Written by Alberta Parish
In the first quarter of 2020, millions of Americans have been negatively impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic and have been unemployed as well as laid off from their jobs for months. Despite the growth in evictions and foreclosures, politicians in the Senate have chosen to go on recess instead of quickly facilitating the passing of a bill for a second stimulus payout. You can see how both Democrat and Republican leaders are using this current crisis to garner votes and a presidential election coming in November. The COVID-19 pandemic is being used as leverage over the people of this nation. A very real pandemic has been politicized and used to the advantage of a president and presidential candidate. Millions of lives are at stake while President Trump downplays and denies a pandemic to appease his base. I feel sorry for children whose families have been negatively impacted by this man-made crisis.
Looking at my own situation, I'm glad I don't have kids. I don't have to worry about feeding extra mouths. The only life I'm responsible for is myself. I don't need the added stress because being black in this damn country is stressful enough. Not having all you need to really live life to the fullest is stressful enough. Need I also mention that I've gotten very little support from Black people when it comes to matters that are of great importance in my life. Meanwhile, people continue peddling false hope and lying to you about how accessible the American dream is for all. But there is no American dream for all. The American dream was never meant for all. Only a select few who have real wealth. While some unarmed black men, black women, boys and girls get a bullet in their back, others get to live out their American dream. While Black people keep overwhelmingly supporting the Democratic Party, you get to spend your life in fear of a bullet during a routine traffic stop. But here's one that refuses to live in fear. I left Christianity and the church because I refused to spend the rest of what little time I have left on this planet living in fear of the unknown or in fear of some deity I've never seen.
Having been a lifelong Democrat, I just cannot muster up enough will to vote for a Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket. In fact, I refuse to vote for anyone. Here's some of the following reasons:
1). Joe Biden's political record is not impressive. Although he and Obama introduced universal healthcare, which significantly helped many poor families, especially Black and Brown people gain access to healthcare that these families otherwise would have not have gotten, Biden is not in favor of universal basic income. Although Kamala Harris is in favor of universal basic income, she rejects reparations for Black people. This is a huge problem for me. (America is really becoming a completely socialist country). Capitalism, especially for Black and Brown people, does not work in our favor. There will always be a few people on the top who hold most of the wealth while the bottom income earners will always comprise a little above 99% of the population. These are the people that make this economy run. But this type of system is also not sustainable. Socialism is really the future of this country.
2). Kamala Harris' career as a California prosecutor/attorney general does not sit well with me. People always want to jump on the social justice bandwagon when it is popular or convenient for their careers, but what about having empathy and compassion for the lives of poor people or Black and Brown people who you know for years were being discriminated against in the state of California by law enforcement officials? The OJ Simpson trial was a perfect example of Los Angeles detectives and other agents of law enforcement throughout the state of California who routinely terrorized Black Californians. I'm old enough to remember what life was like for Black and Brown people in many U.S. cities during the 1980s and 90s. Former LAPD detective, Mark Fuhrman who was a prime witness for the prosecution in the OJ Simpson trial, admitted on the witness stand to beating the bloody pulp out of Black men and planting evidence on criminal suspects. Fuhrman was a dirty cop, and had been for many years. Unfortunately, many law enforcement officers have gotten away with the murder of unarmed, innocent or non-innocent Black and Brown people. They also took advantage of drug dealers, and killed many of them. Many law enforcement agents were also pedophiles. Many of them are still pedophiles today.
3). Neither candidate has a real agenda specifically for Black people who is the most marginalized group in this country. When I hear people talking about the American dream for all, I know they're lying. There is no such concept as the American dream for all. Capitalism wasn't designed to work for all. Only a select few.
Even if the electoral college selects Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president in November, what are they going to do in immediately addressing and solving the crises in homelessness, joblessness, evictions, foreclosures, and economic troubles that millions of people are currently facing? A second stimulus payout is not going to solve long-term problems such as homelessness and economic inequality. But universal basic income will. It may even be the answer or one of the solutions in fixing economic inequality and homelessness. Of course universal basic income is a socialist program. But we cannot sustain capitalism. We already have socialist programs in place. We just have to make the jump to a complete socialist country.
Truthfully, America is becoming a failed state. The American dream is virtually dead. As I recall a certain passage in my new book, God is on Trial, "While the United States seek to return to some form of normalcy amid the pandemic, many still live under the illusion that they are actually free. Anything calling itself or posing as a democratic nation is really a communistic, socialist, fascist regime. The only difference between this regime and Adolf Hitler's is the Constitution of the United States. But throw away the Constitution, and the United States as an idea will cease to exist."
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