Every Voice Must Be Heard; Every Vote Must Be Counted

In an exclusive piece for NewsOne, the first lady puts the importance of voting in historical context and says that in the end, it's not about who wins but who we are as a country.

Sometimes, it might seem like the battles for our rights and liberties are some distant memory -- even The Emancipation Proclamation was signed a century and a half ago. The marches and boycotts and lunch counter sit-ins of the civil rights era are 50 or 60 years behind us.

And today, there are no longer any separate water fountains, no more guards keeping any of our children from the schoolhouse door.  That's a sign of how far we've come -- we live in a world with progress that our parents and grandparents would never have even dreamed of.

But that doesn't mean that our work is finished.

And while today's challenges may not feel as glaring, they're every bit as urgent. Do children who go to an understaffed, crumbling school truly have a fair shot at success?  If a family has a son or daughter born with a genetic disease, should they have to fight day and night with insurance companies just to get the insurance coverage they need?  Are our children falling behind because our communities aren't safe or supportive enough for them to reach their potential?  And how do we preserve our most fundamental right to cast our ballots for our children and grandchildren? ...

Read Michelle Obama's entire piece at NewsOne.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff. 

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