Vote Policies, Not Parties
Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one's ability to persuade. —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. —Frederick Douglass
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle. And so, we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We (the African American Community) need to be working on a Black Agenda every day, without apology, and with focus! Election Day is November 3, 2020.
There are two competing voices in our community. One voice says that we all must vote because it is our duty to vote since so many of our ancestors gave their lives for us to have this right (although it also means we have the right to choose not to vote as well). The other voice says that the democrats have taken our votes for granted, so we should not vote as a protest against being undervalued and overlooked. I respectfully disagree with both voices.
We should vote. We should vote for our interests, our agenda. We should put forth our agenda to all the politicians (local, county, state, and federal) not just the presidential candidates before casting our vote. Whoever has the best response and track record on our issues should receive our votes.
The question is, what is our agenda? The answer is in the eye of the voter. Prior to going to law school, I worked as a community organizer in the Bronzeville Neighborhood. The first thing that I learned was the difference between a problem and an issue.
Problems have many issues, are large, and exceedingly difficult to solve. Issues are smaller, focused, and once addressed tend to solve the problem. There are several good resources that discuss issues that are at the heart of a Black Agenda.
Two very good examples are found at https://ados101.com/black-agenda and https://black2thefuture.org/black-agenda-2020/.
As a criminal defense attorney there are several issues of paramount importance to me such as a comprehensive anti-recidivism program, putting fair judges on the bench (state and federal), re-imaging public education to educate all, and policies designed to promote police accountability and end police brutality.
Regardless of what issues make up our individual agendas, we cannot make the two critical mistakes that we have been making for years.
First, we must push our agenda daily.
Second, we need to vote for issues not individuals, policies not personalities or political parties.
Our agenda is not limited to our votes once every four years when some presidential candidate shows up on the national stage pursuing their lifetime dream or to whoever has the best personality.
It is not defined by an individual as opposed to issues that help individuals in our community.
It must be discussed, demanded, and pursued every day. We must demand results on issues from every level of government: from the alderman to Mayor, state representative to the Governor, United States Representative to the President of the United States. Police Unions, good old boy networks, and bad unions that work against our economic interests never sleep on pushing their agendas, so we should not either.