the polls are closed. and he never had a chance to vote. by the time the next election came around, he had died. so when i go to the polls and cast my ballot, i cast it for a man i never knew. i cast it for otis moss senior who walked 18 miles one day just for the chance to vote. oprah in georgia discussing voter suppression. i want to get your response. bring in jennifer rubin, opinion writer with the washington post who also looked at some of these issues. rev, powerful from oprah, something we know, but often pushed to the side. it is very powerful coming from oprah. i think it also is powerful because people don t understand oprah and i are the same age. my mother couldn t vote in her hometown in alabama until she was in her 40s. i don t think people understand how personal it is for some of us. talking about my momma. i ended up running for
rev, stay with me. let s turn from the words of racism to what many say is a policy of voter suppression. oprah putting it in very real terms. rev, given on what you worked on these issues, look at what she s saying. otis moss senior who here in george s troop county got up in the morning and put on his only suit and his best tie, and he walked six miles to the voting poll location he was told to go to in lagrange, and when he got there after walking six miles in his good suit and tie they said boy, you at the wrong place. i picture him walking from dawn to dusk in his suit, his feet tired, getting to the rosemont school, and they say boy, you too late.
a preacher in cleveland, ohio. i heard him tell the story of his father. of otis moss senior, who, right here in georgia, got up in the morning and put on his only suit and his best time. he walked 6 miles to the voting poll location he was told to go to in lagrange. when he got there, after walking 6 miles in his good suit and tie, they said boy, you at the wrong place. you at the wrong place. you need to go over there. so he walks another 6 miles, and when he got there, they said boy, you at the wrong place. you need to go to the rosemont school. and i picture him walking from dawn to dusk, in his suit.
his feet tired. getting to the rosemont school, and they say boy, you too late. the polls are closed. and he never had a chance to vote. by the time the next election came around, he had died. when i go to the polls and i cast my ballot, i cast it for a man i never knew. i cast it for otis moss senior, who walked 18 miles one day just for the chance to vote. [cheers and applause] when i go into the polls, i cast the vote for my grandmother, hattie may lee, who died in 1963 before the voting rights act of 1965 and never had a chance to vote. i vote for her. [applause] when i stand in the polls, i do what maya angelou says i come as one, but i stand as 10,000.