I’ve always believed that we’ll get better representation from our leaders when we kick them in the butt when they’re wrong and give them a pat on the back when they provide insightful and courageous leadership.

After kicking Jesse Jackson in the behind for his position on the hit movie “Barbershop,” it’s time to give him credit for coming up with a great idea for Election Day. His idea is to turn Election Day into “Dignity Day,” a day that we demonstrate our dignity by going to the polls and making sure our neighbors and friends also go.

Instead of a preemptive strike on Iraq, Jackson told me, “We should take preemptive sick leave. We should take that day off to work at the polls to keep from getting sick later.”

Then, going into his Wall Street Project mold, Jackson said, “We can get a four-year return from one day’s investment.”

As Jackson likes to say: Get the point?

The point is instead a complaining on Nov. 6, there are things we can do before Nov. 5. Jackson’s notion of taking personal responsibility (conservatives don’t have a monopoly on this concept) for making sure our neighbors and friends vote gives us a broad blueprint. How we implement it is up to us.

When we had a bus boycott in Tuscaloosa, Ala., during my high school years, local leaders organized car pools to make sure that people got to and from work. Since it would have been illegal to collect fares, volunteer drivers just followed the path of the bus lines, picked up and dropped off people along the way, and did not charge them a cent. We didn’t have a car at the time, so I borrowed my Uncle Percy’s car to take part in the boycott.

People who wanted to contribute money gave it to First African Baptist Church and the pastor, Rev. T.Y. Rogers Jr., the leader of the boycott, reimbursed us for the gas. When we stopped by the church, “Miss Dot” and the other church ladies served us equal portions of food and encouragement.

As a teenager, it was such a wonderful feeling to take part in “The Movement,” and help bring about change in my hometown. I’ll never forget the looks, the sense of accomplishment by everyone when the boycott turned out to be a success.

We should try to duplicate that sense of community on Nov. 5. Organize your block, your youth group, church or social organization, and proclaim Nov. 5 “Dignity Day. It’s time to flex our political muscle when it counts—before Election Day.

Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996 even though he received a minority of the votes cast by Whites. Bob Dole, the Republican challenger, led in that category 46 percent to 43 percent. But 84 percent of African-Americans favored Clinton, compared to only 11 percent for Dole and 4 percent for Ross Perot. And that was the difference. (In 2000, 90 percent of Blacks voted for Al Gore and only 8 percent for George W. Bush and 1 percent for Ralph Nader.)

In any close race, we can decide who wins and who loses. But we can only do that if we show up and show out.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are six states where African-Americans represent more than 20 percent of the voting-age population: North Carolina (20.5 percent), Alabama (23.9), Maryland (26.7), South Carolina (27.8), Georgia (26.5) and Louisiana (29.6).

In six other states—Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, New York, Tennessee and Virginia—the Black voting-age population percentage is in the teens. That means that instead of having the 2002 election hinge on one state (Florida), as was the case in 2000, it is possible that Blacks could determine the outcome in a dozen states, avoiding another Florida fiasco.

There are plenty of issues at stake.

A priority of the Bush administration is to load the federal courts with Right-wingers. Because no federal judge can be appointed to the bench without being confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Democrats have been able to block the appointment of some of the most extreme jurists. Yet, Bush keeps coming back with more.

Of particular importance to Blacks is what kind of domestic programs that will be offered. Because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush has been able to keep America’s attention focused abroad, whether in the Middle East or on tracking down terrorists headed for America.

While the issue of homeland security will remain high on the priority list, issues on the home front cannot be ignored. And nor should we.
We can have incredible political clout. If we use it, Nov. 5 will be a Day of Dignity.