Black community leaders give insight to how Lawton’s communities decide to vote

Voters in Comanche County have already come out to cast their ballots in the thousands. Polling throughout the years has suggested that Black communities, and in particular women, vote for Democrats. Lawton, though, is a consistently Republican town.

Will Scott Jr., president of the local NAACP branch 6131B, said he is talking with voters about a “laundry list” of issues throughout his different roles and organizations throughout the community. In the run up to the election, he found himself discussing many issues, including the economy, the military, preservation of democracy, protection of the voting process, as well as voter suppression and intimidation.

Scott said he spent much of his time in these discussions fighting misinformation and disinformation, some of which he believes is the work of foreign adversaries, including China, Russia and Iran, attempting to interfere in U.S. elections.

This is part of what brings dismay for him when Scott discusses this election cycle.

“I am hopeful in a sense, I am disappointed in some instances,” he said.

He is mostly disappointed, he said, in the inability or unwillingness of some to accept a woman as a presidential candidate. Along with that, he said he has noticed a double-standard held by some for the presidential candidates based on gender.

“The fight must continue for us to become a more perfect union,” he said.

For Scott, who grew up during the height of the civil rights era, faith is a large portion of his intent in political activism. Scott has felt that many professed believers of the Christian faith are electing party over faith.

“Certainly as believers, when we know something is contrary to our beliefs, we call it out,” he said.

Scott said it is the responsibility of the faithful to hold those in power accountable, especially when they claim to believe in the same faith.

Throughout his discussion with members of his communities, he has attempted to reiterate “basic tenets of doing whatever we can to become a more perfect union.”

{p dir=”ltr”}Scott still sees hope, though, which he said is founded on historic reverence of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. He referenced many civil rights leaders, including Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr., as guides for doing what is right in the face of oppression.

“I have a responsibility and I don’t take it lightly,” he said.

Bishop John Dunaway, president of the Lawton-Fort Sill Ministerial Alliance and pastor of Abundant Life Christian Church, said he also feels hope during this election cycle due to the high voter turnout in early voting alone.

“I am feeling encouraged and I have great hope because I see the process that this country has. I see democracy working, for one. I see voting, which is a process that has historically been denied to some but has been given to all. I see that process working,” he said.

{p dir=”ltr”}Dunaway said he relies on his faith to be his decision-making compass when voting, though both he and Scott declined to state how they were voting due to their positions as community leaders.

{p dir=”ltr”}Dunaway finds himself discussing many issues with members of his church community, including homelessness, the economy and healthcare.

{p dir=”ltr”}During these conversations, and during church, he said “We speak to issues. We educate people, we encourage them to vote.”

{p dir=”ltr”}Scott also encourages people to vote with a simple, common quote: “Your vote is your voice. Your voice is your power.”