Pay attention to the signs

 


So this was me voting for President Obama and for my party 5 years ago yesterday.  Whenever I hear people say that voting doesn’t matter, I see people who have either copped out, been beaten up by disappointment , given in to apathy, are just plain lazy, are seriously ill-informed, or are not paying attention to the sings.  All you have to is look around this country at the events, the decisions, the discourse, and the discontent, to know that voting matters.  Your vote matters, my vote matters. You’re one vote is often the catalyst for your representative to make 200 more votes that matter, votes that affect you. 

New Jersey has been my home state for 20 years now, and I’ve never seen anything like the sign above, from Edison New Jersey before an election.  This isn’t Alabama, or Mississippi, or Texas, this is supposedly blue-state, progressive, liberal New Jersey.  And in Edison, New Jersey,  the Trump era has emboldened the ugliest part of our community to speak out in ways like this,  borrowing President Trump’s campaign slogan and taking away any question of subtext by explaining that some people in Edison feel the Chinese and the Indians are “taking over” their town and putting the racism right there in from of you. 

I’m reminded of the signs that used to hang all over this country letting non-white Americans know that they were not welcome in various establishments and towns. “No Niggers, No Irish, No Mexicans  Allowed”.   It’s not that far off.  Voting, and in some cases, not voting in the last presidential election allowed  this to happen. This is what voting does.  It either pushes us forward or sends us back.  Today is Election Day. Vote your conscious, but please vote and pay attention to the signs.

 


 

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