Thread by @michaelharriot

First of all, anyone who says I didn't vote in 2016 (or any state, or local election since I turned 18) is a whole liar.

My job has never been to advocate for a political party or group. Let me be clear, I am a partisan. I am beholden to 1 constituency:

Black people.

https://twitter.com/SE_DC_4life/status/1307278923781283840

The narrative that black voters didn't vote for Hillary because they didn't care or don't understand how the Supreme Court works is intellectually dishonest and reductive.

The Democratic Party's reluctance to stand up for black people is DIRECTLY TIED to their assumption that

Black voters are going to vote for Dems even if they do nothing to help us. EVEN IF they do harm to us.

While you may think that I am one of these entitled "blue checkmark" MFs, I ain't shit but a dirt poor nigga from SC who grew up in what muhfuckas called "the hood."

My purpose has NEVER been to convince the voiceless and unrepresented people I grew up surrounded by to adopt the political strategy that rendered them voiceless.

Nah, fam. That ain't me.

My goal was always to give them a voice because, while you may think they need a seat at the table, the truth is, as long as there is a table with a certain number of seats, we will be excluded.

I want to set the table on fire.

THAT IS A POLITICAL STRATEGY too.

In 1994, my mother had 4 children in college, including me. My care packages were basically food stamps (they were paper food stamps back then) and government PB&J (Everyone talks about gov't cheese but I'm lactose intolerant & that gov't peanut butter was HITTIN'.)

Welfare reform ended that shit.

Clinton staffers resigned in protest, calling it "the worst thing Bill Clinton has ever done."

What does this have to do with Hillary, tho? I shouldn't hold her responsible for the deeds of her husband. That is sexist.

Except:

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about one of my friends who recently passed away. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison for possessing 9 ounces of cocaine.

She's just 1 of DOZENS of people I love who were victims of mass incarceration.

theroot.com/the-stolen-lif…

I don't blame Hilary for this. I also KNOW that the people who insist that "that was the solution back then" are liars. We always knew being "tough on crime" was not the answer.

For instance, there were black lawmakers who fought the 1994 crime bill at the time.

It was in danger of passing, so the White House created an all-out push for the bill.

This happened on August 12, 1994

6 days later, this happened

Yall might not recall the 2008 presidential primaries but in 2007, I was canvassing in SC for a little-known Senator from Illinois who was running against Clinton, who was expected to win the Democratic primary.

Yall might not recall how it turned into a political race war.

Now I wasn't canvassing with Obama's campaign in my hometown. I was working out of a campaign headquarters in a town called Florence, SC.

There was also a mayors race on the primaries between the longtime incumbent Frank WIllis and a young challenger, Wuleka

Wuleka openly supported Obama, (which was surprising at that time in SC) he challenged the town's segregation and racial disparities.

Willis supported Clinton. Even though he was a Democrat, Willis had also supported Bush.

But Florence's racial demographics are 50/50.

Statewide, it was the same way the party was a little more than half black.

Black people were NOT going to vote for Willis, for the reason they didn't vote for Clinton.

So statewide, the Clinton campaign made the SC primaries all about race.

Y'all, I have never seen anything like it. Literally all the white people started pulling for Clinton and all the black people were pulling for Obama.

And even though this young, progressive mayoral candidate was white, white people REFUSED TO VOTE FOR HIM.

And when Hillary lost, she ramped up her rhetoric, she said this:

So, nah,

I couldn't vote for her.

Now, admittedly, I know how the electoral college works, so because I live in Alabama, there is literally no difference between voting for a write-in candidate (No, I didn't vote for no damn Jill Stein) and Hillary Clinton.

BUT...

My REFUSAL to vote for someone based on ACTUAL FACTS ain't holier than thou purity test. And dismissing black people as uninformed about the importance of voting can't be called anything other than a goddamned lie.

Black voters in the South are the Dems most reliable voters

They know how shit works MORE THAN YOU.

That's why they vote Democrat. In 2008 black people turned out to vote and elected a WHOLE PRESIDENT.

They showed their political power. We were SURE the Democratic party was gonna fight for black people.

Now there are some people who say Obama didn't do anything for black people.

He sued every major bank in America for discrimination.
His DOE Civil Rights dept. confronted schools that overdisciplined black children
His helped create the CFPB
He fought housing discrimination.

His DOJ instituted more consent decrees than any other president, literally changing the way Ferguson, MO operated. He outlawed private federal prisons.
His DOJ stopped using mandatory minimums

Then he signed criminal justice reform.

When he signed the Fair Sentencing Act...

It was groundbreaking. He actually got Republicans to support ending the disparities in the crack cocaine law.

There was a catch, though:

Republicans would only agree if it didn't apply retroactively because that would release thousands of black people from prison

When Dems agreed, there were people (myself included) who said, "but what about all the black people who are locked up?"

(Seriously, go look at the numbers. It's NINETY-EIGHT PERCENT BLACK)

But the Dems conceded. That Fair Sentencing Act was the result of the 94 Crime Bill

It was also the basis for the FIRST STEP ACT, which just made the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive.

The GOP would have done it. They had the votes. But the Democratic party did not fight hard enough for black people.

And then...

In 2013 Shelby v Holder was decided, making it more difficult for millions of black people to vote.

And some people said: "But what about the black people? I know y'all gonna fight for that, right? Black people literally DIED for the voting rights act."

Hey, do me a favor, and look up that bill...

And then, in 2016, The GOP blocked the Merrick Garland nomination. Now, there are a couple of things the Democratic party could have done.

They could have blocked every vote until the GOP voted.

They could have used the leverage from the Debt ceiling debate that March (Mitch McConnell blocked the nomination in Feb.)

Now do me one more favor:

Google the archived versions of Hillary's campaign literature and see how many times Shelby v Holder was mentioned. While you're at it, see how many times the Democratic party specifically said they would undo the harm of the 94 crime bill.

Screenshot a speech where the party talked about giving black people ANY SIGNIFICANT set-aside for the work WE HAVE GIVEN TO THE PARTY.

Now, those black voters in 2016 were not uniformed nor were they apathetic.

THEY KNEW

THEY KNEW how important the Supreme Court was BECAUSE THEY WATCHED YALL SAY "FUCK THOSE NIGGAS. They still gonna vote for us" when the Democratic Party didn't fuck shit up while the GOP stole their vote.

And let's go back to Florence SC.

On the day he won the primary, that Senator actually visited SC.

That's where he delivered his speech.

The black people went crazy.

It was in Florence SC.

Black people in Florence remember the power of their vote every time they hear about their mayor.

Because that raced was fueled by racist rhetoric, ALL the white people voted Clinton candidate, and ALL the black people voted for the Obama backer

Don't EVER think that a muhfucka didn't know what he was doing just because you disagree with his vote.

Clinton's backer, who weaponized her racist rhetoric to court white Democratic voters, was salty AF when he lost to a young Obama backer.

How close was it?

And for the record, I have voted in every election in my adult life and have never told anyone NOT to vote. I understand people who criticize my vote. (which is why I haven't deleted that tweet)

Politics SHOULD be criticized. I SHOULD BE CRITICIZED, which is the whole point.

Because I also believe that black people will NEVER have a Democratic party that will fight for us if we are afraid to criticize it.

I believe that Trump is the worst president in American history

AND

I don't believe that Black voters are the reason Hillary Clinton lost.

Black people have demonstrated our willingness to fight for anyone who will fight for us & I'm cool with any criticism of how I voted.

But don't lie and say I didn't vote.

My mama didn't raise me like that.

Also...

Fuck Donald Trump (My mama didn't raise me like that either)