I'm going to keep sharing this info until it sinks in.
Young voters do not get significantly more or less politically activated. Voter suppression gets more or less effective. Ballot drop boxes and mail-in voting, prevents suppression.
People do not become more conservative as they get older. There is not an increasing difference between white GOP and Dem voters as they get older.
Black people don't live long, and many brown voters aren't born yet.
This entry was edited (3 years ago)
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mekka okereke
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Reposting this as the old one's on my abandoned mastodon.cloud account, and I don't want people to go there.
And every time someone writes an article with some bad statistics pretending that either people get more conservative as they get older, or younger generations are "less conservative," I'm going to show this again.
Younger generations can get Blacker and browner.
Or we can reduce voter suppression.
Or let Black and brown people live longer.
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mekka okereke
in reply to mekka okereke • • •If ~50% of white voters of all generations reliably vote for whoever is the most racist candidate on the ballot, but only ~10% of Black voters do...
Then how do you think Trump will do with young voters?
Why are Dems always talking about the "youth vote?"
Why does voter suppression (which is aimed at Black communities) tend to affect young voters more?
These questions aren't hard to answer.
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mekka okereke
in reply to mekka okereke • • •The most common age for a Black person in the United States is 27.
The most common age for a white person in the United States is 58.
Black folk vote ~90% Dem. White folk across all age cohorts, are closer to 50/50, with most GOP.
Think about this the next time someone says, "Older voters are more conservative."
Everyone that works in elections in the US knows this but pretends not to know it.
This is why GOP campaigns focus on voter suppression.
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mekka okereke
in reply to mekka okereke • • •This is why I, and so many other Black voters, are so often right about who is going to win a US election, and your favorite statistician, or election pundit, is so often wrong.
Your polls don't matter. Campaign promises don't matter. It's all about turnout. And turnout is all about voter suppression. And voter suppression is all about racism.
Without understanding US racism, your election predictions will always be woefully wrong.
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mekka okereke
in reply to mekka okereke • • •This is also why people have been saying since the '60s "Young people are less racist and more progressive! As the older generation passes on, things will get better!" A comforting idea.
But you can see from looking at the demographic graph, and seeing the way that White Americans of all ages vote, why this predicted "shift to enlightenment" didn't happen in the '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s, 2010s, and it won't happen in the 2020s.
Unless we change it.
Nathanael Nerode
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Voters in each younger generation are less racist and more progressive and *less likely to identify as "white"*, and you've hit the nail on the head, these are actually the same phenomenon.
Since "white" was invented in the 1600s by an upper class for its own purposes (see Theodore Allen), this makes sense.
Each couple where one is considered "white", the other isn't, they intermarry, and the children *don't start calling themselves white*, changes things.
Nathanael Nerode
in reply to Nathanael Nerode • • •secretsloth
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Sensitive content
Paul Cantrell
in reply to secretsloth • • •Sensitive content
Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Rough turnout numbers for the 2024 presidential election:
Trump: 77 Million
Harris: 75 Million
Ass-Sitters: 90 Million
There are a bazillion articles and polls about the demographics of the Trump voters, and about the Harris voters.
But I want to know details about the ass-sitters. I want to know where they live, how much they make, their backgrounds, their opinions, etc.
One might think that both the GOP and Dems would be furiously working to get ass-sitters onto their side. But it looks kinda like both parties want MORE ass-sitters, not fewer.
WTaF?
mekka okereke
in reply to Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 • • •@grumble209
I want you to go and stand anywhere, outside, with no chair or shade, for 10 hours. And also, send me 50% of your life savings, and everything currently in your checking account. I'm... guessing that you won't do any of that. But that's what we ask many swing state Black voters to do.
In some of the most important voting districts in the USA, Black voters have had to wait for 6 hours, 8 hours, sometimes 10 hours to vote. And they have to take a day off of work to do that, which they don't get paid for.
About 25% of the country has less than $500 total in their checking account. Most have $0 in savings, and no retirement or investment accounts. 60% of Americans go below $50 in their checking account at least once every 6 months. So taking a day off of work, to wait in line for 6 hours or more, is a big sacrifice, and a big risk.
