Guest Post - By Malcolm P. Rockwell
I’ve watched and listened to a lot of what is being done and
said during the on-going protests over the murder of George Floyd. I’m
sympathetic to the cause. I’m sick and fucking tired of cops killing unarmed
black men for no reason other than that they can. I’m sick and fucking tired of the
police union supporting its members regardless of circumstances when it’s
evident to even the dullest among us that such support is an endorsement of immorality,
criminality, and unbridled authoritarianism. I’m sick and fucking tired of
mealy-mouthed prosecutors who will up-charge common street criminals with every
charge imaginable, but
can almost never find a basis to charge murderous cops with even the most
lenient of charges despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And I’m sick
and fucking tired of my countrymen and women who can sit on a jury, be
presented with undeniable evidence of crimes committed by cops against people
of color, and yet repeatedly turn a blind eye and give the cops a pass. And as
evidenced by the tens of thousands of people who have been pouring into the
streets for the past twelve days protesting against police violence, I’m not
alone.
But here’s the thing. Marching in the streets day-in and
day-out holding up placards, chanting slogans, staring down cops, violating
curfew, and getting arrested is great for galvanizing support for the cause,
but it’s ultimately not going to get us anywhere near where we need to be. Neither
the current occupant of the White House nor his political enablers at the
federal, state, and local level give two
shits about street protests. Especially protests by young people, people of
color, queers, atheists, dope-smokers, and political progressives. If you are
anything other than a straight, white, God-fearing Christian conservative, you
are dead to these people. They are not afraid of you marching in the streets.
That they can and easily will handle by leveraging the awesome power
of the state security apparatus. Those security forces will happily pepper-spray
you. They will gladly club you into submission with batons. They will arrest and deprive you of your liberty while they rough you up in
the process. And if you’re black, those forces will kill you. By hook or crook, you will be brought to heel.
But you know what these sick bastards are afraid of? You
know what keeps Trump up late at night hunkered down in his bunker rage-tweeting while he
stuffs his morbidly-obese gut full of more fast food? You know what scares the
living shit out of treasonous Moscow Mitch McConnell? You know what Tom “I’m a
fucking unapologetic fascist” Cotton fears the most? They fear the time when everyone
you see in the streets today, and everyone else in solidarity with those people,
storm the polls to vote. That is what makes their anti-American blood run
freezing cold. Because they know if that happens, the gig is up, the battle is
lost. Probably forever.
That explains why they are perpetually trying to make it
more difficult for certain communities to cast a ballot. That is why they
constantly attempt to limit the franchise and make participation in elections
more difficult (see, the recent Georgia state primary). They are not only afraid of people voting, they actually despise
the whole filthy idea of it. So they pull stunts like opposing mail-in ballots
over contrived concerns about “voter fraud,” even though they and their supporters have
been voting by mail for years (and, ironically, in the case of both Donald
Trump and his personal propagandist, Kayleigh McEnany, illegally in 2016). They
reduce the number of polling places in minority and underserved neighborhoods and
then object to keeping those same polling places open long enough to allow the
predictable crush of lined-up voters to cast their ballots. They implement
rules that make it almost impossible for young folks attending college away
from home to vote. And they place insurmountable obstacles to voting in front
of folks who have been incarcerated, have served their sentence, and whose
voting rights have been restored. They
do this because they don’t want uppity people of color to vote. They don’t want
overly-idealistic young people to vote. They don’t want icky gays to vote. And
they certainly don’t want scary Muslims and immoral atheists to vote. Because despite all of the bloviating about
the high-minded ideals which are the bedrock of our constitutional republic,
despite the incessant blather about the greatness of America, despite the
elitist lecturing to the rest of the world about the superiority of
western-style democracies and government “of, by, and for the people,” these charlatans
don’t believe in any of it.
So it is imperative that the movement transition from simply
repeatedly shouting what it wants from those who refuse to hear, to replacing
these dangerous fools with those who have a more sympathetic ear and who
will take steps to effectuate real change. And the only way that is going to
happen is if the hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets
in support of “Black Lives Matter” participate en masse in the November elections. As a practical matter what that means is that
all these folks, and all of their sympathizers and supporters must
register to vote. And then they must follow through and
actually vote come Election Day. If that happens, Trump will be
removed from office (and then hopefully prosecuted and imprisoned). The Senate
will turn blue. And the House will turn a deeper shade of blue.
But it’s not just the federal offices that are important.
With a dotard like Trump at the helm, it’s really easy to forget about the down-ballot
races at the state and local level. But these races are crucial, perhaps even
more so than the federal races, to effectuating changes to policing which is the
province of state and municipal governments. If the Black Lives Matter movement
wants any real chance of succeeding at this, the pro-police bias and monopoly
at the state and local level must be broken. And the only way to do that is to
remove and replace current office-holders who are responsible for and who perpetuate
the current state of affairs.
I know, I know. Voting isn’t as thrilling as facing off
against soldiers and cops clad in riot gear. It’s not as sexy as marching in
the mean streets and chanting. And it’s not as Instagram-able as a selfie at a
mass protest. But this isn’t about thrills and sex and Instagram goddammit!
This is about change. And it’s time to put in the easy work to ensure that
change occurs.
Here’s something else. You may not be excited about
Joe Biden. Maybe you think he’s too old to be the President. Maybe he isn’t
progressive enough for you tastes. Maybe you’re displeased with some of his
past policy positions or statements. And maybe you’re not convinced that he’s
all there all the time. And maybe you’re right.
But you know what? None of that matters when the alternative
is a despot. None of that matters when Bill Barr is the U.S. Attorney General.
None of that matters when our current trajectory has us headed for tyranny and
authoritarianism. None of that matters when the fate of the republic literally
hangs in the balance.
Beyond that, it is pure folly to believe that progress can
or will occur quickly and without a changing of the political guard. Because
for that to happen, the folks that currently hold the reins of power would have
to respond favorably and proactively to the demands currently emanating from
the street. That is not going to happen. These politicians were not put in
positions of power and authority to serve the constituency represented by Black
Lives Matter. They were elected to maintain the status quo and to serve the
interests of the folks that put them in office in the first place. And guess
what? If you support Black Lives Matter, chances are you ain’t those folks.
So yeah, replacing Trump with Biden may not be the perfect
solution. But it is a substantial and concrete step in that direction. And perfection
cannot be the standard anyway. Because the perfect candidate is a unicorn. The
perfect candidate doesn’t exist. They never have and never will. So expecting one,
and then sitting out the election when one predictably doesn’t materialize, is not
only unrealistic and counter-productive, it actually damaging because it plays
right into hands of the entrenched powers-that-be. It’s exactly what they want
and exactly what they hope and pray that you do.
So if you are not registered to vote, go out and do
that today. Make certain that your friends, family, co-workers, social contacts,
and fellow activists and agitators all do the same. And then five months from
now, on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, follow through and cast your
ballot in the Presidential Election. It is the single most important thing that
you can do to honor George Floyd and ensure that he did not die in vain on the sidewalk
under the knee of a racist cop.
