Associate Editor’s Message: To vote or not to vote

By Defender News Service

TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE

Some say there’s no difference between the two major U.S. political parties. Not true. One party too often takes us for granted. The other wants us dead. One is horrible at messaging. The other is excellent at lying to foment anger, fear and division, and blaming us for all U.S. problems. One fights, though often ineffectively, to save the little piece of democracy this country has left. The other openly moves to destroy democracy. One is for protecting the environment, criminal justice reform, a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, universal healthcare, student loan forgiveness, etc. The other is against all of that. One is relatively for human rights. The other has over 70% of its members saying violence is justified to keep power. One is for “one person, one vote.” The other is led by gazillionaires who want a “president” with dictator power to go along with the Supreme Court they already bought off. One wants to make voting easy. The other is shutting down voting locations by the thousands in our neighborhoods and is constructing more voting roadblocks as we speak. “To vote or not to vote” is NOT the question. The question is WHEN are you gonna vote, and how many folk are you taking with you to the polls?

BEYOND PALESTINE/ISRAEL

Though we should care about the senseless murder of human beings anywhere on the planet, with all eyes on Palestine/Israel, no one seems to give a d@mn about Africans. And yes, there are Blackfolk in Palestine/Israel (i.e. the “Middle East,” which is really just northeast Africa). But what about our cousins on the continent proper? There are over 30 armed conflicts across the land where all humans trace their beginnings. Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan are all suffering from violent conflicts, most of which were fomented by European powers. Let’s give these countries and their people our time, attention, care, concern and more.

LORD, LORD

When a Black Mississippi woman, Bettersten Wade, asked Jackson, MS police to help her find her son, Dexter Wade, who had been missing for several months, officers told the mom they didn’t know anything. But what the mother didn’t know at the time was those same police not only knew about her son, but they killed him, buried him in a penal farm cemetery and never bothered to contact any of his family members. Making matters worse, Mrs. Wade’s other son was killed in 2022 after being “slammed” by those same Jackson police. Mother Wade is demanding justice and has secured Ben Crump as legal representation. But what does justice even look like in a case like this?

YEAH BOYEE!

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Flavor Flav of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy recently sang the national anthem before the Oct. 29 NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks. Flavor Flav.