Voting.

Mike Pence made a few comments about supporting Kemp and here is my response to him. Oprah Winfrey is from the South, Stacey Abrams was raised in the South and worked in Georgia for decades, and I'm from the South too. Pence isn't from Georgia at all (Pence isn't even from the South) and he's wrong to lecture anyone on Georgia values when he supports a man complicit in xenophobic rhetoric plus policies of voter suppression in Georgia. Kemp is a stone cold bigot and Pence is smiling. Also, Pence seems to ignore that the word liberal isn't a pejorative. Liberal simply means a person who desires an active governmental role in bettering the society of humanity along with embracing liberty and equality. Pence is allied with an overt white supremacist Donald Trump (he slandered refugees as "invaders") who recently called Stacey Abrams as not qualified. Trump is a notorious lying coward who has a tendency to disrespect black women. Anyone who disrespects black women is totally reprehensible and a person that I will never support. Stacey Abrams is highly educated, has been in the Georgia legislature for years, and is a known activist who has helped people in Georgia in real life.

She isn't just talking. She has actually helped tons of people for real. Stacey Abrams is the best candidate and will make a great Governor of Georgia as the first African American woman Governor of Georgia. In history, many progressives brought us Social Security, civil rights laws, voting rights laws, environmental protections, progressive taxation, Medicare, Medicaid, and other legitimate policies that enriched communities in the United States of America. Part and parcel of progressive thinking is the embrace of the concepts of the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, trial by jury (that means that cops who brutalize black human lives should be held accountable for their misconduct), an independent judiciary, and the freedom of the press. For the thousands of years of human history, great people have fought, bled, and died for the expansion of human rights. This cause is our cause now in late 2018.

Trump is known for his lies. Recently, he supported a xenophobic and racist ad claiming that Democrats want criminals to come into the border and takeover America. This is false and Trump just doesn't like non-white immigrants, even refugees. That ad is similar to the Willie Horton ad that falsely stereotyped African Americans back in late 1988. Late 1988 was when I was in kindergarten. Trump is an overt racist. He also wants to send about 15,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexican border to try to stop refugees from coming into America. Trump called this situation an "invasion" which is a lie. This situation revolves around desperate people trying to escape tyranny from Central America. Also, Trump is saying these disgusting words while people are being buried after the tragic anti-Semitic massacre in Pittsburgh. The victims, who passed away, were philanthropists, dentists, and well known community leaders who loved altruism and faith. Trump is truly an extremist for trying to end the Fourteenth Amendment by not wanting for birthright citizenship to exist. The 14th Amendment was created to give citizenship to black Americans who were once slaves.

Back during the Dred Scott case, black people were unjustly denied of their human rights. After the bloody Civil War, Reconstruction advocates and other progressives formed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in order for the federal government to protect human rights. Therefore, we have to defend democratic rights in our generation and in any generation. The Golden Rule and the concept of all people being created equal are accurate concepts that represent the essence of progressive civilization. We embrace these concepts as a way for us to advance due process, free speech, the right to counsel, the right to not have unreasonable searches and seizures, and other basic democratic rights. I reject Trump's pro-corporate, pro-war, and anti-immigrant agenda. Trump embraces a false victim-hood when he has massive privilege and all Presidents have been critiqued by the media (even though he claims that the media is the enemy of the people. The truth is that every media outlet is not the enemy of the people. Hatred, bigotry, and oppression are enemies of the people). We believe in justice and freedom instead.


Also, people should vote. This is one of the most important midterm elections in American history. Not to long ago, many black people were restricted in voting rights. That is why my people initiated protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of activism to promote voting rights. One example of this activism was found in the Selma movement. This was when men, women, and children came out to fight for justice in the Selma, Alabama area. Jim Clark was the brutal sheriff who wanted unjust laws to remain, but heroic protesters defeated his aim. The Bloody Sunday incident by crooked police officers prove that there is no place for violent acts against peaceful protesters. Today, we live in a new generation. Yet, we still have issues of voter suppression, strict voter suppression laws (that restrict IDs, restrict voter times, and restrict voter locations), and the gutting of part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The struggle continues. Likewise, we are continuously dedicated to the principle of freedom and justice. Our health care, our education, our civil liberties, our civil rights, and economic vitality, our infrastructure, and our lives in general are very important. Therefore, we accept the responsibility to exercise our right to vote.


By Timothy