Blacks: Have to Vote....?

If you are Black do you really HAVE to vote? The answer is no. This may be a shock to many Black folks but we don’t have to do anything but stay Black and die – remember Joe Clarke in Lean on Me. I don’t try to convince people whether they should vote or not anymore but when I did, I’ve heard the craziness things. If you are like me you’ve heard this before many times, “What! Your ancestors died for the right to vote!” Or how about today with the Barack Obama celebrity fan base, “We’ve worked so hard to get a Black man who can become president you talking about not voting!” It’s always funny to me when I hear these things. Why? Well first who worked so hard? But let’s break down the #1 statement used to convince Black folks to vote for some lame duck. “Your ancestors died for the right to vote!” Is this really true? The 15th Amendment gave black folks the right to vote. Also just because some of Our Ancestors died in the process of voting does not mean they died for us to vote. All of us have some dead family members who died while doing crime does that mean they died so we can do crime? Or does it? The truth of the matter is Our Ancestors died for our freedom and voting, at that time - the late 1800s, the 60s, 70s – was a strategy which failed. And if you don’t believe it failed then why is it we have more Black elected officials than ever before and crime and institutional racism (ie judicial system, education system) has increased? And Black economics (housing, jobs, etc), social, and cultural order are all in disarray? Aren’t these the things elected officials are supposed to fix? It is no secret the voting strategy has not worked.

I remember in the 2004 elections people were talking about voting for "the lesser of two evils". What a crazy concept, don’t you think? Especially considering there are more options than two. You have all the other political parties (i.e Green Party, Libertarian Party, etc) and you also have the right not to vote as well. I find it’s important to lean on the shoulders of our Ancestors when making difficult decisions like “voting for the lesser of two evils”. In the Ballot or the Bullet speech by Malcolm X he said,

“The political philosophy of Black nationalism means that the Black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community; no more. The Black man in the Black community has to be re-educated into the science of politics so he will know what politics is supposed to bring him in return. Don't be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket.”

So why are we wasting ballots? Keep your ballot in your pocket. Also please don’t tell me about how Obama is going to change Washington. Obama can’t even have a Black preacher without denouncing him for political reasons (read: for yt folks votes ). Mr Obama’s change according to his website has nothing to do with the Black community. Also his change is nothing different than politics as usual. The only different is he’s Black. History, especially in American and African history, has shown us, that any Black person yts backs is 99.99% of the time absolutely against the Black community.

Ok, I think that’s enough typing.