Voting is important. Sometimes we don't realize it until after the fact.
Reading many comments on Twitter I note many are perplexed as to why Ferguson, a town that is majority African America by large percentages, is run by a mostly white government and policed by an almost exclusively white police force.
Of course race might have nothing to do with it. Voters might have just made the best choice they could from candidates..... but I doubt it.
Yesterday I heard an interview with Ferguson's only AA representative, Democratic Committee Woman Patricia Bynes She said people don't vote, and today I read on a link to Vox from Ezra Klien that in municipal elections only eleven or twelve percent of the eligable population votes, and that those who do vote trend towards older, whiter, conservative.
Often I read comments here on DK from those disgusted with one Democratic candidate or another saying they will stay home and not vote.
Don't do it. Voting is an obligation you owe your fellow citizens and your country. Every single vote is important. If you vote get one person who doesn't to start. Once one begins voting it's an easy habit to make.
I've worked registering people to vote. It takes a lot of door knocking to get just one new voter registered, sometimes days.
The rough outline of what happened in Ferguson is obvious to everyone by now. What has happened is passed, we can't have any effect on the past. What we can do is nudge the future in a direction we'd rather see. One way to do that is by voting.