CITATION
Rasheed, Muhammad. "The Correct Answer is Vote Down Ballot #NoBlackAgendaNoVote." Cartoon.
The Official Website of Cartoonist M. Rasheed 26 May 2020. Pen & ink w/Adobe Photoshop color.
Muhammad Rasheed - Joe Biden's track record is ferociously anti-Black. Biden is literally one of the primary architects of the mass incarceration state. Why do you think I would trust him based on what is typed on his campaign site?
You know the racial wealth gap is also wider after Obama's two terms than it was before it? So if I was colossally let down by The First Black President, Inc.™ who I voted for twice, why would I ever trust this known white racist demon prince?
Daniel McNeal - I think the issue that we are faced with, is that there isn't enough people who would vote for a viable third-party candidate, other than Bernie.
Muhammad Rasheed - All we need is a candidate who will commit to our #BlackAgenda and if none of them will, then they can be punished by us voting down ballot and letting their rivals take the presidency.
Giving them our vote for free is treacherous cowardice.
Muhammad Rasheed - Voting down ballot is a form of boycott flex that will force them to listen. They wouldn't even have a party if it wasn't for Black American loyalty. MOST whites vote GOP.
Brandon Easton - Voting down ballot will fuck up the Supreme Court, federal courts, state courts and local courts for several generations practically ensuring the incarceration economy never ends.
Trump has to go. There's no other alternative.
Muhammad Rasheed - They are ALREADY fucked up due to our disenfranchisement. They are anti-Black and they will stay that way until we use our political capital to change them.
Giving them our vote for free is treacherous cowardice. It is unacceptable to allow the system to go on as is without fighting back.
Brandon Easton - It's also pseudo-revolutionary nonsense to willfully put Trump back into power. There's no argument in existence that can justify Black folks assisting the Trump regime. Hotep or no hotep, this can't happen and you know better than that.
Muhammad Rasheed - Putting any white men in power who aren't committed to the Black Political Agenda is assisting white supremacy against us and is a slap in the face of all the slain Civil Rights Era leaders. This isn't a "hotep" thing, it's a responsible citizen thing and Black Americans using the process to stick up for ourselves.
You don't know what you are talking about.
Brandon Easton - Right. I don't know what I'm talking about. (sigh) I'm not going to go in pointless rhetorical circles here. Bottom line: Trump will destroy the nation. He's already shown he'll enslave children to please his base because these folks ain't playing about bringing chains back to us.
Again, I'm talking about real world fallout of a Trump reelection, not some antiquated concept of a never-achieved Black political shangri-la.
Seems like the "woke" crew won't be happy until Trump is re-elected. Weird.
Muhammad Rasheed - Brandon wrote:
"Right. I don't know what I'm talking about. (sigh)"
Clearly not. You want me to give the Democratic Party nominee my vote for free while the infamous racial wealth gap continues to widen based only on systemic racism. So you either don’t know or you don't care.
Brandon wrote:
"I'm not going to go in pointless rhetorical circles here."
Okay. Did you think your uninformed gaslighting rhetoric was providing any value?
Brandon wrote:
"Bottom line: Trump will destroy the nation."
The nation was destroyed before he showed up. We are in the second gilded age where the antitrust laws are violated with impunity which leads directly to a poor economy. Biden will not fix it and will allow the 1% class to continue locking us out of access to capital, credit and the ownership class.
Brandon wrote:
"He's already shown he'll enslave children to please his base..."
Are you retarded? Biden wrote the crime bills that created the mass incarceration state that destroyed all of our home towns.
Brandon wrote:
"because these folks ain't playing about bringing chains back to us."
Biden's convict leasing program is exactly that, Brandon.
Brandon wrote:
"Again, I'm talking about real world fallout of a Trump reelection, not some antiquated concept of a never-achieved Black political shangri-la."
I'm talking about using our political capital to get what our people need from our government instead of playing into the racist establishment's hands and giving our vote away for free.
Brandon wrote:
"Seems like the 'woke' crew won't be happy until Trump is re-elected. Weird."
It doesn't matter which of them is in office if neither one commit to the Black Agenda. Status Quo Red is the same as Status Quo Blue according to the ever-widening racial wealth gap.
Muhammad Rasheed - Uncritically accepting the manipulative fear mongering of white people is my people's weakness...
Jonavan Devold - That's good and all but what Trump has to offer? What do we gain by not voting ? It's either Bozo the clown or the Pennywise we have in office.
Muhammad Rasheed - Vote down ballot until they cave to the #BlackAgenda. Our loyalty is the only reason they even have a party since the majority of all whites lean GOP. Voting down ballot will demonstrate active engagement as well as a boycott that will force our party to listen.
Muhammad Rasheed - Right now neither of them have anything to offer and they are ignoring my #Reparations demands and my agenda. Voting down ballot will punish my party leaders and shake up the game.
Giving our vote away for free again will only serve them. Don't do it.
Clay Jones - Here's what I propose to you: If you see no difference between Trump and Biden, do you see a difference between Sonia Sotomayor and Brett Kavanaugh?
