Sharpton questions gratefulness of Black voters amid low voter turnout on the Historic Westside
- The Majority
- Dec 28, 2024
- 4 min read
In a speech marked by historical anecdotes, Sharpton contrasted today’s voter participation rates with the leadership shown during US chattel slavery and the Jim Crow era.
Local faith leaders hosted national civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at the Shepherd’s Breakfast on Wednesday morning during a low-turnout election for Democrats in Nevada. Sharpton told the crowd he was confused by low voter turnout on the Historic Westside because the upcoming election would “decide the direction of the nation.”
“Are you so ungrateful or suffering from negro amnesia that somebody got to beg you to use what others died and have suffered for?” Sharpton said.
Bishop Bill McDonnell Jr., head of Wealthy Place Ministries, founded the Shepherd’s Breakfast. For the past 14 years, it has been a monthly ceremony on the Historic Westside that serves a network of 150 churches in Las Vegas.
Prominent politicians lined the stage as Sharpton gave his address. These include former Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, who is running for Las Vegas Mayor, and Democrats Sen. Jacky Rosen and Rep. Steven Horsford, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who are both up for reelection. Las Vegas City Council Ward 5 candidate and former Democrat Assemblyman Cameron C.H. Miller also sat atop the stage.
Politicians campaigned for votes, while Sharpton’s speech promoted the importance of honoring the sacrifices of civil rights leaders and ancestors by voting. He highlighted Jim Crow-era laws once governing the Las Vegas Strip, which barred Black people as patrons, business owners, and front-of-house workers, to remind attendees of the strides previously made towards equality, which were achieved through civic engagement and political organizing.
“[Activists] were mowed down, killed with their eyes open … to give you the right to vote," he said.
During the early vote season, usually dominated by Democrats, the Nevada Secretary of State reported that the left-leaning party brought out fewer voters than Republicans this presidential election. Reportedly, 31,701 voters who cast ballots in Clark County last week were registered as Democrats, compared to 43,955 Republican voters and 29,934 nonpartisans or third-party voters.
Sharpton said Robert D. Bush, president of the National Action Network Las Vegas chapter, which helped organize the event, informed him that voter turnout was particularly low on the Historic Westside, the heart of the Black community. He called the situation a reflection of ineffective church leadership that results in poorly led 'sheep.’
Other states where Black voter participation is lagging include North Carolina, Michigan and Georgia – all swing states that could decide the election, including Nevada.
At a Virginia rally several years ago, Sharpton defined ‘negro amnesia’ as forgetfulness or selective amnesia experienced by Black Americans who can no longer relate to racial justice movements, which he argues causes Black voters to become passive towards the political process.
“It wasn’t until Frank Sinatra told Caesar's Palace that if Sammy Davis can sing here, give him a room,” he said in a packed sanctuary. “That was just two generations ago.”
The Black church and politics
Through praises about historical figures such as abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who pushed President Abraham Lincoln to free enslaved Africans during the US Civil War, and the Biblical example of Moses leading the Hebrews to freedom—Sharpton questioned the local Black church's effectiveness in mobilizing communities.
“You can’t be a shepherd … if you’re not handling the sheep,” he said.
Sharpton said people should question titles when results are low.
In an interview following the address, McDonnell told News, From the Margin, that Black churches have drifted away from political organizing. He agreed that the practice weakens church leadership in the community.
“You got to feed the whole man,” McDonnell said. “If we're not dealing with the issues in the community and encouraging our people to go out and vote, then we're neglecting our message.”
Some churches have outright banned politicians from speaking to their congregation. McDonnell doesn’t support that practice and urged pastors to “revert back” to working with politicians to help them meet citizens' needs. He said that to help foster a movement, he is building a committee of pastors that could present issues to elected officials and develop laws that serve the community.
With dozens of churches on the Historic Westside, McDonnell said the area is loaded with people on Sunday mornings. He stated faith leaders should move beyond spiritual teaching by helping families with welfare needs such as health care access, civic participation, and connecting people with lawmakers.
“We need to get the right people in place,” he said. “I tell [pastors] all the time that you don’t have to be a politician, just be a humanitarian.”
Sharpton said Black churches “are the foundations that started the roots of our liberation.”
“There’s a reason we have watch night service different than other churches,” he said. “Watch night for us was waiting to see when the clock strikes 12–was Lincoln going to keep his promise?”
Voter disenfranchisement
According to the Pew Research Center, low voter turnout is not just a Black issue. Black, Hispanic and Asian voter participation lagged far behind white voters in three of the highest-turnout elections during 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Bella Eiko, a local small business owner, said the truth is that low voter turnout among Black voters is a reflection of disenfranchisement. She said Black voters are disempowered, ‘jaded’ by politics and don’t understand the power of voting, government and how politics effect their everyday lives.
“We’ve been over-advertised to [by politicians] – but we’ve been underfunded,” she said. “So you have a lot of the Black community who’s just tired.”
Eiko said many Black citizens have a hopeless mentality towards voting, often under the belief that no one cares about issues in their lives. She pointed to a lack of investment in historically Black communities as a reason some might avoid the ballot box this election.
“They just feel like they haven’t been served—largely as a community or on an individual basis—by giving away their vote to politicians,” Eiko said.
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