One of the first men to ride for Parker, was Bass Reeves, who was one of Parker's favorite deputies, if not his most dependable.

Reeves stood over 6 feet tall and weighed between 180 and 200 pounds, with a large frame and muscular arms. He could cup a Colt revolver in his palm the way a lesser man would cup a Derringer.

He wore a large black hat, always dressed neatly and was known for his polite and courteous manners. He moved with the easy grace of a man used to open spaces, whose strength had been tested and proven many times. His voice was deep and carried the smooth drawl of the south. He smiled often and his laughter was booming.

Bass was fluent in Creek and could converse well in all the languages of the Five Civilized Tribes.

He wore two pistols, butts forward, for a quick draw that was not only fast, but accurate. However Bass prefered the slower, even more accurate method of taking his time, planting himself solidly and drawing a bead. His skill with a rifle was legendary and he was banned from participating in any local competitions at picnics and turkey shoots.

Reeves prefered using detective skills and disguises as much as possible to avoid shoot outs, although he did admit to having killed at least fourteen men in the line of duty.

Any incident where a felon was killed by a deputy marshal was thoroughly investigated by the Fort Smith court. Some deputies were prosecuted for unjust killings. Bass was never one of them.

Early records paid little attention to race, so it is impossible to know how many African-Americans served as deputy marshals except through newspaper accounts. These are the names of some of the men I came across.

Bass Reeves, Grant Johnson, Zeke Miller, Bill Corbert, Neely Factor, John Garrett, Jim Ruth, Charles Pettit, Robert Fortune and Rufus Cannon.

Many of these men were former slaves with no education. They faced ambushes, shoot-outs, exhaustion, and hazzards of nature. They performed all the duties of a deputy marshal often with outstanding valor and distinction. They are some of the unsung heroes of the old west.