Muhammad Rasheed - The real question is how come your preferred elected president wasn't able to get the Justice he preferred in that Kavanaugh slot?
Clay Jones - That was the Gorsuch slot.
Muhammad Rasheed - Thanks.
So Obama had a slot that the GOP bullied him into not filling with his preferred nominee. But you're still trying to use the "lesser of two evils" argument to get me to give my vote away for free to an established anti-Black Democrat.
Clay Jones - Yes.
Muhammad Rasheed - Stop, Clay.
Clay Jones - So if you consider voting for Biden to be "giving your vote away," then what are you doing with it by not voting for Biden or Trump?
Muhammad Rasheed - Voting down ballot is a form of boycott flex that will force them to listen while still showing engagement in the process. They wouldn't even have a party if it wasn't for Black American loyalty. MOST whites vote GOP. Using our political capital to pressure gov to give in to our agenda is how the game is played.
Literally everyone is playing the game except Black Americans who have been brainwashed into stupidly giving our votes away with nothing in return.
Clay Jones - I agree with a lot that you believe in there. But I also believe four more years of Trump is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Muhammad Rasheed - My people are already a wealthless bottom caste being exploited by the U.S. government. Obama increased the number of white millionaires from 4 million to 12 million WHILE the Black American got poorer. And he didn't give a shit. For someone who voted for him twice that hurts a lot.
Now the VP he picked specifically to make his ticket more attractive to white conservatives wants me to give him my vote for more of the same. No, thanks.
Rob Reed - Not even close to being equivalent choices, but if that's the way you see it.
Muhammad Rasheed - I'm Black American. What Democratic Party figures offer me without a commitment to my Black Political Agenda is different for me than it is for the other rival interest groups which includes yours.
13TH Trailer (2016)Rob Reed - You have a binary choice. If you think they are the same, that's your right. I don't agree with you, but I know not all voices are heard equally by our political parties, if at all. That is frustrating and makes many lose all faith in the system, if they even had reason to have faith at all before. All I know is that MY beliefs do not align with the Republican party...at all. I do not think the Democratic party is perfect, they have made too many compromises in the past thirty years, trying to appeal to the wrong people. This election is no contest to me. Sorry if you're struggling with the choice.
Muhammad Rasheed -
"But recall that the bill encouraged states to build more prisons — with more money coming to them if they increased penalties." Analysis | Joe Biden’s defense of the 1994 crime bill’s role in mass incarcerationsMuhammad Rasheed - I have a third choice. It's to vote down ballot.
Voting down ballot is a form of boycott flex that will force them to listen while still showing engagement in the process. They wouldn't even have a party if it wasn't for Black American loyalty. MOST whites vote GOP. Using our political capital to pressure gov to give in to our agenda is how the game is played.
Literally everyone is playing the game except Black Americans who have been brainwashed into stupidly giving our votes away with nothing in return.
Muhammad Rasheed -
The Crime-Bill Debate Shows How Short Americans’ Memories Are The Democratic Party have made more than just compromises, they have actually preyed upon my people while pretending to be my friend. I'm fucking furious just skimming through that article above.
If I don't use effective politicking to fix it, I WILL find myself back in chains because these people are evil as shit for the usual reasons. Enough is enough.
Rob Reed -
Trump Will Not Apologize for Calling for Death Penalty Over Central Park FiveRob Reed - An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/Muhammad Rasheed - I know all about Trump's relationship to the Central Park Five. They talk about it in that 13th doc I posted just now.
But Trump's assholishness is different from writing policy, signed into law by a Democratic President which subsequently destroyed Black communities across the nation that we are still dealing with today that trump inherited.
Muhammad Rasheed - Trump's greatest anti-Black wrongs came from his real estate dealings, "opportunity zones/gentrification" carried over from his racist dad's similar practices.
Rob Reed -
The Trump Administration's Record of Racism — Democracy in ColorMuhammad Rasheed - Voting down ballot to force the Democratic Party to commit to #Reparations and our #BlackAgenda is my fight. Giving either of those shitty racist parties my vote for free is not an option.
Muhammad Rasheed - Trump's wrongs as president include his tax cuts for the rich scheme, and whatever he's been signing that made monopolizing industry and getting around antitrust easier for corporate. All of these contribute to locking Black people out of access to capital, credit and the ownership class, which is the lifeblood of systemic racism.
Rob Reed - That last link outlines his racist policies in action. So, if you're not voting for either, you think both are equally bad. So, who did you want to vote for?
Muhammad Rasheed - Scroll up and look at my third choice vote down ballot post.
Rob Reed - You think Biden wouldn't listen to the Black community? Do you think he's an unchanging, uncompromising man?
Muhammad Rasheed - He's point blank rejected the Black Agenda several times during this campaign, and doubled down on his lock the thugs up rhetoric, similar to what Clinton did when pressed on him signing it..
Rob Reed - I read your post. It makes zero sense. One will win. One will lose. It's a binary choice. Millions sat out the last election and that got us Trump. Not everyone gets their agenda addressed. So, Obama's vp for eight years was always the devil?
