After all of my years as a righteous minister for the Hip-Hop culture, I’ve learned a few things about rappers: they love bitches, money, fast cars, champagne and not voting. It’s amazing to see how many prominent rappers speak out against voting, and then witness their stupidity in explaining their faulty logic. With the Presidential election coming in November, I want to explain to all of the detractors why voting is essential to stopping our country from turning into the Matrix run by Agent Smith.
When I hear rappers like Lupe Fiasco and Kendrick Lamar speak about how voting doesn’t solve anything, I turn red with anger. Sidebar, as Black as I am, yes, I can still turn red with anger. Big whoop, wanna fight about it? In any case, this logic plagues a good number of people, and now is the time to put an end to the nonsense. Fact of the matter is, voting is one of the only real liberties we have in this country, and by giving up our right to do so, we also give up our power to influence policy. Let’s be real, politicians dictate policy, and if we don’t have anyone even remotely representing our ideals, how do we expect anything to change? As Black people, there’s especially no excuse for us not to vote. When examining this country’s history from poll taxes to the “Three-Fifths Compromise” to finally getting the right to vote in 1965, we’d be disrespecting all of the people who died fighting to secure our basic rights as people. The establishment tried to suppress our voices to ensure we didn’t have a say in how this country progresses. When we don’t vote, we’re playing right into their hands.
The idea of one vote not counting might be the most ass backwards way of thinking. If we all thought that way, we’d lose everyone’s voice in one shot. When considering the fact 17 states have enacted new voter suppression laws since 2010, that’s exactly what those in power are looking for. Now I’m just as skeptical of politicians as the next man, but when we sit idly by, we have no right to complain about this country’s direction. Honestly, I can’t take Lupe’s political criticisms seriously now, because I don’t think he really helps the cause. Yeah I know all about his involvement in Occupy Wall Street, but that movement never had a truly definitive goal. Then again, that’s another story all together. If the goal was the redistribution of wealth, you know what would help? Legislation. If taxes were raised for the upper class, that would help offset the monetary strain on both middle and lower middle class families. However, in order to do that, we’d need representatives to pass these laws, which in turn, brings us back to voting. Now do I believe voting is the be-all and end-all to changing society? Of course not, but why give up a valuable weapon?
All in all, the election is approaching faster than we think and it’s time for all of us to register. I’m not going to tell everyone who to vote for, but I’m going to suggest we all vote. Then again, my mind can’t grasp anyone who’s willing to vote for a man who doesn’t care about 47% of the country. Now seeing as how I’ve been gone for a month, I figured I’d come back in style. I’ve been meaning to write about this subject for a while, and now is the perfect time. It’s about to get serious in November. I’m ready. Chuuuch.
