Venus Sings and Votes: Election Day Reflections and Tips
Venus Sings and Votes: Election Day Reflections and Tips by Reza Corinne Clifton PROVIDENCE, RI – People have a lot to say about the elections. Well I too wanted to say a little something even though I too am suffering from election coverage fatigue. Specifically what I’m sharing below is a list – a guide of sorts, really – for how to navigate, circumvent, or quickly put aside questions like…
Venus Sings and Votes: Election Day Reflections and Tips
Venus Sings and Votes: Election Day Reflections and Tips by Reza Corinne Clifton PROVIDENCE, RI – People have a lot to say about the elections. Well I too wanted to say a little something even though I too am suffering from election coverage fatigue. Specifically what I’m sharing below is a list – a guide of sorts, really – for how to navigate, circumvent, or quickly put aside questions like…
by Reza Corinne Clifton
PROVIDENCE, RI – People have a lot to say about the elections. Well I too wanted to say a little something even though I too am suffering from election coverage fatigue. Specifically what I’m sharing below is a list – a guide of sorts, really – for how to navigate, circumvent, or quickly put aside questions like these: “Why are you even voting? How can you vote for her (or him)? Why are you voting for a third party? Aren’t you selling your soul by showing up to the polls? Why aren’t you voting for someone you believe in? Are you trying to ruin this election?
When these inquiries abound, and when your sense of optimism, cynicism, reality and the underworld combine to make your head explode, consider these ideas instead:
1) Yes I think folks should vote. The struggles, the blood, the ongoing conflicts around the world that are fought in pursuit of the ballot…yes. Vote.
2) Every election isn’t everything. Local elections, county elections, ballot initiatives – these are closer to everything. How you treat your neighbors and those different from you, what you do when witnessing injustice or after a mirror has been put up allowing you to see the injustices you carry out, helping the next generation, supporting the previous generations – these things are everything.
3) If you live the average life cycle of Americans, you will vote in many elections. Sometimes you will vote for things, sometimes you will vote against things. Yes, it’s okay to vote against something just as it’s okay to vote for something. It’s also okay to vote while leaving feelings aside and outside of the polling places.
4) The people running for the presidency are basically cardboard cut-out figures. Yes. Cardboard. Or maybe those flying vinyl dummies outside of car shops and furniture stores. They will sway this way for this money, this way for this arms deal, and this way for this political ally. Stop giving so much of your emotions to cardboard. Hear what they’re saying, hear what others are saying, vote and move on. Remember, cardboard and vinyl dummies can’t fully be relied upon to withstand the rain, never mind your emotions. Try not to give so much of your heart to these people and this process.
5) If you want to vote third-party, consider what you’re going to do after Tuesday to strengthen that alternative party’s positioning in the next election. And by all means, try to make it work! But whatever you do, don’t give too much attention to the folks berating you for not going with a third party. Trust me – many of these folks are hypocrites and assholes. No really…assholes. I know some of them and they’re the type to manipulate, denigrate and abuse women, to call for unity while being decidedly abrasive to those trying to unify, and to give attention only to national races when any seasoned community organizer will tell you to keep your eyes on the local prize. Seriously, vote 3rd if you want, but not because some pseudo-intellectual with a sea of disgruntled community members always in tow told you so. Also see numbers 2-4.
6) Whether it’s your candidate that wins or the other gal, if you think something’s wrong, you should start trying to fix things in your own community, in your own way, and/or with support from neighbors. Don’t put all your stock in cardboard. Don’t. They’ve got enough support; someone else needs you.
Reza Rites Visits A Lively Experiment: On YouTube AND TODAY AT NOON, RI PBS
Did you know that Black women and the African American community in RI deal with the highest infant mortality rates, the highest percentage of infants with low birth weight, and the highest percentage of pregnant women with delayed prenatal care? Did you know that the Black and Native American communities in RI have the highest rate of children with incarcerated parents – 63.8 for Black children…
Reza Rites Visits A Lively Experiment: On YouTube AND TODAY AT NOON, RI PBS
Did you know that Black women and the African American community in RI deal with the highest infant mortality rates, the highest percentage of infants with low birth weight, and the highest percentage of pregnant women with delayed prenatal care? Did you know that the Black and Native American communities in RI have the highest rate of children with incarcerated parents – 63.8 for Black children…
On Friday, August 19, Reza Clifton participated in “Troubling issues at Kennedy Plaza and the Ethics Commission dismisses the complaint against House Majority Leader John DeSimone,” a conversation on “A Lively Experiment,” a show that airs on RI PBS.
PROVIDENCE, RI – Did you know that Black women and the African American community in RI deal with the highest infant mortality rates, the highest percentage of infants with low birth weight, and the highest percentage of pregnant women with delayed prenatal care? Did you know that the Black and Native American communities in RI have the highest rates of children with incarcerated parents – 63.8 for Black children compared to 8.0 for White children? Did you know that “all minority groups [in RI] have higher poverty rates than [W]hites and the state as a whole,” and that Black Americans and Latinos in RI have higher unemployment rates than Whites and the state?
These sometimes staggering and often saddening facts, gathered and disseminated by the RI Department of Health, show how some communities are more vulnerable to the devastating consequences that come with these conditions and barriers – while others exacerbate the inequities or, at least, remain free or much less affected by them. On the other hand, both Black Americans in RI and Latinos have a lower median age than White Rhode Islanders and the state – meaning there are more and more Black and Brown youth and younger generations being brought up in RI who may help turn the tides on some of these Ocean State trends.
Those are just some of the reasons why it’s important that we have inclusive and broad conversations and representations in the media, during and outside of election years. And that is why team #sonicwatermelons was so glad that Founder and Executive Producer, Reza C. Clifton, was selected to be a panelist on this week’s edition of A Lively Experiment, a political roundtable show that airs on RI PBS and PBS Learn. The show was guest-hosted by producer Kim Keough, and at the Friday, August 19 taping, #rezarites appeared alongside the following co-panelists: Ian Donnis, political reporter for Rhode Island Public Radio; Kate Nagle, news editor for GoLocalProv.com; and Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, president of Latino Radio and Chairman, Women & Infants Health Care Alliance.
Catch it on the medium screen TODAY at 12 noon on WSBE Rhode Island PBS, which “transmits standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programming over the air on digital 36.1; on Rhode Island cable: Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; on Massachusetts cable: Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD; on satellite: DirecTV 36 / 3128HD, Dish Network 36.” Or see the YouTube clip: https://youtu.be/ENtr-yu-ZU4.
Click here or on the sheet above to review some of the coverage and fact sheets reviewed by Clifton prior to Friday’s taping.
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Follow Reza Rites, On the Web:
http://www.VenusSings.com
http://www.AmbitiousBlackFeminist.com
“Sonic Watermelons” on iTunes
Follow Reza Rites, On Social Media:
@rezaclif (FB, Twitter)
@3amblack (FB, Twitter, IG)
@watermelonsradio (Twitter)
@sonicwatermelons (FB, IG, Soundcloud)
“Confessions of an #AmbitiousBlackFeminist”
Venus Sings by Reza Rites 