Dear fellow progressives: marginalized folks shouldn’t be revolution fodder
One of the hardest things to process after the US Presidential election this week is that so many on “my side” politically see this positively, either because they believe that only rock bottom will spur people to topple harmful systems or they opted out of voting entirely, in “protest.”
Most of my anger and sadness post-election is reserved for those who actively voted for a racist convicted felon and alleged rapist who props up white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia nationwide. The staggering 52% OF WHITE WOMEN who voted for Trump are more concerned with clinging to their proximity to power than exercising their own. The 45% of my fellow Latines who voted for Trump (54% of them Latinos voting for their machismo rather than their self-interest). The nausea-inducing 50.9% of Americans who consciously and willingly chose Trump, knowing what we know about him and things like Project 2025.
I hoped that even with all the oppression baked into this country’s DNA, there’d be a line that wouldn’t be crossed. I was wrong.
Still, I’m also disappointed by what I see from some in the progressive activist sphere. I follow several activists on social media who are farther Left than I am, but whom I’ve generally respected and learned from and with whom I ultimately share a desire to build an anti-racist, anti-capitalist world that prioritizes our environment, in which all human beings are treated and provided for with dignity and respect.
Yet many of these same activists, along with their most ardent followers, have spoken proudly about sitting out this election in protest of a two-party system that doesn’t work, of a U.S. administration that’s financially supporting the razing of Gaza.
Others (1.4% of voters, or 2,154,515 votes, according to The Associated Press) voted for third-party candidates that had no hope of garnering electoral votes in an effort to “change the system.” What remains unknown is what work they do the other 364 days of the year in election years to build a viable, sustainable multi-party electoral system.
Several outlets, including The Washington Post, tracked voter turnout. Overall, turnout nationwide was 65%, just short of the 66% record set during the 2020 election.
Pennsylvania, an important swing state, ultimately gave its electoral votes to Trump. According to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, Pennsylvania had a 69.66% voter turnout (down from 69.93% in 2020). NBCNews 10 in Philadelphia zeroes in on the fact that many voters never returned their requested mail-in ballots:
“In an interview with NBC10, Omar Sabir, chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners said that he was annoyed that more potential voters hadn’t returned their mail-in ballots as of about 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024.
‘This is something that annoys me. Every single election where you have people who apply for vote by mail ballots, they don’t vote in person,” he said. “We mail it to them and tell them they don’t return. I mean, I think it’s a real big crisis. I mean, we’re talking about 20,000, 30,000 votes. I mean, that can sway an election.'”
Even when access to voting is made easier through something like mail-in ballots, some voters still don’t make the effort. Whether the lack of participation was conscious or not, the fact is that these votes in such an important state might have made a critical difference.
There’s always disagreement over methodology in activism. That’s to be expected, as no group is a monolith. However, I never in my wildest dreams expected that so many leftists would dismiss the very real harm a second Trump Presidency could inflict so callously, as if the most marginalized among us are acceptable collateral damage in the global revolution.
A majority of this country (women, POC/ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA folks, disabled folks, and the poor) will be on the receiving end of active harm for decades once Trump takes office. It’s infuriating that so many self-proclaimed progressives and radicals are willing to throw us under the bus to prove a point.
Meanwhile, they rarely talk about what action they’re undertaking to build something new. They know what they’re against, but rarely have a plan to create what they’re for. “Burning it all down” without something to replace it with just means the people you supposedly care about most will bear the brunt of the harm.
I hate writing this, but it doesn’t feel safe on the Left anymore. Not if you can be so flippant about the harm increasingly affecting vulnerable communities, which will only get worse come January. Not if you value your meager act of protest more than the lives of those in your communities.
I’ve seen many imply, in response to points like mine, that they “won’t be guilted into” voting (or voting for a Democrat). Well, to use a popular phrase I’ve seen bandied about in these same circles: I can’t convince you to care about other people. On my best days, I try to care about marginalized people at home and abroad, without using my fight for one to actively harm the other.
My hope now, as the empire veers further toward white nationalism, is that you’re actively working to mitigate the harm you could have lessened with this election. I hope we all use the next four years (or however long we’re dealing with the fallout) to create the new systems we dream of while we care for each other’s very real, current needs.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
