 
Politics Mondays: The Intelligent News Net Presents - "Rock the Vote" by Wise Intelligent
My "hope" is that Black people first and foremost, understand the "science" of voting for what it is and not what it has been presented to them as, like most things in American politic. I have friends that work for political institutions like the UN who are political science majors etc., etc. I am not short on understanding the cons of voting. My position is a "radical" one, in that it follows a road seldom traveled by the multitude of "hopeful" "pro-voters." I am a realist and I ask real questions and prefer real action over the illusion of achieving change through elected overseers, I mean officers!
There was a time when only wealthy, White-male, land owners had the right to vote in America. This class of White men had gotten rich and powerful through all sorts of business practices and exploits that they controlled i.e. slavery (agriculture; cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice, etc.), railroads, oil, banking, etc. They decided that the best way to control rebellions would be to extend the right to vote to poor White men and White women. The idea was to give this new voting group the illusion of "Freedom and Dignity" (in the words of BF Skinner) along with the feeling of being apart of a system that was never intended to include them in the first place! These wealthy White men were shrewd and educated; they understood that change comes into the world in the same way that a child is born - with pain and travail - which are the direct result of open protest or confronting the problem head on, not by casting a b***h a** vote!
To understand my line of reasoning we must first agree that Rosa Parks did not get the right to sit where she wanted on the bus by voting! After that, we understand that it was through open protest i.e. confronting the problem head on. Some people went to jail, some went to the hospital and some to the grave (pain and travail), but this is what brought about change in Rosa’s situation, not the ballot!
A few points:
1.) Can you show me a few measurable changes on par with the major gains we gave ourselves i.e. (all historically Black Colleges, Black Wall Street, The Black Church, The Garvey Movement, The Nation of Islam, The Nation of Gods and Earths, The Civil Rights Movement, The Black Panthers, Hiphop etc.) that has been achieved in the Black community or the world in general via voting? I'll wait.....In fact can you answer this basic question; did Blacks get the right to vote by voting or by coming together outside of the system and striking a direct blow against the racist and unequal status quo? I mean seriously, how did we ever build and maintain a Black Wall Street at the height of segregation and Jim Crowism without casting one bogus vote? We did it by coming together. We did it by loving and trusting each other. We did it by putting our destiny back in our hands. We did it by pooling our resources (human and financial) and showing and proving to ourselves and the world that we can once again build another great civilization. So after all of those years of us building great communities and institutions, why have we now decided to put all of our faith, trust, hope, and power back into a system that has NEVER shown us anything but the back of their hands and the bottom of their shoes? Please tell me how voting got to be our ONLY viable strategy for freedom, justice, and equality?
2.) History proves not only that voting changes nothing, but it also shows that voting is - contrary to modern opinion - the most apathetic form of protest for change ever employed by human beings seeking real change! Here is the idea that if you put all your power in a "representative" he'll bring the desired change sought by the representees? I'm not waiting...it has never happened. The honorable Elijah Muhammad asked the question "Will you sit up at home and wait for a mystery god to bring you food?" He did not sit around and rely on keeping "hope alive" he took action. Elijah Muhammad established restaurants, schools, dry-cleaning, bakeries and other businesses in Black communities before Blacks even thought about seeking the "right" to vote. In fact, Black people throughout the country had established thriving businesses in the Black community at this time. Sugar Ray Robinson owned damn near half of Harlem! What happened to all this "Black business" we ask? Well it’s simple; history teaches us that with integration and the vote we lost everything that we had worked so hard for. Everything except the vote!
3.) Brown verse the Board of Education (1954) was not achieved by voting. In fact Blacks did not get the right to vote till eleven years after (1965)? Rather integration of the school systems was achieved by "open protest" a fundamental and constitutional right that has been abandoned by Blacks every since receiving the "right" to vote! It seems the "right to vote" has lured us to sleep. We now resort to reliance on a "democratic" process that never delivers?
4.) Real change has never been achieved no place in the world by the casting of a vote. Rather, just the opposite is true. When the surfs of France wanted emancipation from King Louie XVI they did not vote on it, they demanded his head, after which change was evident (French Revolution)! When the 13 American colonies wanted emancipation from Great Britain, they did not vote on it, they demanded it, thus, the Boston Tea Party (American Revolution). When Abraham Lincoln wanted to implement the Emancipation Proclamation and subsequently free slaves in the south they did not vote on it, they demanded it (Civil War). When Blacks wanted integration in American public life they did not vote on it, they demanded it (Civil Rights Movement). Hispanic youth in the public schools of Los Angeles in 1968 (Walk-Out Movement). The examples of what brings about true change are many; Haiti’s emancipation from France, Cuba from Batista, and Nicaragua from Somoza all represents real change because voting DOES NOT CHANGE ANYTHING! It is designed to keep things the same!
Was Hiphop created thru voting or was it created by a small group of outsiders, rebels, gang members, and revolutionary free thinkers who looked directly at the world the way it was and not the way it was presented to be? What would have happened if Kool Herc, Afrika Bambatta, and Grandmaster Flash looked towards City Hall to fix their problems and not themselves? Would Hiphop have ever been created if we had to wait for voting results and all of the bureaucratic bulls**t that always follows? How in the hell did Bambatta convince gang members to stop fighting and killing themselves and start rapping and dancing as a way to solve their conflicts and issues? Should he have waited for the political process to run its course before he did anything to help organize his community? How come nobody has ever called that man and asked him how he (and others like him) laid the foundation for what is now a multi billion dollar industry without casting one bogus vote? Did our elders really give their lives just so we can give ours over to the same system that plotted, planned, and executed them? Please tell me how voting got to be our ONLY viable strategy for freedom, justice, and equality
The idea itself has created a nation of passive, inactive, but hopeful goyim (cattle) being lead to the slaughter by they tyranny of a government that has never been subordinate to the "will of the people", rather to the "almighty dollar!"
To add to this is the fact that Diebold - the company that makes the voting software - has already been busted and fined for hijacking votes for the Republican Party! But, Diebold is still the number one controller of voting software in America; Voting Machines, the black cards that hold the results, GEM Programs, etc....
I advise all who sit back and vote for their children to get a descent education in the public school systems we pay for to get the DVD Documentary called "HACKING DEMOCRACY"
A Wise man understands that voting changes nothing, People do!!!!
Proper
Education
Always
Counters
Exploitation
Wise Intelligent is lead MC for the legendary HipHop group Poor Righteous Teachers. Wise's new mix-CD "Blessed Be The Poor? - The Un-Mix Tape" is available at www.intelligentmuzik.com. For additional info, visit www.myspace.com/wiseintelligent and www.purevolume.com/wiseintelligent.
*Read Black Electorate.com's 2005 interview with Wise Intelligent at http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1371
Wise Intelligent Monday, November 13, 2006 To discuss this article further enter The Deeper Look Dialogue Room
The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of BlackElectorate.com or Black Electorate Communications.
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