You’re a critic, but not a politician?
By Cheryl Smith
That’s right. You’ve heard folks profess that they aren’t politicians and they don’t like politics. Now, give them a platform, and they are the biggest critics in the world! Especially if they can be anonymous. And that is good that we have critical thinkers who are doing their research instead of letting others shape their thoughts and actions.
The late great Curtis Mayfield was a musical genius. As we prepare for the upcoming election, this is a special plea to the voters and voters-to-be.
Mayfield sang:
People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’ You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’ Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
If there was ever a time in my lifetime when people need to get ready, this is the time. This is the time when we need all people on deck. If you’re 18 and up, you need to act because you don’t want to lie or worse, come up with lame excuses for why you didn’t vote, when talking to your descendants 30 years from now, when they’re catching hell because of things you didn’t do in 2026.
From the rooter to the tooter, politics rule, so you can say you don’t do politics, but guess what politics will be doing to you. Everybody needs to vote early, and I won’t lie. I wish you could vote often, especially if it’s a vote that is going to liberate our people from this travesty that our oppressors have inflicted on us. Everybody is on the ballot. Your life is a political decision as well as a spiritual, economic, and personal choice.
And again, to those elective officials, if you think you could sit out this election because you are not on the ballot or you don’t have an opponent, we’re going to see what happens next time around when you have an opponent, or you are on the ballot. You have to ask yourself how you would feel if everyone sat home and didn’t campaign or work toward your campaign.
Make it make sense with everything that we have on the line. How can you, as an elected official, sit back and not campaign? The mentality that suggests you don’t have to do anything because you don’t have an opponent or you are not on a ballot is a mentality that we don’t have the luxury of having and acting upon. We need you just like you will need our votes one day.
And if your name is on the ballot, and there’s no one above or below your name, you should be campaigning. We need you to campaign. You need to get out some votes. You need to be engaged.
And the fact that you don’t know that makes me question whether you should even be holding a seat. Then you have another group that says they’re not going to be on the ballot when it comes out this time, but they’re gearing up to run in two years. The first time we see your butt at a political forum should not be when you are running. Were you not engaged before? Were you not concerned about issues?
Did you think you didn’t need to be a part of the process? Why have you not been engaged before? Why are you introducing yourself to folks for the first time? There are a lot of questions we have to ask, and all have to do with politics. If you were not voting, tell me why not.
Help me understand, help me make it make sense that you want to be a part of a process, and the basic engagement doesn’t take place until you’re ready to launch a campaign. As a college student, I knew if I wanted to be a member of anything, I had to go around, get engaged, and survey the landscape. I needed to see what the process is like before I step up there, saying, ‘This is what I want to do.’
Interestingly, there have been times before when you have people running for offices who have never voted before. Tell me how you expect somebody to do something for you that you never did for anyone else. It’s a process. Like the Godfather of Soul, James Brown said, “Get up. Get into it. Get involved.” Stay involved. They say a word to the wise is sufficient.
Well, look around and see how many people look like you, think like you, and feel like you. Imagine all of you went to the polls and put your hands in a plan that is different from the usual plan that has governed this country for so long. I’m asking you to get out and vote. I’m asking you to bet on yourself. You are a politician. You are politics, and you are on the ballot. So vote.