We Can’t Afford to Remain Silent {Election 2012}

We Can’t Afford to Remain Silent {Election 2012}

As the election season heats up, we seem to be slipping further and further into a political and racial divide.  This election has churned the racist roots that had gone underground prior to Obama’s election.  Some have said that we are on the verge of a Civil War…that the ‘war’ between Obama and Romney is going to be the end of us.

We’re in the danger zone…the point where inaction can cost you your freedom.  We’ve been on the borderline for quite sometime now…and after Obama was elected, we sighed a huge relief…only to be slapped in the face with the reality that our country hasn’t recouped as much as we had hoped.  Racists have come out in droves to hate on our president.  They’ve Photoshopped his face onto a chimp, put watermelons out on the White House lawn and put a noose around his neck.  And frighteningly, we don’t know what else has been brewing behind closed doors.

Voter suppression tactics are popping up all across the country in a whirlwind effort to keep low income and minority voters out of the polls.  We even saw a battle waged by the Texas Republican-controlled legislature this summer to redistrict political lines in order to limit Latino influence.

Not to mention the recent events at the Republican National Convention in Tampa where a Black CNN camerawoman was verbally assaulted and Puerto Rican GOP Delegate Zoraida Fonalledas, was nearly forced off stage by an angry crowd chanting “U.S.A.”

And, let’s not forget the anti-Obama film, 2016: Obama’s America.

Nice.

It would perhaps be an understatement to say that the racial climate has ignited since Obama was elected.  It seems it’s the only thing on our minds these days.

But while the Obama administration has mostly tried to keep the peace and quell racist outbursts, they haven’t held their tongue entirely.  Obama vented his frustrations comically during his intro and “reverse roast” at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last year and has since fired back on occasion to point out the absurdity of claims about his nationality and defended himself against numerous Republican attacks.  I, for one, am glad he’s speaking up.  I agree it’s more diplomatic to take it on the chin, but nothing can diminish the value of seeing our president stand toe-to-toe against the GOP.  PRICELESS.

So why does all this matter?

The point is, our votes are valuable…and there is a movement to rob us of them.  The Republican Party (GOP) is counting on disenfranchising minority voters.  They are counting on a smear campaign against Obama and they are betting on the assumption that conservative values will overwhelm our desire for social justice at the polls.

They’ll tell you that they’re about “less government,” but the reality is that they want to control women’s bodies, strike down equal pay, make choices about the composition of our families and leave the elderly and poor out in the streets.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We cannot allow our personal values and individual concerns to cloud our judgement about the importance and necessity of basic human rights…about social justice.  Justice isn’t debatable.  As Americans, we know our rights…and it should be common sense that those same rights should be afforded to EVERYONE.

That’s why I will be voting for Obama this November.

I will be voting to protect human rights.  I will be voting to prevent a party that is openly hostile toward women, Latinos and African American voters from stepping into the White House.  I will be voting to ensure that my daughter has a future…an education…an equal opportunity to excel.

That’s what I’ll be voting for.

© 2012, Chantilly Patiño. All rights reserved.