Silence Speaks Volumes
by ChrisDecember 18th, 2004 10:04 am
Silence speaks volumes. So does minimizing what others tell you is their injury. So does pushing off a solution to some time that is more convenient for you without regard to the feelings of those suffering the actual injury.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians stood in Kiev’s Independence Square to demonstrate, with some success, against their people’s disenfranchisement in Ukraine’s recent elections. How many Americans have stood up and made a little noise about the disenfranchisement of black voters in our own November elections? Not many. Not many at all.
Where has the Democratic party been? Where have our leaders been? The idea that it is somehow acceptable for black voters, or any voter, to have to wait in line for hours, due to faulty or scarce equipment, in order to cast their vote is contemptible. The idea that it is acceptable for the House Speaker of our fifth most populace state, to openly declare that the suppression of voters in his own city was his election day goal is beyond disgusting.
Disgusting but apparently acceptable. Move on, worry about crafting an even more bland message, internalize inaction, embrace the status quo and hope that the big bad Republicans won’t hurt us too bad.
Fuck it all.
Liberal wasps, such as myself, like to use the words of Martin Luther King, but rarely, if ever, internalize his message and translate those words into actions. I received an email from Howard Dean shortly after the election in which he quoted Dr. King saying “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. The disenfranchisement of black voters in Cleveland matters, regardless of whether or not it affected the outcome of the election and Dr. Dean has been quite silent. So has John Kerry and the Democratic leadership. So has the storied “Party of Lincoln”. So have I. So has, well, damn near everybody.
Again - fuck it all.
If we really want to have a serious discussion about values, the value of free and fair elections, for all U.S. citizens regardless of anything, should be first and foremost among our concerns. I don’t have much hope of that happening.
More later…
December 18th, 2004 at 10:56 pm
I’m still here, reading away. I agree. Apathy seems to have set in again. The return of Gen X attitude. People wonder if even effort matters any more. Is this the latter days of the decline of the west?