Rob Reed - Agree to disagree. Talk to you some other time if you're up to it. Not a fan of this particular toon, but you made it for a different audience than me.
Muhammad Rasheed - It makes zero sense to you because you aren't Black. lol
Trump is president because the GOP used Karl Rove's vote suppression apparatus to throw away millions of Democratic Party Black & Latin ballots.
Rob Reed - Laughing at first line, agree with second.
Muhammad Rasheed - The Democratic Party has been spewing that "nobody came out to vote" line only because they use that same vote suppression thing during their primaries.
Muhammad Rasheed -
Greg Palast in Ohio on GOP Effort to Remove African Americans from Voter Rolls in Battleground StateMuhammad Rasheed -
The GOP's Stealth War Against VotersRob Reed - No, they agree that Hillary won by millions. Trump won in the battleground states that Hillary took for granted.
Muhammad Rasheed - The facts revealed by the investigative reporter that broke the vote suppression case refutes your comment.
They cheated.
Rob Reed - They have taken middle class white votes and all black and minority votes for granted.
Rob Reed - I don't doubt that. Will read later.
Muhammad Rasheed - Black Americans have been disenfranchised from the process since the 1964 Civil Rights Act was signed. The 'Integration' era stripped us of the effective politicking that enabled us to capture that Act. All I'm talking about here with voting down ballot is a return to that old political savvy using strategic vote boycotts.
I'm pass the idea of voting for personalities. All I care about is policies that will pull my people out of the bottom caste and close this racial wealth gap. That's all. If the Dems refuse to commit to my agenda, then they can eat it and watch their rivals keep the WH another 4 yrs.
They'll learn. Giving them my vote for free while this wealth gap gets wider and wider -- more Black Americans are dying from COVID-19 based purely on the impoverishment related to centuries of discrimination and plunder -- is unacceptable.
Rob Reed - So burn it all down? Yep, that's one form of protest. I heard it from the Bernie crowd last time and this time as well. I don't disagree with much of what you say, but don't agree with burning it all down. If you think after 4 more years of Trump will wake up the masses and bring use one step closer to a dream for more and not a nightmare of all, yeah, that will never happen. The GOP will further solidify their control and corruption of the government and destroy it even more, from the social safety net on down. More will be locked up in cages and dead from law enforcement. Again, the two sides ain't equivalent, but you're well past seeing that or hear that from some random person on FB. Enjoy your protest vote! Glad we could take this wasted opportunity to get entrenched our own beliefs. Goodbye and good luck!
Muhammad Rasheed - Rob wrote:
"So, Obama's vp for eight years was always the devil?" Obama chose Biden for VP specifically to make his ticket more attractive for his white conservative rivals. Lincoln did the exact same thing when he chose Andrew Johnson. Note that once Johnson became president he IMMEDIATELY stripped Reconstruction of all of its gains and set in motion the anti-Black evils that led to jim crow.
I'm not voting for Biden who has already demonstrated again and again that he hates my guts. No, thanks. Chances are he will never commit to my agenda, but I certainly wouldn't vote him in first and THEN ask him for it. lol I voted Obama in twice and he snubbed my agenda continuously.
Rob Reed - gotcha. Joe Biden is now Andrew f'ing Johnson. Jesus.
Muhammad Rasheed - Rob wrote:
"so burn it all down?" No. Use my political capital to pressure my party to commit to my agenda the exact same way I did during the Civil Rights Era.
Muhammad Rasheed - Rob wrote:
"Joe Biden is now Andrew f'ing Johnson." There's a clear parallel between the two, and this is exactly what I mean by you don't understand because you are not black.
Our goals are not the same.
Rob Reed - Good luck getting any politician at any point in time to ever commit fully to anyone's particular agenda.
Muhammad Rasheed - I'm ALREADY a wealthless bottom caste and it doesn't matter if trump takes it another 4 yrs or not if neither president will listen to me just because it's the right thing to do.
If we don't squeak to get the grease then we will never get the grease. I have to fight.
Your "burn it all down" comment means you actually think white people will never give in and hope I just die. I at least have hope that the system will work if I engage it effectively for the first time since the 1960s.
Muhammad Rasheed - Rob wrote:
"If you think after 4 more years of Trump will wake up the masses and bring use one step closer to a dream for more and not a nightmare of all, yeah, that will never happen." That's not the nature of the strategy. This is between me and the Democratic Party. An average of 90% Black Americans vote Democrat while an average of 60+ white people vote GOP. We are the Dems' most loyalty constituency and they have been exploiting us of our votes to give us nothing in return for five decades now. If we only vote down ballot and ignore the presidency nominees, the Democratic Party will lose money as their rivals take the WH again which will force them to listen to us for the next time.
Life is ALREADY horrible for us, that's the part you aren't getting. We're already neglected and abused and discriminated against and terrorized and exploited and plundered and locked out of being Americans. We're already there, Rob. So your efforts to sell me on how bad everything will be for those citizens who get to be American if I don't give away my vote for free does not move me.
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MEDIUM: Scanned pen & ink cartoon drawing w/Adobe Photoshop color.
