Why I Vote: A Reflection from the Deep South

I grew up in the Deep South, where my very existence was a protest. I remember when the right to vote wasn’t just a line on a poster — it was a battleground. Our elders faced down hate, humiliation, and violence just to cast a ballot. They weren’t voting for candidates; they were voting for dignity, freedom, and the right to shape the world their children would inherit.

So when someone asks me, “Why do you vote?”, I don’t hesitate.

I vote because my ancestors fought, bled, and died for a right this country once said wasn’t mine.

I vote because silence in the face of injustice is consent — and I refuse to co-sign my own oppression.

I vote to disrupt systems that still profit from the pain of Black folks while pretending to offer progress.

I vote because faith without works is dead — and democracy without participation is too.

I vote because I believe in my people’s power, and I’ll never let anyone convince me it doesn’t matter.

I vote because my hope is active, not naïve — and I’m still betting on us.

Every election reminds me that my vote isn’t just a civic duty — it’s a spiritual act. It’s my declaration that the struggle of our people was not in vain. And yes, I see what’s happening in this nation — the rise of racism dressed in political suits, the open hostility of policies that wound our communities, and the apathy that keeps too many of us home on Election Day.

But I refuse to sit this one out.

Voting is how I keep faith with those who came before me — and how I help clear the path for those who will come after. Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream, I’ll keep showing up at that ballot box.

Because showing up is how we win.

— The Reverend William L. Mathis, J.D., M.Div.

Pastor, Springs of Life-Giving Water Church

New Haven, CT