In 1787, the U.S. Constitution enshrined the Three-Fifths Clause, reminding us of a time when Black slaves counted as three-fifths of a person when it came to assigning representatives in Congress but were denied the vote themselves.
Today in 2008, that legacy ends.
When the Democratic Party moved up the South Carolina primary, it was to amplify voices who have rarely been heard on the national stage and to magnify their impact on selecting the next President of the United States. It wasn’t just a wise move: it was the right thing to do.
Already there are those who are hinting that today’s election doesn’t really count: that because the Democratic vote in South Carolina has a substantial African-American population, today’s results should not represent the country. And of course they should not: there was Iowa, and New Hampshire, and Nevada, each standing for a different slice of our United States.
But we must never go back to the era of Three-Fifths, when some voices count for more than others. Today’s results, whatever they are, count. Because today’s vote is not about Black, or White, or any other way of dividing up our country. Today’s vote is about all of us speaking in one voice, as one people, as one nation.
