Dear White America, stop asking Black people to save you. You don’t own us anymore. We’re no longer chattel. We’re free.
There is a narrative that has been pushed hard this election season from white people to Black people. This narrative that we all need to vote in order to get ourselves out of this. The narrative that this is the most important election of our time and that our liberties are at stake. Whose liberties exactly? That sentiment sounds a lot like Make America Great Again to me, great for whom exactly?
It’s been said before but I think it needs to be said again, It’s not Black people that America needs to be worried about it’s white people.
People of color aren’t the ones that put Trump in office, white men and white women elected Trump. I think it’s my duty to my ancestors to vote because they fought and bled for my right to do so but when people talk about it being my duty as an American, I vomit a little. Black men and Black women don’t owe this country anything. I do not owe white America a darn thing.
I’m not texting my Black family members or my Black friends and asking them to vote because Black people didn’t get us here. Black people should not be expected to exert energy in this racist dumpster fire to get us out of this mess. Stop policing Black people asking them to create a better world for everyone when the one you created no longer serves you. At the end of the day both candidates hold anti-Black beliefs and ideals and regardless of who wins Black people will still be fighting the same fight.
At the end of the day Biden and Harris, if they win, will be taking over a power structure that is racist and sexist by nature. A power structure that is functioning the way that it was designed to. In a way that favors the rich and the white and that perpetuates the marginalization of the Black, the brown and the poor.
I’m exhausted but this blog isn’t coming from a place of anger, but rather grounded reason.
I’m not weary from the fight for Black liberation or from advocating for what I think is right but I am tired of talking about Donald Trump. I am tired of talking about Joe Biden and acting like he’s not just another mediocre white man. I’m tired of talking about old white male politicians. I am tired of this so called democratic process that doesn’t give us well rounded options and doesn’t actually hold our leaders accountable. A system that does not work to make sure this country is a safe space for all and that is satisfied with the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, all the isms and phobics, status quo.
I stopped listening to white voters when they said that Bloomberg was a viable option for president. I stopped listening when they told me that I needed to “vote blue no matter who,” even if that meant voting for someone like Mike Bloomberg who has ruined the lives of countless Black Americans in this country. Y’all seriously looked Black people in the face and said “I know this guy has shown himself to be extremely dangerous to your population when in power but think about the rest of us.” Why? Point to a time in history when you thought about us? When you prioritized Black and brown needs over white comfort.
At this point in my journey as an American, as someone that pays taxes and votes and pours into society, I’m tired of pretending like the system will eventually work for all of us. It won’t. It wasn’t designed to. It was, like I said earlier, designed to favor the white and the rich, and with so many systems in place that continue to rob Black communities of wealth, we’ll never fall into the favored category.
This place doesn't value Black women and Black men, it doesn’t prioritize us or put our needs at the forefront YET it says that it’s OUR fault when a person that you don’t like wins a second term in office. A person that bothers you and that is potentially a threat to your values and beliefs. A person that at the end of the day is no different than every president before him except for the fact that he doesn’t hide his misogyny and racism. He doesn’t hide his disdain for people who don’t look like him and who have less than he does. He’s more vocal but in every other way he’s exactly the same.
So if you’re not Black hush about Black people voting and about how we all need to participate to get us out of this mess. We’re going from one big mess to slightly smaller better wrapped mess. I vote for my ancestors, not for this country. I vote to honor the Black bodies that were broken on the street for me, not for this country. I vote in honor of the legacy of bodies at the bottom of ships chained together, not this country.
Regardless, at the end of the day I’m a part of a group that makes up 13.4% of the population and 1 out of every 13 of us can’t even vote. So please be quiet about it being our fault that Trump may win another term, look in the mirror, it’s yours.
