92 Year Old Rosa Nell Eaton Says She's "Fed Up" With Voter Suppression

When Rosa Nell Eaton first registered to vote in 1934, poll workers intimidated her and subjected her to a form of literacy tests. Since that day more than 70 years ago, Eaton has worked in her home of North Carolina to register voters and fight against ongoing conservative efforts to keep People of Color and the poor away from the polls.

She delivered a passionate address to the participants of the Moral Monday protests this Summer. Watch this woman's fervor and be inspired to take action.



Transcript:

Good evening, Everybody. It's a pleasure for me to see all these people here waiting for this word to come. Thank you so much for coming. I am Rosa Nell Eaton, 92 years old. A citizen of Franklin County. I am before you today to speak on voting rights ID. In the year of 1934 I asked my mother to take me to the county courthouse which was Franklin County for I wanted to prepare myself to be able for the next year's election to help people vote and vote myself. So she and my brother carried me on the wagon pulled by mule to the county seat. So they did. As we approached the county office there were three white men seated. One of them looked at me and asked me, "What do you want little girl?" I quickly told them the story what I wanted and what I was there for. I was given the order to follow looking at the men looking at each other again told me, "Stand up straight against that wall with your eyes looking directly toward me and repeat the Preamble of the United States [Constitution] of America." Without missing a word, I did it. After I had repeated to the Preamble of the Constitution I was given material to fill out. It was very stressful on me to do such, but I was able to do it. I have been up against a lot. I was only 18 years old finishing high school. The voter ID bill was designed to make it harder to vote. Here I am at 92 years old doing the same battling. I have registered over 4000 citizens in this state and at it again are Republican efforts to eliminate and cut early voting and to outlaw Sunday voting. alongside the effort to keep college students for voting by inflicting a heavy financial penalty on their parents if they vote where their college is located. We need more not less public access to the ballot. Now this voter ID [bill] doing this to the public colleges will cost states lots of millions of dollars. It is not right. It's really disgusting to me, and it disturbs me. The leadership of the this Republican super majority are deaf to the cries to to those whom Jesus call the worst of these. In the book of Micah it asks us, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God." At the age of 92, I am fed up and fired up. Say "Fed up! Fired up!"