O Pinions!

The white privilege of not voting

The white privilege of not voting
21 March 2016

Trump may not be a total disaster... for White Folk. For anyone else it could get scary bloody. If you have anyone in your life who is a 'minority' ask them how they feel when Trump talks and his followers spew forth. You may want to reconsider your options.

For people-of-color the options are narrower. Jobs? Immigration? Taxes? These may be important issues overall but they pale in comparison to Life, Liberty, Association.

Life: there have literally been calls for violence. POC are oft times the desired victims.
Liberty: any restrictions of where one lives, who one marries, what job one is offered leads to marginalization and usually poverty.
Association: how one dresses, who one hangs out with, which "church" one attends should not label someone as undesirable.

Trump is not the only candidate for office who spews forth venom. Cruz is fairly good at it as well. Kasich less so. Clinton has built a career on navigating the shoals of diversity. Sanders? He's shown solidarity by his actions for over 50 years.

Staying home out of spite because ones personal candidate is not on the ticket or voting for a third party candidate based on some notion of purity-of-message is the privilege of White Folks. People of color want to stay alive. Some candidates for this election rightfully frighten them.

© Kåre Enga [173.3] (21.march.2016)

489