If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.
____
It is unfathomable to accept that the time has come to elect another president of the United States. Our choice, as Black people, trans people — or any other marginalized person — has never been an easy one and this, no different. I wish for all of us to find some light from these years of insurmountable sadness, but today, we do not have time for such dreams. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place — between destruction and survival — but when have we ever had the luxury of good and better?
As a people we are at a crossroad, between reconciliation and annihilation. We need a step forward, regardless of how small it seems today, or we will face the complete degradation of our society, even more then its present miserable condition. Our choice come November, requires us to put aside our pride and choose another day of survival — a chance to show up and fight again. An opportunity to right the wrongs done to us for far too long.
I will not, as many others have tried, beat into our communities’ head, lie and fake some excitement of participating in the American experiment of democracy, one that is failing more and more each day. We know, as our ancestors knew, white America and its institutions will never bring our freedom. Our fight isn’t for today but for the generations, decades down the years. This nation may be miserable in its present condition — sick with hatred and strife — but it is able to ascend to the fairness and goodness, preserved by some of its people. It will be redeemed and crafted for justice. We must show up to fight another day — for another generation — and for hope beyond the present.
Through no fault of our own — a bed we did not make but are resigned to sleep in — we are tasked with founding a new America. In his new book, Begin Again, Dr. Eddie Glaude, takes a critical look into the witness of James Baldwin. He asserts, “If we aren’t resigned to our fate, we must believe that we can still make our world beautiful.” There is no grand appeal, in this America, to the consciousness of whiteness and those who subscribe to it. My appeal is to Black people, passionate about righting the wrongs of this country, who, are and always have been, the Soul of the Nation.
I have become, in recent months, completely disillusioned by this nation. For, in complete contradiction of everything we have been taught, I have relinquished hold of the lie. That American lie, which says some of us are more important than others, taught the moment we draw our first breath. It is this lie that created the negro and said he isn’t man or woman or human. Therefore, he can be treated in any way, without consequence. Wherein, the lie says, America is the shining city on a hill — the redeemer nation — where all stains of inhumanity and contradiction to the liberty it touts so fiercely are hidden. A place where all can achieve a dream. It is our job to summon the courage to relentlessly fight for the separated children at our borders, millions of uninsured and millions more incarcerated, for the survival of this planet, and the preservation and protection of civil liberties. The authority of any free people, to govern themselves — to make an intentional good-faith effort — to elect individuals who champion cause, or provide space for, another day on the battlefield, rests in our showing up for future generations.
We cannot leave life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, up to chance or to some other people. We know how protective of this lie America is, to support white supremacist leaders who perpetuate this nonsense of superiority and inferiority, delivered through coded language and tax cuts. However, as Glaude states, “Trump cannot be cordoned off into a corner with evil, racist demagogues … he is made to bear the burden of all our sins.” There can be no mistake, our responsibility is to remove all those in the way of creating a new future for ourselves and our children.
In the fires arise cries for liberation and justice, beyond these current endeavors of survival politics. Participation at the ballot box, although considered non-violent, is disruptive to the status quo. It's a chance to bring us, finally, on path to be a shining city on a hill. However, we know and accept voting is only one of the simultaneous endeavors we must pursue, for the many headed beast requires many different swords. Our history is filled with instances of courageous Black folk fighting for a day beyond survival to one of burgeoning possibility.
We shouldn’t believe voting to be an end-all-be-all fix to centuries of racial animus — for the lie itself is maintained through the voting box. However, it does offer, especially at the local level, chances for us to begin again. Across the country, organizers and freedom fighters are finding their way to elected office, hoping to crystalize this movement and institutionalize progress, giving way for the birth of a new America. Though I may not have ultimate faith in the federal government, I am convinced everyday citizens, block by block, can create governing institutions that champion radical progress.
It is easy — in the cloud of such devastation — to think too narrowly, of only tomorrow. Although our future requires bold, progressive, anti-capitalist frameworks, our present requires us to bear the burden, yet again, and choose between two distinct pains. One we can bare; one we will not survive. Be clear with what I am saying — we have to buy just a little bit of time. Beyond this, we must find ways in our homes, communities, schools and places of work to build resilient futures beyond white supremacist and capitalist constraints. We must build futures without prisons or police, with all insured and educated without debt, unburdened by violence and unbound by poverty. It takes an unprecedented commitment to grace and constructive accountability to make this nation live up to its promise. We are far from the shore of progress, but the anchor of complacency broke a few months ago. We can either jump ship, drown away or we can fight and swim. There is much to be done and we will have to take accountability for that moment and all the ones before it. There is no doubt we are all intrinsically linked by our history, present and future. We will survive or parish together; sink or swim; live or die — I choose, to survive, swim and live.
Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate, solidifying the battle between him and Donald Trump. I can’t exclaim an excitement that is not present; in fact, I am disappointed because the candidate I want is nowhere to be found. My candidate won’t be on the ballot for some time. They are somewhere in the community, doing the work of changing their block for the better — unbound by the burden of the present — focused on the future, playing with the game pieces of today. This person is helping folks realize the importance of carceral state abolition, universal healthcare and education; conceptualizing and reimagining justice and community governance. This person is helping reeducate folxs on socialism and the power of multi-racial democracy; they are raising up an army of womanist revolutionaries crafting a world beyond white supremacy.
I will not endorse or begrudge anyone to support any candidate or betray their conscience, but I do wonder: What will we tell our children? Will they understand? If they can’t breathe the air or ever get a step ahead, will they believe we stood up for them? These are my daily meditations. Have I done enough for those children who will come? This is a choice for survival and there is no one leader to solve our problems. It won’t come from the top, but from those ordinary arbitrators of courage who dare to choose another future, who dare to take accountability for our collective history and responsibility for the coming times.
Baldwin and Glaude’s witness calls us to think over our indifference for allowing the lie to go on for so long without such a reckoning. Like them, I am committed to such a hope, resigned to work with every ounce of passion and determination, with love, and connection to ancestors, to make "Kingdom anew." For a world without lies and oppression, with hope, justice, truth. Let us turn our tide — beyond survival to opportunities, blossoming like fields filled with Birds of Paradise and Black-Eyed Susan’s — to begin again.
