Before reading this article please ask yourself this question: do you consider yourself Black first or an American first? If you consider yourself an America first and do not see race as a factor, then you would never see any reasoning to the point of this article. In fact, you probably do not belong on this site, so click here. However, if you consider yourself as Black first then prepare to think twice, twice.

How long will Black America be defrauded by this voting conspiracy? Psychology has been used against us and we cannot even see what it has done and in what ways we have contributed to our own continued oppression. Need an explanation?

God forbid this article suggest that Black America commit the ultimate sin in American citizenship by refusing to vote, or that anyone who does not vote will have forsaken all that our brave and courageous leaders fought and died for. Those leaders themselves had Black opponents against voting in American Democracy.

The message of this article is not to encourage Blacks to abandon the ideas and goals of leaders past, but unless the words and basic concept break through the God-forsaken "must vote" mindset it will have no impact whatsoever and will remain null until its prophetic debut twenty maybe 50 years from now. The ultimate message is to awaken Black voters to the possibility that of all the voting Blacks have done over the "emancipated" years we were allowed to vote, what exactly have improved by reason of our vote and not by reason of self-determination alone.

This is going to be difficult to explain. However, if viewed from the opposite direction, instead of our voting power actually improving our lot in American democracy, we have merely been reinforcement for both political parties. If we are not upholding the ideas of one then we are giving strength to the concepts of the other. If they had never received our votes, would the country be any different? If neither political party had ever received our votes, would it matter a whole lot? How would our lives be different?

If we, in fact, refuse to vote in the next 4 elections for any federal, state, or local office, would anything be different? If you believe it would, ask yourself why. Your answer would most likely be because if we do not speak up or support our own people running for office, then no one will and that would give whites all the more reason to do to us whatever they want. You are right. Now ask yourself another question.

If we never voted and whites took advantage of this non-voice of Black America, do you think they would enjoy this? If you believe they would then this strongly sustains the first theory as to whether or not anything has changed. Whether we vote or not, we can never change the mindset of white America or its political structure. They will do unto us what they will regardless.

By voting, we only strengthen their control. We are doing exactly what they want us to do, depend on them and give control over to them. If we do not vote we do not give them control but take a large portion of that control: mostly the control of our own identities and destinies. If we take all that voting power and shift it in another direction, politicians have to take heed. Shift in what direction you ask? Into a national petition or organized charter.

How much clout does our Black political representatives really have? Yes, we have the Mayorships and one or two Governorships, and we have a few Black leaders run hard for the Presidency, but once in high positions, are they there because they earned it or are they there for show of tokenism? The higher they are the harder you have to bite down. And once they reach a position of power, do they not spoil after learning the ways of Democracy?

What Black leaders, Congressional laws or policies have dramatically changed our ability to live among whites? Whenever we move to where they are they move out, or white flight. What economic policy has changed when or how much a bank will loan us on a mortgage? Have these laws enabled us to own property wherever we want or start businesses as often or on an equal scale as most white businesses?

What Legislative rule has changed how law enforcement officers treat our young Black men and women as compared to young white offenders? Or what laws have taken notice and changed the rate of the Black prison populations? What great Amendment has ended the racial tension in University decisions to fairly admit our Black students without a stigma on IQ, performance, or mere personal achievement?

What President has actually made things better for the Black population pertaining to Hollywood stereotypes, hiring and "first" firing practices, wage and or housing discrimination, church burnings, police brutality, racial profiling, urban education degradation, inner-city blight, the poor and medically deprived, and all other current racial issues that plague the Black community.

What makes anyone think that continuing to vote for the same people who have no power to change the racial mind set of white America will ever actually make any difference in our lot in American society? Why is it that Blacks cannot see that voting is a pacifier for Black America and gives false hopes for a long anticipated dream that will never come true at the ballot box. Gaining respect and power in American society does not come from the ballot box, but from Black unity and from the pocket.

No one white man or group of white men is going to miraculously grant Black America all that we deserve by passing a bill. Nor will Black America gain that recognition by lining up every four years or every two years to vote for the same majority that has the power to withhold. From 1967 to now, the only thing America politics has done for Black America is condition them to depend on and trust in their method of control. American Democracy: Is this what we really want?

© 2004 by CR Hamilton