"What time are you going?" asked Nancy shielding her cocoa skin from the hot Texas sun.
"I don't know, Nancy, I don't know, I can't stand out there in the hot sun for more than an hour, and I heard that some people have been out there four, even six hours long! That's crazy, I could pass out! said Maria fanning her already rosy cheeks.
"I plan on bringing a cooler with plenty of water and snacks for the long wait and -,"
"I don't see why they can't just open more polling places, how can someone hate other people so much by just looking at their skin color?" Maria said cutting Nancy off.
"That's just how it is, but we can't let them win by not going, we have to make sure they see that we will not give up, we will exercise our right, no matter how hard they try to cut us off."
Shaking her head slowly, Maria's eyes began to get glossy from the anger she held deep inside. "First it was voter ID, then it was gerrymandering, and just last year they struck down the voting rights act. Now this election the congress is full of republicans and a tea party member is running for president. I didn't think this could get any worse, but every year it gets worse and worse we are slowly sliding back into oblivion, if those people had their way we would all be slaves again. Sometimes it's just to much to bear."
"I know, we are all exhausted, but we must push on, we cannot give up no matter what, I'm going to vote early in the morning, we'll be there right when they open, we'll be the first ones there ok. I'll pick you up around six, they open at seven."
"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow," Maria said as she walked back in the house.
***
"Oh my god, Nancy, look at that line, I thought you said they open at seven," said Maria.
"They do, girl, they do," she responded rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
Maria looked at the people standing in line, "There has to be at least a hundred people here, Nancy, seriously, this shit is out of control."
"It's a good sign Maria."
"And why the hell are all those cops there, what are they doing? Wait, Nancy, it looks like there are two lines, what the hell is that?"
After parking the car Nancy and Maria started walking towards the lines in front of the library hosting the elections.
"Excuse me ladies," one of the officers said approaching them with his hands up, "I need you too step in the line to left, this line here is for white voters."
"Are you fucking crazy, what the hell do you mean this line is for us and this line is for white voters, everyone here is equal, there should only be one line," Maria said staring him down.
"Calm down, Maria," Nancy said grabbing her arm.
"Officer, what exactly is going on, why are there separate lines?"Nancy asked in a calm voice.
"I'm sorry I have to do this ladies, but the great state of Texas just passed a law this morning that minority voters have to show two forms of ID's to vote, to make sure that they are not committing fraud. This can be your driver's license and a credit or debit card, social security card or anything else that has your name on it," the officer informed them hanging his head low.
"So I guess your here to make sure there isn't a riot, right? Because this is terrible and a lot of people, the almost majority of Texas is going to be very angry. I hope your ready for that, officer, I hope you got a lot of sleep last night."
"Who's screaming?" Maria said looking around to the front of the line. "Who is screaming like that?"
Nancy and Maria started walking towards the front of the line where a black woman was screaming at a police officer and he was grabbing her arm. They watched as the officer firmly held her arm as she screamed that he was hurting her. He then twisted her arm to her back and pushed her hard to the ground, putting his knee hard in her back. The officer that Nancy and Maria was talking to ran over to the duo and continued to retrain and handcuff her standing her up and all but throwing her in the cruiser. Nancy gets her phone out and starts recording the episode discreetly.
"This will happen to all those who try to cause trouble," the white officer who the lady was yelling at, screamed at the line with the minorities. "Don't act like animals and we won't treat you like animals," he said looking at his partner who nodded his head.
"You are already treating us like animals, you racist pig," a black young man yelled from the back of the line.
The people standing in the 'white' line started looking around nervously, the tension was unbearable, they began to retreat to their cars knowing that this was going to go bad very quickly.
"Don't say another word young man."
"I can say what I want, I do still have freedom of speech don't I, pig?" he yells back.
The officer walks over to the man and jerks him out of the crowd, almost dislocating his arm. He yells out, and another man steps out to stop the officer from his continued assault. The other officer runs over and hits the man with his night stick and another person jumps in and tries to push the officer off the man. Then someone else jumps in, this goes on until almost every officer and every person stand in line is in one big struggle. Nancy and Maria are horrified, screaming and crying, but Nancy never stops recording. The fighting goes on for hours, more cops come, they came with their nightsticks and they came with there guns, beating some people and shooting others. Seventy-eight people died that day and hundreds were wounded, all because the SCOTUS decided the year before that the voting rights act was unnecessary.
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