I've been struggling with the concept of voting for a while now and today only emphasized my mixed feelings on the matter. 

 Part of me feels obligated to vote because I have the (unearned) privilege of being able to. I feel obligated because I'm a U.S. citizen and many of my loved ones aren't. I feel obligated because voter suppression continues to exist for Black and Native communities. 

I feel like not voting would be a slap in the face to everything my ancestors and people have worked for. But at the same time, I hate it. Our voting system is a colonial concept masked as democracy. 


We live in a country with the electoral college and gerrymandering. We all know Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 yet look at who we have for President. 

 There's no pride in my "I Voted" sticker. No happiness, no hope. The system has failed so many of us and walking into my local polling place, I cast my ballot knowing it will fail us again.

I ultimately voted out of coercion. And as @BadSalishGirl on Twitter states, "it's fear-based and that's state violence." 



I'm tired of being told that voting will truly change our lives when really it's nothing more than a transparent band-aid. Being told that voting is our "civic duty" is the government's way of making us think we have a voice when really we're going to be oppressed either way. 

 The United States was built on genocide and slavery. No matter who we vote for, we're going to be governed by people who uphold white supremacy. Sure, electing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) is representation but ultimately, it's still assimilation. 


I'm tired of being told to "vote for the conditions you want to organize in". We shouldn't have to put a check mark next to the so-called "lesser evil". The Democratic Party can't protect us from themselves. There's no justice in trying to change a system with tactics that support the system. 

 I don't want reform, I want liberation.

 "Nobody in the world, nobody in history has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them." - Assata Shakur