Superpredator Aunt v. Orange Uncle

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A pair of shiny Black leather hard-soled shoes sit, untied on a dark wood floor. They reflect the light on the tip, the tongue, and the side. There is a circular spotlight of white light over the planks of wood that illuminates the shoes from the all-black backdrop.

This election is not about your Superpredator Aunt or your Orange Uncle. I personally refuse to vote for either, but I do want to talk about the importance of local elections.

To keep it brief: I’m voting in the state of California. My vote for Dr. Jill Stein or Monica Moorehead is not a vote for your Orange Uncle. California contains over 38 million people, so it’s truthfully more like it’s own country in many ways. While we should not ignore the 1,665,135 Orange Uncle supporters from the June 6th, 2016 California Primary, Superpredator Aunt garnered 2,745,302 votes.

It is true that much has changed since the Primary, however I still think that I, Anthony J. Williams, can vote for someone besides Superpredator or Orange Man without tipping the scales in his favor.

This election cycle was the first time I really recognized the terrifying decision-making power of the electoral college on a national level, and the much more change-making power of political education on a local level. At this point the political theatre that is Orange Uncle v. Superpredator Aunt California has worn me out. Some of us are booing, some of us are reluctantly cheering, and some of us are enthusiastically engaged. Some of us can vote, yet there are still so many of us who cannot and so many before us who were murdered just for attempting to vote. This is not a guilt trip, but a gentle reminder to myself and others that while we laugh and cry on a national level, there are many disenfranchised communities to whom we have a responsibility in our immediate surroundings. It about what drones the United States will inevitably drop internationally and what surveillance and suppression our folks face locally.

In the state of California there are 17 propositions on the ballot, including one that would speed up the death penalty, another that could possibly change the pharmaceutical industry forever, and two about…plastic bags. The county of Alameda — my county — has 8 ballot measures, including one that would introduce a police oversight commission and another that would increase renter’s protection in Oakland. Additionally, my vote can affect who enters or stays in Senate, Congress, local court, and our school districts. Let’s start by examining how our vote does actually make a difference locally and work our way out.

Create Her Stock / [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dark skinned woman with jet black hair and large hoop earrings places her hands on a young dark skinned boy’s shoulders. They both wear white and stand out against the eggshell colored exterior wall behind them. He looks up at her eyes as she looks down.]

OAKLAND: Police in Schools

The Oakland Police Department has “misplaced” 370 weapons since 2011. Some schools in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) have police officers in school, some have school resource officers, and some have security officers. In fact, OUSD employed at least 115 security and law enforcement officers in 2013. Compare that to the 20 school counselors, making for a ratio of one counselor for every 1,854 students. The trauma of white supremacy in the form of food deserts, generational poverty, police brutality, and inadequate education requires competent and plentiful counselors, not police officers.

Oakland Ballot Measure LL is a long overdue response to police misuse of force, sexual assault, and statutory rape cases within the Oakland Police Department. Measure LL gives the Commission the ability to fire the Chief of Police and provide a list of replacement candidates to the Mayor. A close read of the full text does brings to light questions and concerns about the Mayor’s involvement in the selection, but Measure LL still implements one of the strongest police oversight commissions in the nation.

Now, I have attended community forums and town halls this year where OUSD incumbents speak on the utility of school resource officers and try to distance them from police officers. I have heard incumbents talk about mending relationships and getting school resource officers training to actually act as counselors, since they interact with the students so much. I have heard all this despite the frequency of violent encounters that happen to Black and brown students at the hands of these school resource officers and our national police force (see: Spring Valley High and The Counted).

Your local School Board incumbents make budget, admin, and disciplinary decisions. Research who is running to help or [sometimes unintentionally] hurt the kids in your neighborhood.

Jasmine Curtis / Afrikan Black Coalition 2016 Conference, UC Santa Barbara

CALIFORNIA: Speeding up the Death Penalty

Prop 66, if it passes, is a law enforcement-backed bill that has the power to speed up the death penalty process in the state of California. This means that while 740 people — mostly Black and brown — wait on death row, we are deciding whether we should get them to the execution block quicker. On the other side, we have Prop 62, which aims to repeal the death penalty and takes steps toward doing so. However the proposition only replaces the death penalty for new inmates and existing inmates with life without parole. It is clear that we must vote no on 66, but many people question if a yes on 62 is properly timed. Ultimately, if both propositions pass then the one with the most “yes” votes wins.

#DontTouchMyVote / [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Yellow text over a black & white photo of an altercation between dogs, a white police officer, and a Black man as other Black folks look on. One of two police dogs is attacking the Black man. Over the image the text reads, “the have always been afraid of the power of our vote. we have always resisted that fear.” in all capital yellow letters. At the top and bottom is a straight yellow line full of triangles in a pattern where one resembles a ‘V’, then a ‘A’ and on. In the bottom right, above the bottom line of triangles is a yellow cut-out of the state of Missouri with the text “No on #6.”]

MISSOURI: Voter Suppression

According to the Missouri Secretary of State, Amendment 6 would change the state constitution so that “that voters may be required by law, which may be subject to exception, to verify one’s identity, citizenship, and residence by presenting identification that may include valid government-issued photo identification.” Fiscally, the proposed amendment may even cost local governments $2.1 million annually to implement, so what is the purpose? Voter fraud is a lie, given how infrequently it happens.

Voter suppression has historically and presently — in places like Texas and now Missouri — disproportionately targeted Black voters, poor voters, migrants, and anyone that can rally to make a difference in an election. Black folks in Missouri are saying #DontTouchMyVote, and rightfully so. If our vote did not matter, why would they purge the rolls, charge poll taxes, and restrict voting to folks with identification? If our vote did not matter, why would they try to take it away by stricter ID laws?

Chelsea Dass / Cape Town, South Africa. [IMAGE DESCRIPTION: a brown-skinned Black man stands with his head to the left and his arms outstretched against colorful street art on the wall. His hair is black, his glasses are silver, he has slight facial hair, his shirt is red paisley with black 3/4 sleeves, and he wears blue denim. In the bottom right of the street art the words “OPEN Design” are spray painted on in black.]

Voting in my local and state elections became especially relevant for me this year. I focus on my personal experience in order to avoid guilting people into voting. We know that does not work, and in fact often makes folks more likely to avoid what you attempt to guilt them into doing. For me, it comes down to this:

I’m Black, which serves as a tax. But I’m college educated and employed, which puts me in a different place than many folks within the community in which I live. I have the right to vote, and I plan to exercise that right. Not because I feel guilty, not because my ancestors were killed in the process of obtaining the vote, but because if I don’t vote I believe that it means I don’t really care about my community.

So I hope that by using the city of Oakland, the state of California, and the state of Missouri’s high stakes elections, folks begin to see how voting in our local elections is much bigger than us and our egos. Or our political ideologies. Or our strategies. Voting is not the way and voting will never be the way. Voting is just one tool of many that I plan to utilize and I hope to encourage others to utilize as well.

If an individual or a group is actively working to dismantle the State, capitalism, imperialism, heteropatriarchy and so on and so forth, then cool. Don’t vote. But if we must participate in this white supremacist capitalist world — and often, we must — then we need to find ways to do what we can, where we can. If that means direct action, electing seasoned community organizers into city council, buying Black, and… ________________? Then I think, just maybe, we can utilize voting as a tool to at least fight for, if not advocate for, our communities. Don’t let your Uncle Orange and your Auntie Superpredator distract you from your longterm goals for yourself and your community.

Questions, comments, suggestions or corrections? Leave them here on medium or hit me up on Twitter (@anthoknees).