Voting is a gateway further into an already corrupt system, built and based on a slavery foundation. So, I’d prefer not to.
Let me ask you: why don’t more hip-hop stars vote? Are they unwilling to reach back and help straighten out our crooked past that has given us all crooked paths? No, sir. They choose not to uphold such a lopsided society in which wealth was amassed on the backs of blacks and other enslaved peoples and minorities.
We were given the token “gift” of voting in a system whose roots have never been fair. So yeah… NAW!
While voting isn’t my voice, I am more than happy to support barrier-breakers who help facilitate much-needed change like the prison reform movement spotlighted by Meek Mill. The 30-year-old Philadelphia rapper was sentenced to two to four years in prison for minor probation violation. But Mill brought public attention and scrutiny to the parole issue from the inside out. He is now seen as heading the prison reform movement and people are rallying around him. He walked free in April after five months incarcerated.
Then you have change-makers like Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson. These 23-year-olds’ lawsuit for being arrested while waiting to meet someone in a Starbucks, also in Philadelphia, Nelson and Robinson settled with the city for a symbolic $1 each and $200,000 to be put toward a youth entrepreneurship program for Philadelphia high school students. (They also settled with Starbucks for an undisclosed amount.)
In response to the public outcry over their arrest, Starbucks closed thousands of stores on Tuesday, May 29 to host racial bias training for its employees. Ten days earlier, the company also announced a new policy allowing anyone to sit in their cafes without making a purchase.
These young people won’t accept injustice, and neither should you. So vote if you think it will help bring about change or you could find your own way of modifying society for the better.
LJ Green is a Street Sense Media vendor and artist.
