(randy isn't black)Shhhhh..... you are spoiling the meme!
Sat Feb 28, 2015, 10:43 AM
randys1 (6,054 posts) http://www.democraticunderground.com/118712645
None of my Randi Rhodes board friends will participate at DU...
None of my Nicole Sandler board friends will participate at DU
I have spent years on liberal boards, working for voting rights, and when I started posting here I could not get a single one of my friends or people I work with on voting rights to follow me here, every last one of them said it was a waste of their time.
I now see why.
I had hoped my posting here would bring more attention to voting rights, maybe followers to my twitter account which is dedicated to protecting voting rights and nothing else, but practically no DU Members followed.
Hundreds of #uniteblue people follow, but they are serious about voting rights and democracy.
Anyway, I have had two heart attacks and my liberal friends tell me the aggravation I am getting from disguised rightwingers on DU is not worth it.
So I will hang here in this forum for a while and try and find somewhere else where I can promote voting rights, any suggestions?
Um.... go home and watch cartoon network til January 2017 when an Adult is running the country?
leveymg (30,123 posts)
1. There's been an upsurge of the RW element here, but most DUers remain progressive Dems. The level of ideological friction can be uncomfortable, but if you can see through the smoke, this is still a worthwhile place to educate and discuss issues.
It is never the fault of the leftists that all their shit fails horridly. It is always some boogyman Right Winger destroying the perfect world they have built!
1StrongBlackMan (17,563 posts)
9. The upsurge in RW element is not ...why people involved in civil rights struggles avoid (even mock) DU ... it is DU's claim to represent the core thought of the Democratic base, while rejecting civil rights as a pre-eminent issue, in favor of income equality arguments.
speaking of angry black men...
1StrongBlackMan (17,563 posts)
11. And the prevailing DU thought is ...
Civil rights must be the top issue otherwise there are no other issues.
Without income equality, the other issues don't matter. I strongly disagree, and so does the Democratic base.
1StrongBlackMan (17,563 posts)
46. +1 ...
It's amazing how those unaffected by social discrimination, except as spectators, want those that are, to play attention to their quest for economic parity with the wealthy, but ignore the economic AND social parity that they enjoy over PoC and other "minorities."
Ooooo... People of Color!
JDPriestly (47,705 posts)
57. Actually, I am affected by racial injustice in that my grandchildren are mixed racially.
I am certainly affected by gender discrimination because I am a woman.
And I am affected by age discrimination on top of that.
My stance is that discrimination of any kind is wrong. But focusing on one kind of discrimination, while necessary on a practical level, on an organizational level, is self-defeating. We will end discrimination when we join together to get a majority of voters to understand that discrimination against others is discrimination against themselves.
The sectors in our economy and population that thrive on discrimination and that stir up hate against this group or that benefit when those of us who are members of disadvantaged groups are divided, are segmented and concerned mostly about the rights of our own groups. That pits us against each other.
rich old white hippie chick looking for street cred in the black forums...
BrotherIvan (5,375 posts)
32. As you know I disagree with your argument
I am a PoC, and I do think that if one doesn't have economic justice, one is susceptible to all forms of prejudice and violations of rights. Keeping black and brown people poor is the strongest way to keep them struggling. If people cannot house and feed themselves, they have no rights. If they are constantly struggling financially, worried about feeding their children, with no job prospects and no hope, they will not exercise their right to vote because that is a luxury of thought they can't afford. And if we elect representatives with the hope that something will change and then it doesn't, why should we participate in politics?
I just don't understand the argument that says that wanting to lift people up economically is a bad thing and ignoring racism. I just don't get it. I learned about Ferguson which has been dead ended economically and taken over by corrupt politicians and a police force and turned into an occupied territory. Yes, that community was targeted because of race, but they were unable to fight back because of poverty.
Whenever I have faced racism, I feel that my education and middle class security are my best weapons against it. I know many people who didn't have those advantages and they became victimized by the system, their jobs gone, their employers cheating them, their children finding more opportunity in gangs and drugs than a minimum wage job at the dollar store. Fathers and sons being locked up from an early age, never to leave the system, harrassed for the smallest infraction by roided up cops. Women who were smart and talented working night jobs as cleaning women or caregivers and never being able to see their families. Those who are demanding economic justice are demanding equality for all people, because they think that people should not live this way, that this situation has been exacerbated by the exteme inequality. The government is no longer working for the people, it is working for the wealthy at the expense of people. And the vulnerable, the elderly, poor and minorities are always hit the hardest. Always.
To be honest, I don't know how to seperate wanting economic issues from race. I think that keeping people poor and disenfranchised is at the heart of racism. Because racist people hate poor black and brown people, but they really hate the educated and financially stable people who can speak up and fight. If you're begging on your knees, you will not fight. That's how they like it.
But the question is, what are we fighting for? What do we want? I would guess that I and my neighbors would say we want a safe community where our children can grow up and get a good education without fear. We don't want all the boys locked up before they are 15 and dead by 20. I want my neighbors to have great paying jobs where they can come home after an eight hour day and chill with their families. I don't want them to choose between food and rent or heat and medicine. What I don't want to see is our friend who had a full time civil service job then worked for a cleaning service at night and then cleaned a elder care facility on the weekends and who just had a massive stroke at 50 and now can't work at all and her teenage daughter takes care of her and the younger children in their one room apartment. She basically dropped dead from work. I want SWAT teams out of my neighborhood and the cops to carry clubs instead of guns. I think we all want a quiet, peaceful life and people/racists to leave us alone. I don't give a damn if some idiot in Alabama calls me names, as long as he doesn't have any power over me or my family; as long as his candidates aren't backed by billionaires who want to make more billions who run racists so his racist ass can get out and vote. In my mind, fighting the oligarchs is the key, because they are perpetuating the racism and hatred in order to make more money. So that's where I fight the most. But it's not because I think that it is separate from racism, it's because I think it is at the very heart of racism.
So that's where my thinking came from.
wait.. wait...
1StrongBlackMan (17,563 posts)
49. You are a Person of Color? ...
I guess white is a color.
I'm sorry ... we have had too many discussions ... and you have had too many opportunities to self-identify as a Person of Color, for me to believe your claim.
BrotherIvan (5,375 posts)
65. I'm of mixed race Too light for some and too dark for many. And yes, I have self-identified many times on this board.
**** you whitey!
randys1 (6,054 posts)
37. People on DU constantly talk about the two parties being so similar that voting for the Dem
is a waste of time.
To deny that this meme is talked about here daily, is ridiculous
You might as well attack voting rights if you talk people out of voting...
back to BGR's real issue...
uhnope (2,940 posts)
67. DU isn't great at activism. It's for discussion. nt
and it's not that great at discussion...