Especially when the difference between the candidates is:
A) This candidate will treat everyone badly!
... Show more...B)
@grumble209
I want you to go and stand anywhere, outside, with no chair or shade, for 10 hours. And also, send me 50% of your life savings, and everything currently in your checking account. I'm... guessing that you won't do any of that. But that's what we ask many swing state Black voters to do.
In some of the most important voting districts in the USA, Black voters have had to wait for 6 hours, 8 hours, sometimes 10 hours to vote. And they have to take a day off of work to do that, which they don't get paid for.
About 25% of the country has less than $500 total in their checking account. Most have $0 in savings, and no retirement or investment accounts. 60% of Americans go below $50 in their checking account at least once every 6 months. So taking a day off of work, to wait in line for 6 hours or more, is a big sacrifice, and a big risk.
Especially when the difference between the candidates is:
A) This candidate will treat everyone badly!
B) This candidate will only treat Black people badly! (You are Black)
Voter turnout is intentionally suppressed. And centrist policies are also genocidal for Black people, just not quite as genocidal as right-wing policies.
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Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦
in reply to mekka okereke • • •I'm with you - voter suppression is fucking awful, anti-democracy, against all of the ideals of the United States.
So how do we unfuck this?
Voting is a national holiday? Voting pay (we pay people for jury duty, so why not voting)?
I don't think you can get 90M to sit on their asses because just one party wants them to, but the other party wants them to turn out. This looks bipartisan
mekka okereke
in reply to Grumble 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 • • •@grumble209
1. Universal mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes. Which is why fascists want to destroy the USPS.
2. Stop with the Biden style politicians. Black people will no longer stand in line for hours for people that will accelerate systemic racism. Stop saying things like, "I promise to make GOP leaders part of my cabinet!'"
3. Every Black person in America is watching as all the white Dem "allies" are silent as the admin rolls back civil rights. The attacks on DEI are going unchecked, and have gone unchecked since before Trump took office. And yet... most white voters in this country, completely unironically and without a shred of shame, fully expect Black voters to show up in record numbers in next year's midterm vote. I'm not sure how to tell you all that that will not happen. The millions of Black people that intentionally sat out the election, will sit out the midterms as well.
And yes, you need Black voters. The majority of white US voters wi
... Show more...@grumble209
1. Universal mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes. Which is why fascists want to destroy the USPS.
2. Stop with the Biden style politicians. Black people will no longer stand in line for hours for people that will accelerate systemic racism. Stop saying things like, "I promise to make GOP leaders part of my cabinet!'"
3. Every Black person in America is watching as all the white Dem "allies" are silent as the admin rolls back civil rights. The attacks on DEI are going unchecked, and have gone unchecked since before Trump took office. And yet... most white voters in this country, completely unironically and without a shred of shame, fully expect Black voters to show up in record numbers in next year's midterm vote. I'm not sure how to tell you all that that will not happen. The millions of Black people that intentionally sat out the election, will sit out the midterms as well.
And yes, you need Black voters. The majority of white US voters will vote for the more fascist politicians again. The only group of US voters that votes anywhere close to 90% against fascism, is Black voters. Every 100 white voters, fash goes up 20 voters. Every 100 Black voters, fash goes down 80 voters. In US elections, Black voters are four times as potent for Democratic candidates as white voters.
In an election of 500 white voters and only 130 Black voters, the non-fascist candidate will win. But if long voting lines makes 10 of those Black voters stay home, the fascist candidate wins. And if the non-fascist candidate says something incredibly silly like "We will only allow the fascism that harms Black people!" and turns off 10 of their own voters, the fascist candidate wins.
Every election people try to argue with me about this, and every election I'm right. Which is why I don't argue with people about this anymore. I just say "Get back with me after the election and we'll see who is right." And they never do. Because I'm right.
But then the same "wrong every election" people want to try to argue with me about the next election too. I don't get that.
I'm right because these numbers don't change. They haven't moved meaningfully in the past 80 years. What changes is turnout and suppression. Which are driven by racism.
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Benjamin Reed
in reply to mekka okereke • • •I honestly don’t know how you have the patience to answer Systemic Racism 101 questions over and over again, but as someone who is trying to do better, I really appreciate you taking the time to do these posts.
