In light of the recent spring elections and the upcoming presidential elections, I’m reminded of Malcolm X’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet.” He states, “It’s time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for; what we’re supposed to get when we cast a ballot; and that if we don’t cast a ballot, it’s going to end up in a situation where we’re going to have to cast a bullet.”
Yes, remember to vote. People have fought and died for the right to vote, for working-class people, for women, for people of color. But, we can’t pretend our work is done after we cast that vote. What are we going to do to make this community a good one for everyone? For the homeless man you walk past every morning. For the worker whose union got busted and is now out of a retirement. For the 70-plus percent of black children in poverty in Dane County. For the growing number of victims of human trafficking, displayed right on the classifieds on UW game days. For those incarcerated, disproportionately poor and black, because they did what they had to in order to survive. The part of Dane County doing well, the white middle class, likes to give a warm and fuzzy lecture at the UW on these topics, but when it comes to action, these issues are swept under the rug.
“It’s very simple. In your well-meaning middle-class white progressivism, your gentle condescension has forgotten that these people you pity as victims are just as smart as you. They – we – know the limits of voting. And we also know what happens when we decide to forgo addressing the real problems. People died in the streets to win a union. People died in a war to end slavery.”
We elected officials pretend if you vote for us we can fix these problems; the truth is, our government was built on the backs of those disaffected. We won’t do anything unless you force us to. The Civil Rights Movement was not the result of voting. The labor movement was not the result of voting. I see white progressives decrying the lack of political participation by those disaffected. I see them wondering, “Why won’t young people get involved? Why won’t minorities vote?”
It’s very simple. In your well-meaning middle-class white progressivism, your gentle condescension has forgotten that these people you pity as victims are just as smart as you. They – we – know the limits of voting. And we also know what happens when we decide to forgo addressing the real problems. People died in the streets to win a union. People died in a war to end slavery.
You have a choice, Dane County. Are you going to truly take in the homeless man as your brother? Are you going to support a Day Resource Center in your neighborhood?
Are you going to support the work already being done by communities of color to build power for themselves? Are you going to march with Young, Gifted, and Black when they call for action?
Are you going to ensure a living wage and a union for all workers? Are you going to organize your own workplace?
Are you going to stand up and make sure Dane County is a place worth living in for every living being in it? If not, I turn again to Malcolm X: “There’s new thinking coming in. There’s new strategy coming in. It’ll be Molotov cocktails this month, hand grenades next month, and something else next month. It’ll be ballots, or it’ll be bullets. It’ll be liberty, or it will be death. The only difference about this kind of death — it’ll be reciprocal.”
