Please allow me to speak personally for a moment. So many beatings and deaths were part of the movement to allow everyone in our country to have a vote. At the time of the march in 1965, only 7% of black Americans had been allowed to register to vote in the area along the march path. Many of them were sharecroppers who were thrown out of their houses and off their land when they finally did register. One of those sharecroppers was a pregnant woman who was living in a tent city when it came time to deliver. She tried to go to the local hospital, but they turned her away, and she died.

So, I feel gratitude and excitement during this final week of voting in the United States. It is such an important right, and I’m grateful so many are turning out to vote nationwide. Regardless of which party you want to vote for, I encourage you all to exercise this wonderful right that many died for.