The Sport of Politics

 The biggest problem is that Americans have become obsessed with the "sport" of politics. Politicians are elevated to celebrity levels and are either demonized or deified. This is how an amoral degenerate reality TV show host with no history in public service came to occupy the highest office in the land. Critical thinking on a political level has become a lost art and has given way to memes that lack nuance and focus. 

I'm long past the point of telling people who they should vote for. I will only say that Black people who vote should be conscious of two things: 1. There are no saviors in politics. When you vote you are mitigating damage to our community. 2. Substantive change doesn't start with government. It doesn't come from government. Government is historically last to the party. It comes from grassroots work. Voting is just one small piece of a very large puzzle. 

All that said, it should be clear to everyone that four more years of Trump could prove catastrophic. Unemployment is above 10%. 210K people have died from COVID 19. White supremacists have become emboldened and aggressive. The economy is on the precipice of collapse. It is in everyone's best interests that Trump be removed.

For many years we've heard the hyperbole of how "This is the most important election"  etc, etc. That said imagine if four years ago I said to you that two hundred thousand people will be dead from a deadly virus. That fifty million people will have filed for unemployment. That movie theaters and restaurants would be closed and those that  opened would be struggling to stay in business. That healthcare would again be a central issue during a global pandemic.  That sports leagues would be playing in bubbles. Would you have believed me?

Now imagine what type of fruit four more years of Trump's incompetence will bear. You are correct that America doesn't run on one man. Imagine the types of people he empowers and what they will continue to do.

As a Black man in America my struggle has been all but ordained. I am not naive enough to believe Biden or any elderly white man will save us. That said, there are levels to this shit. Those who believe it cannot and will not get worse under Trump are dangerously naive IMO.