You Want to Thank Black Women?

So, you want to thank Black women for helping Joe Biden win? Here’s how.

Yen Lo
Proletariat

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Portrait of a striking black woman with green and blue hues prominent. Her hair is in a scarfed updo. She wears gold; stoic.
“Zulu Maiden” by Vladimir Tretchikoff/Pinterest

When W.E.B. DuBois wrote that he would “not go to the polls” in 1956, it resonated with me deeply. My first introduction to sociology came by reading an excerpt of “The Souls of Black Folk” by DuBois for class. He introduced me to the revolutionary idea that black people in America should withhold votes. In “I Won’t Vote”, published in The Nation, he echoed my disenchantment and utter contempt for the U.S. electoral system and everything it stands for.

So, I didn’t vote in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election after voting in 2016, 2008, and 2004. I say this because I don’t want you to thank me for a Biden/Harris win. I’d hate to take credit for something like that.

In fact, don’t ever feel the need to thank me for anything. As a black woman in America, I don’t want or need your thanks. I need your action and your fight. I need results. We, black women, deserve results. Thank you is far from giving unto us our (overdue) due.

As for the black women who voted? Let’s talk about my esteemed sisters. Though we disagree, esteemed they are, first and foremost. I won’t mention the conservative ones because we all know they weren’t thanked for voting for Trump.

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Yen Lo
Proletariat

Not concerned with propriety. Liberation now. Contrarian by design. Black mother. Somebody’s daughter. Guerrilla in the mist. Imperfect Christian.