No one can miss or mistake the deep and insistent anxiety, apprehension and righteous anger that precede and mark this coming presidential election. For its result will define the course and content of the conditions of life and struggle in this country for years to come and have a definite effect on the well-being of the world.
Indeed, it will reveal and reaffirm what the majority of the people of this country hold as morally central values, their social priorities and their conceptions of reality, right, government, and the good.
Clearly, even though there are problems with both parties and their candidates, no one with any real concern for justice, democracy, human dignity and decency and a future worthy of the name human should want to choose the promise of fascism which lurks and looms over the right-wing side of this process. Fascism here is not simply Trump emulating and being one of the dictator types he admires rather than president.
It is also a systemic sickness, a pathological practice deadly to dissent, violently coercive and controlling the major aspects of society: politics and the economy, education and the media. It is also racially and religiously supremacist, sadistically suppressing others different and vulnerable. And it is deeply committed to militarism, constantly warmongering and waging war at home and abroad.
If we and other progressive forces, who are willing to read and respond rightfully to the signs of the times, are to successfully resist this promised imposition and societal evil, then, we must think clearly about what is at stake and work and struggle hard to prevent a fascist victory. This means, as Nana Amilcar Cabral taught, that we must “mask no difficulties, tell no lies and claim no easy victory.” For even victory in this election for the presidency or even the Senate and House of Representatives will not mean the struggle is over.
Indeed, elections are only one battlefield on which we and all progressive forces must fight and win for a deep and enduring transformation of this country for a shared and inclusive good for everyone. And for us, as a people, as Haji Malcolm taught, “wherever a Black person is, there is a battleline.” In fact he said, “You and I are living in a country that is a battleline for all of us.” Thus, we in Us say, “Everywhere a battleline, everyday a call to struggle.”
So, we must give it our all, this struggle to win over fascism in whatever form it is imagined and proposed. And if this critical battle is lost, we must reject all the attempts to blame us, whether Black men or women for the loss. For regardless of the infinite variety of specious and spurious spins by pundits and peddlers of racist pathology explanations, it is solely the responsibility of White people, the majority, who will have outvoted us and who chose to face and move backward rather than forward for new and inclusive good for all.
Yes, it will be White people, not whether Black people turn out or turn up. It will be the Whites, male and female, straight, gay and trans, urban and suburban, less educated and highly educated, the rich and poor, the Christian and Jew, the working class and ruling class. And it will be the Democratic Party, who alienated progressives and people of conscience from all races by their viciously and vulgarly immoral support of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, and the segregation and silencing of their voices in this country.
It will be the corrupt and conscienceless corporate media that constantly refused to engage Kamala’s serious conversation, plagued her with racist, sexist and trivial questioning and gave ample space to Trump’s cognitive decline gibberish about genital fantasies, Martians and Madhatter musings and muddle of all kinds without even a pretense of challenging his lies, saneness and worthiness for office.
And it will be the billionaire elite and the ever-present Aryan hand that indeed share Trump’s fascist fantasies and aspirations and use manipulation, money and media as usual to achieve their ends.
But regardless, we owe it to ourselves and the world to resist, to bear witness to truth and set the scales of justice in their proper place, especially among the vulnerable through righteous and relentless struggle on every battlefield for the good, the right and the possible. Electoral politics is one such battlefield, and this election is too important, too critical and consequential for us not to lend our voice, vote and efforts to halting the right-wing move, march and maneuverings towards fascism.
Also, it is important to remember and remind each other that the critical issue here is not simply voting for a candidate, but rather voting for the best post-election conditions for our people, our continuing struggle and the good of the world and all in it. Our liberation struggle is beyond candidates, election cycles and such, and is a struggle for a just and good society in which we and all people can live lives of dignity and decency and see a meaningful and promising future unfolding for those who come after us.
And we struggle for a shared and inclusive good for humanity as a whole, a repaired, renewed and remade world for us humans and the earth itself. And thus, we vote as part of our struggle to bring, increase and sustain good in the world as our honored ancestors taught and teach us.
Even if we were not at such an urgent hour in the history of this country and the world, we still owe it to ourselves, our ancestors and our descendants to vote, as I’ve argued before elsewhere. For us to vote is not simply to cast a ballot, it is also to exercise a hard-won right and responsibility to raise our voice, and make known our vision, values, needs and aspirations for the good. We vote too because it is a legacy achieved and gifted to us through service, sacrifice and righteous and relentless struggle by those who came and fought for freedom and justice before us.
Moreover, we vote to influence, occupy and control critical space for policy and resources. We vote also because failure to resist, assert ourselves and advance our interests is to collaborate in our own oppression, for there is no neutrality in the struggle for freedom, justice and other vital human goods. And we vote, as noted above, because electoral politics is another battleground in our righteous and relentless struggle to expand the realm of African and human good and achieve the well-being of the world and all in it.
In the midst of a crucial election during the savage era of segregation, Nana Fannie Lou Hamer stated, “There is nothing symbolic about this election…we are fighting for our lives.” And so it is at this critical juncture, we are still fighting for our lives, for the best conditions for our lives after the election: food security, clean water an air, housing and health care, reproductive rights, adequate income and quality education, the end of police and systemic violence, erasing racism, sexism and other antihuman isms and phobia, a real democracy, halting environmental degradation and militarism, and achieving a new history and hope for human life and the well-being of the planet and all on it, above it and under it. Yes, it is a larger struggle we wage, but we start where we are and move irreversibly toward our ultimate liberation goal.
Finally, regardless of the vicissitudes of history, victories won or delayed, we, as a people, will ultimately and inevitably win our righteous and relentless struggle to be ourselves and free ourselves and contribute definitively to building the new world we all want and deserve. And no matter how this election turns out, we will not only survive, but ultimately prevail, for it is the teachings of our honored ancestors that we are a people who “ride the storm and remain intact,” who “conduct their blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind,” and who “specialize in the wholly impossible.” Thus, regardless, we must never despair, be dispirited or diverted, but must continue the struggle, keep the faith and hold the line.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Introduction to Black Studies, 4th Edition, www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org.
