Please take time to read and respond seriously.
I added the bracket on serious because I'm speaking from the heart here as if we're family. Removing the politics and simple political disagreement and being serious about ramifications here.
I'm not going to share too many personal details because I still enjoy the anonymity of my online participation but I will share some real anecdotes here. Instead of engaging in snark and one-upmanship that can happen with these types of topics, I want to talk about this seriously.
I have a direct family member who works in a midwesten town that traditionally votes republican. Theyre a doctor. Over the past year or two, as this election progresses there is a noticeable shift in racial incidents and comments being made that are becoming more bold. I will share two.
The first one happened while they were working in an OR case with another surgeon. They were discussing a variety of topics and it happened to circle around to some topic where race suddenly came up. To preface, this family member is black but very light skin (only highlighting the randomness of genetic expression but I digress). Think Mariah Carey and even then this person isn't "mixed race". They had a completely black father and mixed race mother.
Anyways, noting that these individuals were getting too comfortable with their talk, they let them know that they are actually black. Keep in mind they are working on a patient, a baby, at this time under anesthesia. At this point the talk ceased And before this family member had time to respond, he reaches over the table and lifts up their Surgical cap to look at their hair. Completely violating that person's personal space and looking at them like they were some sort of zoo animal and felt completely entitled to put their hands on another person
Since at the time this person was working on a little baby, they didn't want to get into it at that moment and just went back to work. Talk was sparse after this.
Second anecdote, which is more recent. Another case, where they are work with two other doctors. One of the doctors asks the other if they ever heard of chitterlings. The doctor says no. The other doctor proceeds to say yeah I was in line yesterday while these two c00ns were buying them.
Then there is a number of incidents less blantant such as nurses saying "blacks only like shooting each other " and just a variety of other racist shyt.
While these incidents aren't the most egregious examples, I wanted to share them because they are happening with more frequency than before and these incidents are happening to people in my own family. It's not just some distant news story. They aren't the only ones and we all know these incidents always occurred and ideas were always there.
My geniune concern here is that regardless of what you think of the democratic candidate and I agree with a lot of the issues there, I also feel that a lot of this new alt-right and online white rage culture is getting offline validation through Trump. I know I'm not the first to make this argument and I'm geniunely not trying to use "scare tactics" at least as a means to an end context. No I'm completely sincere in what I think is a real actual outcome.
I know there is a segment of cynics out there that view both sides as corrupt and that is fine. However keep this in mind, North Carolina early voting for blacks was hugely hampered by what was determined by the courts to be racist republican legislation. They purposely looked at black districts and cut down the voting times and locations ONLY in their neighborhoods where in one district they only had ONE polling center for the whole black district. This is in part of a Supreme Court decision that no longer requires these southern states to get federal signoff on voting changes. The reasoning being we're past the 60's and these restrictions are no longer needed. Turned out not to be the case here obviously.
On one side you have people actively working to disenfranchise you; on the other negligence. I hate this choice as much as the next man and I understand the desire to see the whole system burn. At the same time, I have geniune anxiety that we're going down a worse path here with one side. It's not an equivalent comparison. Not an issue of what one side will do for black people more than it's what one side will DO TO black people. I don't want a conservative Supreme Court and I don't want these racist pricks to feel a sense of validation in their culture through a Trump win.
I'm not going to browbeat and shame people for not voting. But, if you're like me and for example no longer thinking of yourself but thinking about starting a family and having kids, maybe consider the pragmatic (yes I know some hate this word ) choice here and go out and vote.
I shared these anecdotes because to me, and hopefully I convey to you, that's it's not about fun chaos and joker like mayhem but there are real world consequences at stake. The fact that this happening to people in my family and making me geniunely upset is why I wanted to make this topic.
Again I don't want to browbeat and shame here but think about this issue with an open mind and introspection.
I added the bracket on serious because I'm speaking from the heart here as if we're family. Removing the politics and simple political disagreement and being serious about ramifications here.
I'm not going to share too many personal details because I still enjoy the anonymity of my online participation but I will share some real anecdotes here. Instead of engaging in snark and one-upmanship that can happen with these types of topics, I want to talk about this seriously.
I have a direct family member who works in a midwesten town that traditionally votes republican. Theyre a doctor. Over the past year or two, as this election progresses there is a noticeable shift in racial incidents and comments being made that are becoming more bold. I will share two.
The first one happened while they were working in an OR case with another surgeon. They were discussing a variety of topics and it happened to circle around to some topic where race suddenly came up. To preface, this family member is black but very light skin (only highlighting the randomness of genetic expression but I digress). Think Mariah Carey and even then this person isn't "mixed race". They had a completely black father and mixed race mother.
Anyways, noting that these individuals were getting too comfortable with their talk, they let them know that they are actually black. Keep in mind they are working on a patient, a baby, at this time under anesthesia. At this point the talk ceased And before this family member had time to respond, he reaches over the table and lifts up their Surgical cap to look at their hair. Completely violating that person's personal space and looking at them like they were some sort of zoo animal and felt completely entitled to put their hands on another person
Since at the time this person was working on a little baby, they didn't want to get into it at that moment and just went back to work. Talk was sparse after this.
Second anecdote, which is more recent. Another case, where they are work with two other doctors. One of the doctors asks the other if they ever heard of chitterlings. The doctor says no. The other doctor proceeds to say yeah I was in line yesterday while these two c00ns were buying them.
Then there is a number of incidents less blantant such as nurses saying "blacks only like shooting each other " and just a variety of other racist shyt.
While these incidents aren't the most egregious examples, I wanted to share them because they are happening with more frequency than before and these incidents are happening to people in my own family. It's not just some distant news story. They aren't the only ones and we all know these incidents always occurred and ideas were always there.
My geniune concern here is that regardless of what you think of the democratic candidate and I agree with a lot of the issues there, I also feel that a lot of this new alt-right and online white rage culture is getting offline validation through Trump. I know I'm not the first to make this argument and I'm geniunely not trying to use "scare tactics" at least as a means to an end context. No I'm completely sincere in what I think is a real actual outcome.
I know there is a segment of cynics out there that view both sides as corrupt and that is fine. However keep this in mind, North Carolina early voting for blacks was hugely hampered by what was determined by the courts to be racist republican legislation. They purposely looked at black districts and cut down the voting times and locations ONLY in their neighborhoods where in one district they only had ONE polling center for the whole black district. This is in part of a Supreme Court decision that no longer requires these southern states to get federal signoff on voting changes. The reasoning being we're past the 60's and these restrictions are no longer needed. Turned out not to be the case here obviously.
On one side you have people actively working to disenfranchise you; on the other negligence. I hate this choice as much as the next man and I understand the desire to see the whole system burn. At the same time, I have geniune anxiety that we're going down a worse path here with one side. It's not an equivalent comparison. Not an issue of what one side will do for black people more than it's what one side will DO TO black people. I don't want a conservative Supreme Court and I don't want these racist pricks to feel a sense of validation in their culture through a Trump win.
I'm not going to browbeat and shame people for not voting. But, if you're like me and for example no longer thinking of yourself but thinking about starting a family and having kids, maybe consider the pragmatic (yes I know some hate this word ) choice here and go out and vote.
I shared these anecdotes because to me, and hopefully I convey to you, that's it's not about fun chaos and joker like mayhem but there are real world consequences at stake. The fact that this happening to people in my family and making me geniunely upset is why I wanted to make this topic.
Again I don't want to browbeat and shame here but think about this issue with an open mind and introspection.
