Tuesday Voice: Fired up

By Madison Kimrey

[Republished here with permission from Madison's blog, "Functional Human Being"]

I was so excited when I got invited to speak at Moral Monday in Alamance County [on October 28] . I was glad to have the opportunity to show other young people that if they pay attention and take action, they could make a difference.
    Having been to previous Moral Mondays in Raleigh, Asheville, Charlotte, and Greensboro, I sort of knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was for so many people to show up right in my own little hometown. There were over 500 people at the event. The main organizer, Noah Read of Burlington, did a fantastic job of arranging and publicizing the event along with the Alamance County NAACP.
    The highlight of my experience was getting to meet two women who have inspired me and I consider to be my heroes. I met Ellie Kinnaird, who resigned from the NC Senate in order to get people registered and to the polls to vote. I also met Rosanell Eaton, who I heard speak at Moral Monday and inspired me to take action.

with Rosanell Eaton

with Ellie Kinnaird

    I also got to see many friends I've made at previous Moral Mondays and meet many of my petition signers and supporters for the very first time. I also met a lot of young people. I met other girls who were inspired by my speech. I got to meet some very young future leaders too.

with two future leaders

Here is a video of the speech I gave. I am so thankful to Story of America for filming this amazing video.

    This speech is being shared all over the internet and is getting a lot of attention. I'm extremely thankful to everyone who has shared this and I'm glad people are paying attention.
    The point of all this, of everything I'm doing, is to restore the opportunity of teenagers here in North Carolina to pre-register. If I dream BIG, I would love to see a Federal pre-registration law passed. That way there would be a uniform age for pre-registration across the entire nation giving this opportunity to all of America's young people. The attention does no good without action. So, to all of you who are paying attention, please take action. Please contact your lawmakers. Please ask any candidate you plan to vote for how they plan to lead and encourage young people. Tell them you want to vote for a candidate that supports the restoration of pre-registration.
    What we need is, first and foremost, for someone to sponsor the re-introduction of this legislation granting teenagers the ability to pre-register. Then we need to get it passed. We need the kind of representatives who want to encourage our youth and increase voter turnout among our young people in order to do this. We need to get promises and hold people to those promises.
    As I said in my speech, "The match has been lit and my fire burns bright." But I need more wood on the fire. I want to be able to pre-register to vote when I turn 16. Please help me get this done.
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Copyright © 2013 by Madison Kimrey

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