Thursday, March 28, 2024

Why Thy Election Makes Me Sad and Sick!

October 19, 2012 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) As we approach the 2012 presidential election, I quietly ask myself: Regardless of who is elected, is black unemployment going to dip below 10% over the next four years? Is the prison industrial complex going to get any smaller? Are black teens going to continue to die from guns being made available on every corner in our communities?

Then, I realize that when we fight to keep “our guy” in office, we’re kind of like prostitutes trying to keep their pimp out of jail. The hookers know that the pimp isn’t going to make their lives any better, but his incarceration might possibly make it worse.

I would not go to the extreme of agreeing with WEB Dubois, who once said that he was not going to vote, since neither party cares very much for the African American community.  But I am certainly in favor of African Americans being as selfish as every politician in Washington who simply does what’s best for  him or her, without any regard whatsoever for the needs of the African American community.  The fact is that you should care about them about as much as they care about you, end of story.

There is nothing wrong with supporting third party candidates, since most of us can agree that the two party system simply isn’t working.  What offends me most is the determination with which the Democratic Party relies on fear and seeks to undermine individual freedom when it comes to how we vote.  The fear is driven by reminding you that if you don’t give them your vote, horrible things are going to happen to you.  Their subjugation of freedom comes from the fact that they are seriously threatened by the notion of anyone telling black people to think for themselves.  They are accustomed to doing the thinking for us.

I’ll admit that, while I like Barack Obama and hope that he wins the election, I find myself unable to be as excited about this election as some of my friends.   In fact, it’s downright depressing.   I’m sad to look around me and see a world where anyone who doesn’t want to line up and have Barack Obama’s baby is somehow defined to be a traitor.  It is also a world where anyone who tells our politicians to help battle against the diseases of poverty, violence, inequality and mass incarceration is told that they are peeing on the Negro Juneteenth Political Parade.  No one wants to hear about black people who are suffering, since we’ve been trained to believe that a certain segment of our community just doesn’t deserve any better.

I am firmly against the consumption of alcohol, but this election is driving me to drink.  To know that your vote isn’t going to have much of an impact on those you love is, admittedly, downright devastating.  Perhaps it’s time that we demand something more, for our politicians have us bamboozled.

Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins
 
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.
 
 

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3 Responses to “Why Thy Election Makes Me Sad and Sick!”
  1. Scrolling to view the latest statuses on Facebook, a link to an article titled “Why Thy Election Makes Me Sad and Sick!’ was posted. I felt an impulse that nudged me to read it. I was drawn inward by the opening paragraph and was left inspired to share my many thoughts on the author’s concerns.

    Usually the lack of excitement that we feel towards anything is based on our choice of having an unfavorable opinion of it based on the meaning we give it; and often we don’t ask why we think the way we do; and so we either use the same approach while skimming the surface of what really needs to be discussed.

    If the external world is not to your liking, be the change yourself – complaining and asking someone other than you to change it is a waste of your good powerful energy. These politicians have their own agendas and lives to create, your dependence on them when you equally have the power to move mountains, but are simply too fearful and not ready to do the work on self to recognize it will keep you paralyzed with the same results.

    Continue reading…..http://sacredvessel.us/post/34045516847/the-clutching-to-an-exhausted-paradigm

  2. Pat says:

    Exeellent comment Deeann D. Mathews!!!

  3. Deeann D. Mathews says:

    Dr. Watkins, I totally feel your pain. I think what we have to remember is that no politician is going to do for us what we are not dead set and locked in to do for ourselves. That, given W.E.B. DuBois’ track record, may have been his larger point. Until we as Black people decide that we are going to do whatever we need to do with that billion or so dollars we spend a year to create what we need to get our people employed — well, let me put it this way. I have worked around enough seniors to know that the quality of care an elder in a convalescent situation gets is proportional to the interest of the elder’s family — if the family doesn’t care enough to show up and check up, then the workers and administrators are not going to be too careful either. Our relationship with political power ought to be colored with the same kind of understanding — if it is good enough for us to ignore the plight of our own people, then the politicians will act accordingly. Why should they do any more for us than we are willing to do for ourselves?

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