KNOW YOUR VOTING RIGHTS!

Take a minute out of your busy day to find out what's going on in America right now..... I'm learning that the Republican party is trying to pass laws that will make it difficult for minorities who support the Democratic party to vote. This amazes me because all of this is taking place right before the primaries. Some of the laws state, county and local units of government would like to see enacted include legislation that restricts early voting and Sunday voting, laws requiring a photo ID on election day - introducing the first financial document barrier to voting since the Jim Crow-era poll tax - and new bans on ex-felons, which some critics are calling racially motivated. They are creating rules that will make it difficult to have voter registration drives.

It is VERY important that we know our registered voting status and our voting rights. We must elect Obama back into office for the next term of presidency!

Reverend Al Sharpton is scheduling a march and rally next month to protest these laws and to shine a light to what the legislation is trying to do. The rally will start in Selma, Alabama, the scene of "Bloody Sunday," the seminal event that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and end in  Montgomery. Congressman, John Lewis, who was badly beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, will also take part in the 5-day event. Educate yourself, then teach your peers. Make sure your friends and family are registered to vote. Participate and conduct voter registration drives, volunteer and serve your community by bringing people to the poles.. Make a difference in your area, make a difference for the betterment of this country. If you can, get to Selma, Alabama and participate in the march with Rev. Al Sharpton and Congressman Lewis.

We CAN NOT forget where we come from. If we do, we will not remember what it took to obtain our politcal and liberal freedom in this country. Remember what our fore fathers fought for and handle your business! Don't allow the lives that were sacrificed for the greater good fall by the waste side and be forgotten with time and carelessness.

Remember THE DREAM.

To learn more visit BET.com/VotingRights

-J.Couture