I hear you as well, sir, but I'm not depending on the White House to make me whole, or even partially right. I am, however, depending upon a strong, Democratic administration, with competent and fair apparatuses in place, such as a knowledgeable Justice Department, fair housing policies, an emphasis on justice and civil rights, and, most of all, a non-prejudiced Supreme Court, to make the country more fair.
How do I expect that to be brought about? I expect that people of color will stop waiting for some magic convention to take place where we all organize (to what end and purpose, and under whose leadership?) to bring some end to our injuries.
My opinions are obviously different than yours, but my belief is that when we engage in the Democratic process enough to make a difference and elect people friendly to economic and legal justice, then we will be on the path to what not only people of color, but whites who have been deluded by racism, need.
As I've said about 1,000 times on this and other venues, black people practically tripped over their own feet in 2008 to vote for Barack Obama. Good for us. Then, in 2010, the excitement being over and believing we got "the job done," we all stayed home, thus allowing Republicans to take over the House. SERIOUSLY. What did we expect to happen under those circumstances? Were we going to get user-friendly public policies under people who wanted nothing more than our destruction?
Same story in 2012. We returned to the polls to re-elect President Obama, then stayed home in 2014 only to lose the Senate (and a Supreme Court Justice) and any hope of legislation sensitive to the needs of people of color. As if that weren't enough, a bunch of us just stayed home, period, in 2016. You can't tell me that life wouldn't have been better under Hilary Clinton. Heck, why did Putin think he could just move in on Ukraine? Because Donald Trump made it possible, with his grifting-a@@ self.
That's not waiting for somebody else to save us. That's saving ourselves. Power equals power. We exercised power in 2008, then I guess we decided that voting, then complaining, was all we could do. I'm all for dreams, but pragmatism is what gets you what you need. Pragmatism is showing up and DETERMINING THE OUTCOME.
