Bros. sekou, without democracy do you believe those issues that Bro. James mentioned would have been legislated and enacted if there weren't people advocating and fighting for them politically? Would they have materialized from a just and compassionate government?
Freedom is not free. It comes with a price tag. That's the way the system has been set up. If where we are today came without our intervention and sometimes death, then we can all sit back and let life run its course and never need to vote.
But the ruling class has set its government up based on the practice of voting. Now, whether you believe it to be real or an illusion, I don't question at this point. However, once our ancestors realized their fate after being brought here without their free will, and began to understand and learn the system, our political struggle for freedom and justice began and I do believe that their fighting in the legislatures has made a difference for us.
To what extent one perceives what the benefits of voting are can be discussed, but first, can we at least touch and agree that Black people are better off than we were, let's say, under Jim Crow and prior to? Then we must also agree that voting in elections played a significant role because there are new laws built into the US Constitution that guarantees us certain rights and many of us are willing to fight for those rights.
I know that the racist regime has gotten more sophisticated and cunning in its practice since Jim Crow was restructured--but not eliminated. And that means that Black people, who are only favored as laborers owned by a nation of hypocrites, self-indulgent and greedy, power hungry people, continue to find the struggle for equity and justice more challenging. The brass ring keeps being moved farther and farther out of reach for us, unless we play their game by their rules. Voting is part of the game and some people choose not to participate, which is their right.
I choose to vote because you never know when it will be the tool that swings the pendulum in our favor.