I’d imagine you get a lot more pushback than you do positive responses, so just wanted to say thanks.
mekka okereke
in reply to Benjamin Reed • • •@RangerRick
♥️🙏🏿
Jürgen Hubert
in reply to mekka okereke • • •@grumble209
We have German federal elections tomorrow. I have lived and voted in five different German cities (and thus, voting districts).
And I can't remember ever having to wait in line for more than 15 minutes before I could vote.
There are some aspects of the German political process that are less than ideal. But the goal of the elections really is that as many German citizens as possible can vote.
It starts with having elections always on Sunday (which are not work days for the vast majority of the German population). And citizens living in Germany are automatically registered for voting and are notified where to vote without having to take any extra actions on their part.
I was astonished when I learned the American election process makes it deliberately difficult for many Americans to vote. But once you accept that upholding white supremacy is the goal, it makes complete sense. Only the approaches have changed over the centuries, but not the goal.
cobalt
in reply to Jürgen Hubert • • •Jürgen Hubert
in reply to cobalt • • •@cobalt123 @grumble209
I would not get my hopes up too much - the fascist #AfD will likely get the second most votes of any parties, around 20% and about twice of what they got in the previous federal election.
Hopefully, what is going on in the USA will serve as a wake-up call to some.
David Njoku
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Why does it take that long to vote, and is it only in certain parts of the country?
Here in the UK it takes me all of 5 minutes to vote - and that includes parking the car, and having a conversation with my kids about what democracy is.
I don't even think it took that long to vote in Nigeria - and over there, we were encouraged to hang around after voting, cos people tend to trust results more if they see the process through.
@grumble209
mekka okereke
in reply to David Njoku • • •@davidnjoku @grumble209
It is intentional, anti-Black racism. The GOP understands the math that I listed above, and so closes down polling places in Black neighborhoods.
Most of civil rights law, is just preventing racist states, and racist politicians in all states, from doing these types of things.
So the GOP stacked to the supreme court, so that they could get favorable decisions on violating voting rights, because they knew that that would change the calculus, so that they could get their guy in the Whitehouse, enabling them to do all of the other things that they want to do.
mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@adamburck
Business owners in the US are *much* richer than professional class Americans. And most US business owners are not college grads. This is true in tech companies as well as restaurants, pillow companies, real estate, general contractors, etc.
The "economic anxiety lead to Trump" is a lie, and the data shows the opposite. The more racist a person, the more likely they were to vote for Trump. The richer a person, the more likely they were to vote for Trump. Jan 6 was mostly rich folk.
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mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@adamburck
Yeah, "college educated" white voters tend to be more democratic. Because real prolonged exposure to people not like you, can reduce biases and preconceptions. Not always, but can.
There's a sleight of hand that happens though, where folks extend this to think that because college grads earn more than non-college grads, that poor, uneducated white people are more racist than rich, educated white folks. This is demonstrably not true, and is a very unfair insult to poor white folk.
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craignicol
in reply to mekka okereke • • •Glowing Cat of the Nuclear Wastelands likes this.
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Thad
in reply to craignicol • • •@craignicol Among white American Boomers, the shift isn't about a change in politics, it's just that in their twenties they liked sex and drugs and didn't want to get drafted.
Even then, Nixon won a majority of Boomers, just a slimmer majority than older demographics.
Younger generations are less racist than Boomers, but it's not because younger white people are less racist. It's because younger generations are less white. @mekkaokereke
Grandpa Don
in reply to mekka okereke • • •"The "economic anxiety lead to Trump" is a lie, "
Not just a lie; an intentional cover story for the obvious fact that it was racism racism racism
Every pundit who repeated that lie did it because they were complicit.
Jedigal007
in reply to mekka okereke • • •@adamburck
I am Jewish and sadly know too many (wealthy white) Jews who voted Trump x2, and plan to vote DeSantis. How can we ever hope for others to stop bigotry and hate when we vote for those who instill it?
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦
in reply to mekka okereke • • •not oligarchs (billionaires) but the petit bourgeoisie (millionaires), in marxist-speak.
same as in 1939.
same.
