I’ve been watching. Its always good to stop, look, and listen. And as a psychologist, I am of course a trained observer of human behavior, and indeed a very good listener! But as I’ve been …
Source: WHY NOT VOTING IS NOT THE ANSWER (Or How Bush Won the 2000 Election: The 7th Grade Breakdown)
I’ve been watching. Its always good to stop, look, and listen. And as a psychologist, I am of course a trained observer of human behavior, and indeed a very good listener! But as I’ve been listening, I’ve been hearing one consistent theme that just doesn’t sit well with me. Its something that I cannot allow my silence to passively condone. And really, it is something so divergent from my belief system that it makes me cringe. My beef is essentially this: I’ve heard far too many indicate that the upcoming national election brings no suitable candidate from which to choose, and so they have decided not to vote at all.
The sheer horror of such a thought does something to me. If it makes me cringe, then certainly it causes our ancestors to flip over in their graves. Why? Because voting is a basic right of all US citizens, right? Truth be told, voting is a privilege that historically had only been afforded to those whose voices were the only ones that mattered: white men. Anyone not a card carrying member of this category endured great physical and emotional injury, terror, humiliation and even death to be able to earn the ‘right’ to vote. Poll taxes, literacy tests, cognitive tests (oh yes — there was the eight box test), and other forms of chicanery were loosed on the freed men whose only desire was to assert their voice and be heard. So for we Blacks living in America, voting is not a right. It was the victory at the end of a long struggle. It was an accomplishment we earned. We paid for in blood. Period. So my upset is not because by refusing to vote, one is refusing to exercise a right. No, my anger is because in not voting, we disrespect the memories of every life that was snuffed out prematurely, every neck broken by the noose, every black man humiliated because he couldn’t read a sentence or pay the toll at the poll. We cheapen the significance of the bloody battle that was fought and won for the cause when we refuse to vote.
Now if that little perusal through the annals of American history is not enough to convince you of the importance of your vote, then let me appeal to you using sheer logic. Presidential elections are a numbers game, but it’s not as simple as, ‘he who holds the most votes wins.’ The 2000 Gore/Bush elections taught us that.
School is now in session.
Lesson I: There are only two votes that count:
The popular vote truly is a numbers game. With the popular vote, the candidate with the most votes wins. Hands down. But elections are not based on the popular vote. They are based on the electoral vote. Ahhh yes, the dreaded electoral vote. We’ve all seen Anderson meticulously track electoral votes every first Tuesday in November of every recent US Presidential election year. And we’ve all thought to ourselves, ‘what the hell is he talking about?’ The electoral college is an intangible college created in the heads of some very smart (but dead) presidents that was meant to guard against the inherent unfairness of a solely numerically based system of electing a national leader. You see, in a solely popular vote type of scenario, a state that has more people has more say. These highly populated states can ipso facto change the outcome of an election — particularly if they were to band together and all vote for the same candidate. So to guard against this, we have this thing called the electoral college.
Lesson II: How the West Won
When you vote for President and Vice President, I know you think you are voting for who will be the nation’s leaders. But can I burst your bubble? You actually are voting not for the candidates running on the ticket, but rather, for an elector — a representative from that state whose only job is to cast that state’s electoral votes for a presidential candidate. Two important things here: The number of electoral votes a states has is, in fact, based upon the state’s population. Second, typically, (but not always), it is the candidate who obtains the most votes in X state (i.e. the one who wins the popular vote), that the elector casts his or her state’s electoral votes for. This concept is uber important because as we recall from the presidential election of 2000 (Gore v. Bush), one can win the nation’s popular vote (or have the highest number of individual votes cast for him or her), but lose the electoral vote (again, because the number of electoral votes is based upon population of the state). And in terms of numbers, there IS ofncourse a magic number of electoral votes a candidate muat have: 277. You don’t reach this number, you dont win the presidency. So some states kind of count more than others in terms of reaching this number, simply because they have greater electoral votes to throw into the game. This is why candidates focus their campaign efforts and dollars so heavily on large states (they need to get those electoral votes). Breaking all of this down, it is quite simple (well, I am making it much simpler for illustrations sake): for those of you who live in more populous states (NY, TX, CA for example), it is even more important that you exercise your vote. Because in most states, the electoral votes cast for a candidate are based on ‘winner takes all.’ So whomever obtains the most votes in that state (i.e. whomever wins the popular vote), also wins ALL of the electoral votes from that state. And we have already established that the larger the state’s population, the higher the number of electoral votes that state’s elector has to cast. This is why elections really boil down to mathematics. This is why we see those colorful maps on election night, and why some states are paid really close attention. This is why every vote really does count. And by simply playing a numbers game, this is how Mr. President himself, Barack Obama, won the 2008 and 2012 elections…decisively. And this is how Bush won the 2000 election.
Despite my very simplistic and watered down version of the national election process, I’m sure we still have some who are ill convinced of the implications of sitting this one out. My friends, don’t be fooled. There is a saying, “Pennies make dollars and dollars make hundreds.” The same logic holds true for votes. Cumulatively, all of the single votes that will not be cast will all of a sudden become millions of uncast votes. The stakes are way too high to chance how millions of votes could impact the upcoming election. Its just frankly a roll of the dice that we cannot afford to make. So cast your vote. Assert your voice and have a say. If you don’t believe your vote matters, just do the math.
Class dismissed.
Dr. Nik is a clinical psychologist, Life-ologist, author, and speaker practicing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Follow her @theGoodDrNik and read more of her articles at http://www.Harvestmagazine.net
In the wake of the massacres of Brother Alton Sterling and Brother Philando Castile, both fatally shot within a 24 hour time period, this is no time to be silent.
