“F*** 2020?” Not So Fast…Our Democracy is at Stake

by Dominique DiPrima

Last week’s election in Georgia was a full on dumpster fire that should serve as a wake up call for every one of us that cares about the future of our nation. As we face our country’s greatest challenge, overcoming racism, in the midst of a crippling pandemic, our democracy is literally hanging in the balance. (While some of us are ready to throw up our hands and say “F*** 2020”) we cannot afford to do nothing. Voter suppression will be much easier to get away with when so many people are scared to go to the polls because of CoVid-19 and many conservative lawmakers are actively trying to stop people from having the option of voting by mail. We know that voter suppression historically targets African American voters most of all. Vice President Joe Biden is warning that Trump may try to steal the election and Trump has accused Biden of the same. Trumps own cyber experts say the Russians are once again trying to hack our elections and this time they may be joined by China. They are up to their old tricks, sowing division on social media and infiltrating community and civil organizations. They continue spreading supposedly “underground” fake “conscious” propaganda about why Black people shouldn’t vote, why our votes don’t matter because both parties are the same or pizza and pedophiles any number of other arguments that conveniently benefit Donald Trump and his ilk.

The bottom line is: this year we are the election protection team, we are the international observers. In California we already have vote by mail for all so let’s make sure we are registered, and that our address is current. Let’s send our ballots back early so they don’t get lost or diverted. Let’s make sure everyone knows we can vote on election day even if we never registered ahead of time and that formerly-incarcerated people in California automatically regain their right to vote. Let’s vote early to avoid the long lines at the polls that we saw last time, you get 11 days to vote in person and even more than that by mail. Help is not on the way, and yeah 2020 is a mutha, but that simply means it’s up to us. Black America to the rescue one more time.