@mekkaokereke @adamburck
mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@rodneynorris @adamburck
policescorecard.org/ca/police-…
policescorecard.org/ga/police-…
A Black person in San Francisco is ~10x more likely to be killed by police than a white person. Only 5% of SF is Black, but almost 30% of people shot by cops are Black.
Now compare this to Atlanta, Georgia. Almost 50% of the city is Black, and 84% of police shooting victims are Black. Still bad, but not like SF.
Atlanta has more racial disparity than 81% of police departments. SF has more racial disparity than 89%🤡
Police Scorecard: San Francisco, CA
Police Scorecard: San Francisco, CAmekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@rodneynorris @adamburck
There's a saying amongst Black folk in the US:
White folk in the South don't like Black folk in general, but love individual Black folk. "I like my coworker Charles! Charles is alright!" White folk in the North love Black folk in general, but hate Black folk individually "I voted for Obama! Twice! But I stay on NextDoor reporting every Black neighbor that I see!" 🙂🙃
I feel safer and am safer around poor white Republicans in Atlanta Georgia, than rich VCs in SF.🤷🏿♂️
Rodney Norris
in reply to mekka okereke • • •@adamburck Anecdotal but in my experience growing up in working class white family, they are very racist. They just compartmentalize and don’t think they are racist.
The black people they know & work with are “good.” It’s always those other black people who they perceive as welfare queens etc.
They are almost always very conservative, mostly on religious grounds. But also in the perverse “temporarily displaced millionaire” mindset.
mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@CivilityFan But they do exist. They're just quieter than the hate based GOP folk.
This is why we get seeming paradoxes like elections where GOP candidates win, but voters overwhelmingly support and pass initiatives to increase voting access on the same ballot.
Whether you're a GOP or Dem voter, your politician is probably way to the right of you, and less supportive of voting access than you.
And FTR, I probably disagree with these folks on most of the [not hate based policy] too, but hey.🤷🏿♂️
mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@forse @davidnjoku @grumble209
This has been the frustration of Black voters for the past 80 years.
The nuance is that centrist Democrats like the risk of the current setup.😮
Because the precarity keeps Black voters voting against their own interests. It's like "vote for Biden or even worse might happen!"
"Centrists," like Biden and Mancin and Sinema, use this precarity to prevent more progressive candidates like AOC from running the party.
The issue is that when those centrist Democrats overplay their hand, we wind up in situations like the current one.🤷🏿♂️
Protecting voting rights requires overturning a thing called the filibuster. The best way to think about the filibuster, is that anytime someone pro
... Show more...@forse @davidnjoku @grumble209
This has been the frustration of Black voters for the past 80 years.
The nuance is that centrist Democrats like the risk of the current setup.😮
Because the precarity keeps Black voters voting against their own interests. It's like "vote for Biden or even worse might happen!"
"Centrists," like Biden and Mancin and Sinema, use this precarity to prevent more progressive candidates like AOC from running the party.
The issue is that when those centrist Democrats overplay their hand, we wind up in situations like the current one.🤷🏿♂️
Protecting voting rights requires overturning a thing called the filibuster. The best way to think about the filibuster, is that anytime someone proposes a law that will guarantee voting rights or make it easier, racists can mash a big button that says "No!"
The filibuster supposedly has other uses, but when you look at all the times it's been used in US history, most of the time it has been to prevent civil rights specifically around voting.
But centrist Democratic politicians don't want to get rid of the filibuster. They like the precarity, and they like the power that they get from being the artificial middle of the seesaw. Centrist politicians are only centrist in that they are often the deciding vote between what the GOP wants, and what Dems want. But this "political center" is very far to the right of the true center of US political opinions. The true center is closer to AOC. 🤷🏿♂️
mekka okereke
Unknown parent • • •@forse @davidnjoku @grumble209
Correct.
They try to play a balancing game where they say, "This is the most important election of our lifetime!" every election, and just count on Black people standing in line for hours, and being brutalized and exploited by policing, because the only viable alternative is much worse.
But things boiled over before this election. I don't think people understood how fed up so many Black voters were, and specifically why.
Russian warship go **** yourself
in reply to mekka okereke • • •