Me being from the north, I felt as though this really had nothing to do with me, and what is the point of this rally. I was there last march when we marched on Tallahassee, and felt as though our efforts were in vain. I"m not to familiar or do I follow Florida politics that much, so I"m kind of ignorant to many of the particulars that the rally dealt with. Another thing that had me feeling kind of weary of going, was that it was in a church, although I am a Christian, I really didn't want to be sitting in the church on a Wednesday night.
When I exited this rally I left with a totally different attitude then when I came in. First of all, it was like I wasn't even in church. I was a part of something bigger. I knew that I was going to this church for a rally dealing, with the One Florida Initiative passed by the governor last year, so I expected to see a lot of students and African-Americans. The biggest surprise to me was that, there where people of all races there. You had white people, Hispanic people, and black people, and men and women all with the enthusiasm for a particular cause. .
The most positive message that I got from this is that, from the night was to get every body out there to vote. Our votes are the most powerful tool we have, if we want things to change in our communities. We can't just stand around and be cheated out of our votes again. If we want equal opportunities in Florida and anywhere else in our country, the only way to insure that is to vote. I was furious at the blatant disrespect and disregard that our votes were treated with in Florida. The election of 2000 was my first time ever voting and I felt like, I waited 18 years to vote, and now that I"m of age my vote still doesn't matter. When I left that meeting I felt as though, if this could happen in Florida, why couldn't it happen anywhere else? This rally really open up my eyes, because before I was pretty closed minded.