Marvin D. Crawford

When I was in my teens and twenties, I participated in almost every kind of sit in, strike, discussion group, protest, training class, and community service organization you can think of.  At the same time, thousands of good people from every corner across this country did all that, and more.

They jeopardized their jobs and families for a dream. They traded what "is" for what "should be".  They marched, brainstormed, agitated, sacrificed, got beaten with sticks and knocked down with fire hoses, and worse, so that this generation -you- could vote, hold decent jobs, have access to first rate schools, expect to have the opportunity to lead healthy lives, enjoy security in the senior years, raise kids on safe streets, and be recognized and included as citizens, no more and no less, with all of the rights and responsibilities guaranteed and implied in the Constitution.

Once there was a dream. This isn't it.

Look closely at the signs in this picture: 

Jobs vote schools. Then look closely at the signs all around us. Other than the sunglasses, what has really changed? We've still got a lot of work to do. We owe it to a lot of people, past, present and future.

We owe it to ourselves.

That's why I want to go to work for you, and why I want you to vote for me.

Don't tell me voting isn't important.

Some people just don't get it. They don't understand how absolutely imperative it is that we vote. They don't understand how far we still have to go. They don't realize how much work and sacrifice it will take. They don't comprehend how easy it can be to lose what we've fought for. You do.

Old School.

You get it and I get it. Old school? Maybe. But if we don't act and teach our children to act, there will be no future for the young and no security for the old. You can see it and I can feel it and I want you to help me do something about it.

The PRIMARY is in August 3rd, 2010.

My name is Marvin D. Crawford and I want you to vote for me as your Democratic State Representative, District 6, in the PRIMARY, in August 2010. That is not as far away as it seems. How many times have you voted and not known who you were voting for? How many times have you gotten a ton of literature the week before the election and you threw it all away? It's the August Primary that counts.

I want you to vote for me.

Not because you don't know but because you do know. Don't decide at the last second again. I want to earn your vote. I want to ask for your support before everyone else is tugging at your sleeve. I really do believe we can move forward together. But I can't change anything without you. Come election day, I may not have one single endorsement- except you, and a couple of thousand more people with a dream - like you. There may not be a single group that endorses me before the election- or they all might. Organizations will have their agendas and they owe people, and I understand that. It's ok. That's politics. But the private booth is where the vote counts. And when it's over, we'll all work together.

JOBS. SCHOOLS. HEALTH. SECURITY. Period.

Everybody has an agenda. I have an agenda too, and some commitments to keep -to you- and a couple thousand more neighbors like you. I need you to roll up your sleeves with me and get to work with me. JOBS. SCHOOLS. HEALTH. SECURITY. Whatever the problem seems, it's an element of these four issues. Period.

Think about it. You name the problem. It comes from one of these issues. You think it's bad now? With a shrinking Michigan budget, as hard as they pull, we have to push harder.