Courthouse Black History Month performance highlights voter suppression efforts

Queens Supreme Court. Photo via Google Maps.

By David Brand and Rachel Vick

An event at the Queens Supreme Courthouse Wednesday highlighted a dark period in American history, as performers reenacted efforts to stop black and African Americans from casting their vote through intimidation, unconstitutional tests and taxes and even widespread violence.

The skits demonstrated that all black and African American would-be voters — including the literate and landowning — still had to jump through hoops and overcome obstacles to get to the polls. The event reflected this year’s national Black History Month theme of “African Americans and the Vote.”

Voter suppression took place throughout the South after the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution gave black Americans the right to vote. But Northern states and towns also engaged in suppression efforts. White supremacists in the North used laws and intimidation tactics to prevent black and African Americans from voting.

Wednesday’s event, the latest in a Black History Month series at the courthouse, was intended to remind people of all races and backgrounds about the importance of the vote, said Chief Clerk Tamara Kersh.

“We’re not going to tell you who to vote for, but just to vote,” Kersh said. “People died for the right to vote, but it’s treated very cavalierly right now.”

“People marched, they died for it,” she continued. “Everyone should participate in the process. It’s all about participation.”

Kersh said it was vital for current generations to recognize past oppression as well as current bias and discrimination.

"If you forget, history will repeat itself, she said. “We see things now that we thought we'd never see again. "

She told a story about family members who lived in Tennessee and worked as sharecroppers until the landlord kicked off the land when they tried to register to vote. They were also blocked from lines of credit in local stores.

Her great uncle allowed the family to live on his farm when they were left with nowhere to go, just because they tried to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

“We come from a long line of fighters, and I’m able to tell this story because the lore was passed down,” Kersh said. “Don’t give up your power.”

After a raffle to raise money for the committee’s events, voter registration cards were distributed to any attendee who needed one.

The next Black History Month event will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. in Courtroom 41 of the Supreme Courthouse.