Tuesday, in Louisiana, 37-year-old Alton Sterling was fatally shot as he tussled with two white officers outside a convenience store in a predominantly black neighborhood. The shooting was caught on tape and went viral online. The next day in Minnesota, 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot to death during a traffic stop. His girlfriend posted a video of the aftermath live on Facebook, saying he had been shot “for no apparent reason” while reaching for his wallet, as an officer had asked. And then the malefic reply to both events by Micah Johnson, a combat veteran who killed five officers and wounded seven others, in addition to two civilians. Like many I found myself struggling to make sense of just what is going on.
I found myself at a loss for words. Nothing to say. Nothing to post. Nothing to write. And if I am honest, not wanting to feel. Because to feel would leave me overcome with a tidal wave of grief, anger, fear, and God only knows what else. It would leave me to acknowledge the sad reality. And why acknowledge reality when denial is such a wonderful thing? And when ignorance really is bliss. But alas, the events of the past few days, weeks, months, years can no longer be ignored. The reality must be acknowledged. After having said nothing about these tragedies, I realize that this is not time to be silent.
I know that after 400 years of inhumane treatment, of being likened to animals, raped and lynched and murdered and put down and passed over and ignored like the invisible man Ellison wrote about — takes its toll. I know that in this 21st century we still face situations reminiscent of the Jim Crow days of old; occurring under the guise of “progress.” I know that there have been more police killings of Black people in the last year (2015) than were lynched in the worst year of Jim Crow (1892). I know that in 2015, killings of Blacks by police accounted for 26% of deaths, and that we are on the trajectory in 2016 to likely surpass that number. I know that our community is angry. And I know that anger is a righteous response. Justified. No one can question that. But what we do with this anger, and how we respond to this situation will dictate whether we live up to the truth of who we are. Will we rise?
I know that we are the descendants of Kings and Queens. And we are warriors. Make no mistake, this is war. It is a battle against archetypal spirits of evil, and a history entrenched with maltreatment and injustice. Unconscious biases and conscious discrimination have existed for as long as we have been in America. Therefore, our weapons must not be physical. We must not resort to the id-mentality of tit for tat; a life for a life. No, we must be strategic. We must be thoughtful. We must recall our past victories. We must deftly use our powers, and those of us in power must not be silent. I repeat: THOSE OF US IN POWER MUST NOT BE SILENT.
There are a few key members of our community whose voices reverberate. Their platforms are global and they are tethered to the purse strings of Wall Street. Like puppet masters they can pull a string and poof — stocks rise or fall immediately and exponentially. These African Americans must not be silent.
The Black church, which has historically been the backbone of the African-American community, and THE instrument of mobilization and leadership for social and political change, must not be silent. It is time for Black pastors and the Black church as a whole to rise and take its rightful place as the leading agent of sociopolitical change, healing, and reconciliation. The Black church can and must play a key role in setting the stage and the tone for our community moving forward. The church must not be silent. Silence = death.
And last, you, you, and you must not be silent. Do not disenfranchise yourself. Exercise the rights that so many fought so hard to ensure that you have. Speak, write, blog, picket, lobby, boycott, and for God’s sake VOTE. Your voice is mighty. The pen is mighty. The dollar is mighty. And together we are mighty. Once we realize this; once we truly realize who we are and the power we have individually and collectively, it is then that we will truly overcome.
Onwards.
Dr. Nik
Reprinted with permission from Harvest Magazine.
Dr. Nik is a Clinical Psychologist, Life-ologist, author and educator in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Follow her on Twitter @theGoodDrNik.
The recent events in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas have left many feeling some kinda way. While some of us don’t know exactly what we are feeling, others can readily identify the one or various emotions they might be experiencing; and some may be experiencing emotions intensely. As if the events of the past few days have not been tragic enough, we have been unable to escape the reminders, and are left to relive the first moment we heard or saw news of these events. Our brains are being constantly bombarded with print and streaming images of civilians and police officers being assaulted, shot at and dying with not a free moment to process the apparent dichotomies. For the record, my goal here is not to use this as a forum to air my personal beliefs; but rather, to use this opportunity to help us deal with what I have termed trauma by media.
Trauma by media is a cluster of symptoms experienced as a result of secondhand exposure, (i.e. indirect exposure), to a life threatening or fatal event via print or broadcast media. Symptoms can range from anger and rage, from sadness to frank depression, from worry to anxiety and fear, to nightmares and more. And these can lead to sleep difficulties, the inability to focus one’s attention on matters unrelated to the event, engaging in maladaptive behaviors to express one’s frustration and upset or numb one’s emotions, and can impact the ability to function effectively in one’s day-to-day life.
Make no mistake, we’ve been here before. But we’ve not implemented the lessons learned. As a nation we became vicariously traumatized during 9-11 due to the constant media coverage of the day’s events. Notwithstanding the impact of the tragic loss of lives and the terror that the nation felt, seeing and hearing the stories over and over again solidified the horror in the minds of many and crystallized the trauma in our brains. The graphic images of people jumping of out windows are forever etched in my mind; like they are for many of you. As a result, there are many who can no longer see images or even talk about 9-11 without it evoking strong visceral reactions — and we were not even there nor did we suffer a personal loss.
Unfortunately, given the state of world affairs, there is no lack of newsworthy stories, and the future is ripe for horrific and mind-boggling tragedies to report on. In light of this, how do you keep yourself reasonably well-adjusted, able to focus, and not given to the emotional ups and downs that these tragic times and unfortunate events can cause?
Nicole M. Alford, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist, Life-ologist, lecturer and educator in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Dr. Nik 