I don't know what was going on with that big wig but Oprah did a good job. The speech about our ancestors was a soundbyte many of us needed to hear. The Blue Wave may not even be a trickle. The polls are all over the place and Republicans don't tell the truth in them anyway. In 2016 CNN projected Hillary as the winner up until she lost, so their reporting means nothing to me. I've been arguing with too many fake hotep brothas on the Internet who feel it's their life's work to convince other Black folks their votes don't matter. All they do is spread doubt, misinformation and apathy in the name of Black Power. Google Team_Rob on youtube or ig to see what I'm talking about. It's a problem.
This Oprah sermon, while stirringly given, is what black people hear every election year, in some form or another. It's basically the last-perhaps only-card left the Democrats have to play to rally black support and that's to guilt, bully, and scare black voters into sticking with the Democrats. And I think black people 'fake hotep' or not have every right to question the efficacy of voting. We've had 50 years of full, or mostly full, voting rights to see if voting is so great, and that record is dubious. It works to some extent in some areas or for some issues, and not for others. It has definitely helped create a black political class, but their loyalty is more to the Democratic party and their own careers than to community, so I can see why some are down on voting. The Democrats and vote shamers like Oprah want us to just keep voting and voting without getting, or even expecting much in return, since the GOP is cast as being so monstrous that we have no choice but to remain captive to the Democrats and their last priority even though the party would be finished without black votes. There aren't enough white women, LGBT, Asian, or Latino reliably Democratic voters to supplant us as the key bloc of votes for the Democrats yet, and the white working class-who the Democrats have chased for thirty to forty years, aren't coming back in sufficient numbers either.
I see voting as a tool. It's not the end all/be all, especially if black voters are not picking these candidates and can't even get them to commit to any specific help. We accept when they talk about 'minorities', 'people of color', or a 'rising tide' stuff and we've seen decades of how those 'univeralist' policies still keep us at the bottom. So I can see why some are not rah rah about taking time out of their day or to get off work to go vote for someone who doesn't give a damn about them and is not going to represent their interests.
As I was saying, voting is a tool. Which means it can be misused or needs to be used for the right problem. But the idea that voting solves everything, or that voting is all the political engagement we need is wrong and history bears that out, but it is something promoted by the Democrats who only care that we continue voting for them, whereas the Republicans want to depress or suppress our vote. Democrats are much more hyped about voter suppression than doing something about police brutality, poor education, prison reform, for example. Why? Because they care about black votes far more than black lives. I can see why some do feel voting doesn't matter because all too often it hasn't. Though it is a tool, it is a way to express dissent, but also a want to express where people should think the country should go or what's important. That being said, when you have donor-selected candidates presented to us, instead of us building and supporting our own candidates, it invites distrust and apathy and that's where were are now. Though the Democrats still use symbolism and the politics of personality and celebrity to keep many on board, there are others who aren't jumping when they call, or need a lot more convincing, and that's a good thing. The supposed uptick in 'progressive' and candidates of color is a response to people not feeling Hillary, among other things. Sometimes withholding your vote, or not voting, or voting elsewhere, also gets a response as opposed to just voting over and over and over again. If they don't have to work for your vote, they aren't going to.
I plan on voting, in part because I just want to vote against someone instead of voting for anyone. But that's my choice. I'm not going to bully or shame someone who doesn't vote, because I get it.
