Quote:
Originally Posted by C0LLETTE
WHY is it unfair that they have to get out of their comfort zone and diligently promote democracy and Democrats? Who exactly is going to do it for them? They should have been screaming bloody murder and still be screaming bloody murder. There are no tooth fairies.
First class taught in public schools should be: how to figure out when you're being lied to and used.
Second class should be: in not waiting around benignly to get helped when you know you're being fucked ( or even remotely suspect it).
Third class should be in: not being afraid of those tin pot creeps that rule you. When the masses get big enough the monsters inevitably crumble into dried piles of dung.
But you must have courage and you must not completely rely on someone else to do it for you.
New to North America but not so foreign in the rest of the world: By the age of 10 or 12, you really should know how to survive even if it isn't pretty.
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I think we in America think good will prevail..it's typically something those with white priviledge have taken for granted for years..when you are brown unless you are lucky enough to be raised in a family with affluence you don't have that
sense of safety and fairness..Yes, I know we elected a black president but that hardly means racism is
dead..and brown people although happy about Obama's election did not realize much of a boost in upward mobility. Most of the poor stayed poor or even became poorer..There are many reasons why brown people do not
feel empowered, education is the first hurdle many cannot overcome, and the second the experience of daily racism in the South and even the North etc. I won't go into the whys because it's
not something white people will really understand on a granular level..However, I will say when faced with day to day racism you usually choose between becoming militant or go quiet. Whatever you choose things will not change so why should they vote? Police brutality is rampant and nobody cares enough to do something about it, except young people and they are not in power. Also Republicans have gone out of their way to
suppress the vote of minorities by making it difficult to register. Right now they have the upper hand, but at
some point in the next 10 years (if we don't manage to blow ourselves up or wreck the planet) brown people
will outnumber whites and there will be a reckoning and my guess is, it
won't be pretty. I was being a little sarcastic because those on the democratic side have an advantage and have won two of the last three elections so their lack of enthusiasm is obvious..and I believe felt by minorities even more so...It's easy to preach about why not get active when you have never had to struggle on a visceral level just to survive..you take it for granted you will..if you're brown you never can relax there is always something lurking to bring you down, voting seems pretty minor in comparison.. Also to date brown people have never equated voting with surviving..we are too busy raising and trying to make sure our kids get an education, have enough food on the table and are not shot by police..That's reality for a great many brown moms.