The Real Reason Why We Vote
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the very real possibility that we will soon have our first female president here in the United States, and how Kamala Harris will be able to continue not only her own work in her various past appointments, but also the normalization of Black people in positions of leadership, influence, and power. She will reinforce the fact that the Obama presidency was not an anomaly, that Black people can and should have a larger role in the guidance of our society.
I contemplated our recent attempts at improving our society and trying to learn from and address the injustices in our past. From my personal perspective, it feels like we white people have spent an increasing amount of time listening to and trying to understand the experiences of Black people. We are getting better at that. What hasn’t happened yet is the work required to address the actual problems and create solutions.
It’s a little like being stranded on the side of the road with a broken-down car. You know it doesn’t work, and you know it’s keeping you from getting where you need to be. And then someone shows up to help. You explain what’s wrong and what you need, and maybe the person is listening but not understanding. So you say it again. And again. But nothing happens. Frustrating, right? What your new friend needs to do, presuming they don’t know how to fix cars, is get you and your car to an auto shop with a mechanic who knows what to do. But no, they just keep asking you to tell them what’s wrong. Again. Are you angry yet? I would be.
We white people are like the person in the story above who stops to help the stranded driver. We’ve been asking Black people to tell us what isn’t working for them in our society, and even though we really should know already, they tell us anyway, patiently and repeatedly. But what needs to happen is so much larger than any of us as individuals are able to accomplish, so we don’t know what we should do. We keep listening, which is good, but ultimately it’s not enough.
What I believe we need to do to help truly make a more equitable society is to put more Black (and other non-white) people into our government. Society is guided by legislation, and the best way to produce large-scale improvements to our society is to get the right people into the rooms where legislation is crafted. When we have more diversity of people in the room, they bring their array of experiences and voices into the process of creating solutions that actually work for everyone.
I know many people have been electing more diverse legislators at every opportunity — I know I have. And yet, we still battle our instinct to gravitate to people who are like us. We want to see ourselves in our government, and sometimes that translates to superficial choices like supporting someone who looks like us. But if we truly want to see ourselves in our government, I would suggest that we take a little more time and mindfully consider what kind of society we want to live in. What kind of society would bring us joy? What’s missing from that picture? What could other people bring to the process of creating a better society? And then, like opening the door for a stranger, or towing a stranded motorist to a repair shop, we bring those people into the conversation and empower them to bring that vision to reality.
As individuals, our impact is limited. Together, we accomplish so much more. The antidote to the frustrating question of “how can I help?” is simple. Choose mindfully. Make room.
Vote.
