the bad dominicana

guerrillamamamedicine:

i admit i feel a bit irritated in response to my act of not voting being characterized as ‘ideological’ or ‘philosophical’ as opposed to the concrete and pragmatic. 

especially when it is coupled with a plea of urgency, because this election is ‘just too important’…

because i am trying to remember an election, i have witnessed, in which that argument wasnt used.  the argument that goes…’if we dont make sure that there is a democrat in the white house, those who live on the margins will be sacrificed for your ideological purity’…

because

1. most states are not up for grabs in this election.  most states, we already know how they are going to vote, red or blue…there are only a few swing states.  so most folks if they choose to vote or not, or choose to vote for a third party are not affecting the election results one way or another…

2.  we hear this same argument EVERY FOUR YEARS.  every four years, we are told that we have to vote, and vote democrat, or the apocalypse is upon us.  homeless zombies will wander through the streets eating off the flesh of impoverished colored babies.  or something….

when in reality what we do know, is that for a democratic presidential candidate to be viable, he must throw a black radical under the bus.  sister souljah, jeremiah wright. 

so why exactly is it in my best interest, as a black radical, to support democrats when i know that i am exactly the kind of person they dont give a fuck about?

3.  oh but maybe i should not make this about *me*, but about those who will suffer even more (however we decide what metric to use to measure suffering). 

and this is where i say: drones. 

drones. 

drones. 

fuck.  i live in the middle east north africa arab muslim world.  drone strikes aren’t an abstraction to me. nor are they to my friends. 

you call it foreign policy, i call it home. 

(and folks do get bombed in the states.  move.  philadelphia.  black radical.  but to be noted that was done under the orders of a black mayor.) 

4. im saying i dont really care if you do or dont vote.  rather than shaming or making assumptions about people who dont vote, maybe their point of view, their logic, their self interest are just as valid as yours. 

i am saying that there are real reasons for choosing not to vote, and in engaging with folks who do not vote, maybe we could not make straw man arguments.