One of the most crucial civic responsibilities of a citizen of any country is to exercise the right to vote. This right ought to be taken very seriously especially in countries where people shed blood and died for the right to vote. I do not take voting for granted because I am always conscious of the fact that many Americans before me fought and died for my right to be recognized as a full human being and for my right to be allowed to vote. I must confess that I often feel disgust, disappointment and some confusion whenever I consider the low voter turnout rate among members of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. I understand the disappointment with political systems that historically let down minority groups but I also understand that, in the arena of politics, refusal to vote is silence; silence is the acceptance of powerlessness; and the acceptance of powerlessness is acquiescence to abuse of power. I do not accept the idea that a choice not to vote sends a positive message to anyone in power because nobody who refuses to use his/her voice receives credit for contributing to any discourse. On the contrary, history tells us that the silence of many when they had a chance to speak has often led to the implicit, if not the explicit sanctioning, of demagoguery. To the extent that demagogues are oppressive, the choice to help them get into office by refusing to participate in the political process is nothing more or less than complicity in one’s own oppression.
Once again, we face an election for President of the United States. Those who consider this as the most crucial election of our lifetime are not exaggerating. I know exactly what that means and what it does not mean. It does not mean that it is the most historic because there can be no more historic election than that which ushered President Obama into office as the President of the United States. Nor can it be more historic than another election that I hope will happen in my lifetime – an election that will one day put a woman in the high office of President. This 2020 presidential election brings us face to face to a reckoning that will define what becomes of the United States in future. As much as I respect those who still claim to be undecided and others who claim that they face a difficult choice of who to vote for, I cannot claim to understand what makes this so difficult for them, since the gulf between both candidates and both political parties has never been starker.
When a captain of a ship carelessly runs his ship aground, he loses his job. It will be utterly irresponsible to return the keys of our massive ship to a careless captain whose incompetence and complacency have led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and over 8 million infections from the coronavirus. I cannot be so irresponsible as to cast my vote for a man who has caused that much damage because I do not agree that he should get another chance to fall asleep at the wheel with all of our lives at stake.
I was born in Nigeria, I am black and Donald Trump is a racist. When a man says that Nigerians live in huts, he is not only just displaying his ignorance; he is racist. When Trump called Nigeria and other predominantly Black countries “shithole” countries, he was not just talking about a geographical location but also about everyone who comes from, and has ever been born in those countries. The only thing that comes out of what Trump calls a “shithole” is excrement. I cannot vote for anyone who considers my ancestors, all who look like me, and me as excrement. A vote for him would mean that I accept that that is what we are. Any black person who accepts that designation and chooses to vote for Trump may exercise that choice, but my acceptance of my maker’s desire to make me as he did, and my self-respect, preclude me from outsourcing my dignity to a racist.
In his years as president, Donald Trump has lied incessantly – about everything. I want a President who has the ability to tell the truth. Our nation deserves that, our world needs that and our future needs that as well. This President of the United States has not demonstrated the ability to speak the truth about anything and I will not reward his lies with my vote.
For years now, we have all watched Trump attack women publicly on television, consistent with what we have known his character to be in private. A misogynist does not deserve to hold the high office of President in any country, let alone one that claims to be the leader of the free world. No man who attacks any female relative or friend of mine is welcome to dinner in my home, nor is any man who I know to be crass toward women. For the sake of all of the women in my life, I will not vote for such a man. He is not welcome to appear on my television every day for the next 4 years. I must vote against him and for his opponent.
Every day, the immigrants that Trump denigrates go out, work very hard and pay more taxes to maintain this country than he does. The tax records that we have now seen are symbols not only of his lying ways but also of his consistent desire to oppress and take advantage of others, including the country in which privileges abound just by virtue of his birth.
As Thanksgiving approaches, hundreds of thousands of people will be absent from their families’ dining tables because they had a president who did nothing to save their lives from a raging virus. Our country has lost all credibility on the world stage because we have a president whose disgraceful shenanigans have brought us lower than any American living or dead could have imagined in the past. There is significantly less civility, potentially irreversible divisiveness and unquantifiable spikes in homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic violence in our country because of what Trump has stood for and promoted. A man like that does not deserve my vote, and he will not get it. I want posterity to say that I did what was right when it counted. I want God to be proud that, by standing against hate and for love and peace, I did a pious thing with my vote when I had it.
This will be the most crucial and most dangerous election in living memory. Crucial because the continuation of a Trump presidency will sink our nation and our world further. Dangerous because he has publicly instructed white supremacist militias to “stand back and stand by”. We all saw him do that on national television. With all of that in mind on this Election Day, I will go to my polling booth with my head held high and vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next President and Vice President of the United States.
Thank you professor Ohiro for that outstanding analysis. You hit it right on the nail. I think that this information should be taught at every level of classrooms to understand the severity of voting. Not voting means you are giving up your voice and your rights.
Once again, thank you!
Manouska Archer