Thereâs so many people in the notes that are like âyes! So go vote!â Itâs like talking to a fucking wall.
I really wish people really considered what voter suppression actually MEANS. Itâs not âvoters are discouraged a lilâ. There are laws and regulations designed to disenfranchise people of color, especially black people, and prevent us from voting at all, and failing that, water down the power of that vote as much as possible.
Changes are also enacted that make it more difficult to voteâDMVs business hours changing, fewer places available to vote with increasing distances between them (but more affluent and whiter areas having less distance to travel, morepolling places and therefore shorter wait timesâŠ) offices in predominately pooorer and blacker towns being reduced obtaining a photo ID requiring you to jump through more hoops, itâs a lot.
And thatâs just he obvious direct point a to point b shit. Thatâs not talking about felon voter rights being taken away, while people of color (again, especially black people) are charged for crimes that white defendants walk for, with less evidence and harsher sentencing, including what may be considered a misdemeanor for a white person being charged a felony.
And cops have come forward and admitted theyâve been told not to prosecute drug crimes in white neighborhoods, so itâs foolish to pretend that mandatory minimum sentencing and zero tolerance policies are meant to be anything but another tool to disenfranchise us. This is an especially notable problem in Florida, which plays into why that map looks like that, too.
You cannot tie a peopleâs hands behind their back, gag them, tie them to a chair, and then tell them that all they gotta do is stand up, and wonder why youâre having no issue doing so while theyâre struggling.
You know what changes the Democratic Party could implement if they truly wanted to increase voter rights in these areas? Find and provide free child care while voting is taking placeâand feed those children too. Organize and fund car pools to voting areas.
Months before the deadline, have PAID workers from these communities show up in person to recruit voters and discuss any possible difficulty getting to the polls, explain how absentee ballets work and how to access them.
Itâs not cheap, but when the dems are happy to fundraiser shocking amounts of money to pay for an already insured building, it ainât impossible.
Instead of smugly âgoing highâ when they go low, help those of us being hurt by them going low. Instead of fucking funding their voter suppression lol.
Like, voting is not going to save us. Itâs just not. At best, it must be seen as a form of harm reduction. But we still cannot practice it as a form of harm reduction when we canât actually access this shit.
titsay
stormborns
gummygunk
