I’m a Black Progressive, and I’m Not Voting Until There’s a Real Greater Good

Converting voting skeptics isn’t about guilt-tripping us, it’s about not shying away from actual reforms

Tirhakah Love
LEVEL

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Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.

The fact that former Vice President Joe Biden appears to be the presumptuous Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential election doesn’t mean the discussion has ended. Just yesterday, after a month of infighting between old-guard progressives and their millennial counterparts, the New York Times ran an op-ed column excoriating these young shit-stirrers for not falling in line to support Amtrak Joe. “Taking a principled stand is courageous only when those taking it put themselves at risk,” wrote Mitchell Abidor, the author of numerous books about leftist movements. “Placing others at risk requires no courage at all.”

Here we are again, arguing about whether to hold our nose and vote for a candidate who represents little more than more of the same.

The moment Sen. Bernie Sanders — the last candidate standing who seemed to stand for anything — endorsed Biden, this year’s reenactment of the 2016 Democratic primary was complete. The party had effectively…

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Tirhakah Love
LEVEL
Writer for

African from Texas• Staff Writer at LEVEL • Black politics, Celebrity interviews, TV & Film Criticism • Previously: MTV News, San Francisco Chronicle