Just how do we know who are our “allies” ?
Every once in a while I run into some one who for one reason or another tries to tell people in my community not to vote. Sometimes it’s other Black people but most of the time it’s a very special breed of White “know it all” ..many of them are the kind who in the wake of the “Black Lives Matter” movement have taken to calling themselves “allies”.And I have been hearing that term a lot. As well as seeing it in articles. One article I read by a Paul Kivel gives a detailed account of what some white people can do to be “allies” But even this guy , who seems to have made a career out of being the “go to” white guy in terms of being a friend of the “struggle” drips with the kind of “white boy arrogance” that has given me the “creeps” for decades..
You get lots of so-called reasons from these people in terms of why voting is not important. One is ”there is much too much money involved in politics” well yeah, it costs to run for office and particularly in some of the national races like congress..Races can’t exactly be bought but a lot of them are influenced by how much money can be thrown at a candidate..for media and a good ground game.But even this can be busted up if enough local people knock on those doors and seek out the local committee positions. I’ve seen this enough to know that it can be done ..and is done all the time But for the most part it’s the local races that are the most important to the individual voter..in other words every vote is important ..but the closer to home the more important each and every vote is.And you get to see the result of your voting right away The Mayor, the District attorneys, the city council people..ALL the people we confront when we go out and protest and demonstrate are elected…and you can’t buy a local election if the people are motivated. But even if NONE of the above is true or is not enough to get you to see how important voting is..What kind of “allies” would be telling you to not use what may be the only voice you have. Protests and Demonstrations are important ..and I have done a lot of that over the last fifty years…but we are almost always protesting to get the ear of someone who was voted into office..DO NOT CALL YOUR SELF AN ALLY OF OUR PEOPLE IF YOU UNDERMINE OUR VOICE…Voting is our right..our sacred right..and the list of people who died for us to get it is too long for us to let any body fuck with it.
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