Three Things to Remember Now that We've Made Biden President-Elect

 

Three things we should all keep in mind this morning:

1. Count all the votes. Yes, still.

It's not a partisan issue. It doesn't matter if your candidate for President is winning or losing right now, or if the additional votes would help them or hurt them. It doesn't even matter if the final vote count won't change the results from the preliminary counts. It's your right, my right, everybody's right that when they cast their ballot, it matters. That says that every citizen matters. People have fought and died so that they could participate in democracy in this country. Count all the votes.

2. Remember the people who were excluded from voting this election.

Close to 1.5 million formerly incarcerated people in Florida who had served their time were given their voting rights back by a constitutional amendment passed by people who could already vote in that state in 2018. The Republican elected officials interpreted that law to mean the new voters were still out of luck unless they could pay all fines and court fees they owed: in some cases, thousands of dollars. Only about a quarter of them voted this year. And that is just one example of voter suppression in 2020.

Work to make sure everyone who's legally entitled to vote actually has the chance to do so, even in local elections, certainly in national ones.

3. Black women are owed.

 

I am seeing lots of kudos for Stacy Abrams for her heroic work getting voters registered in Georgia, which may yet be the state that tips Biden-Harris over the top into victory. She deserves them. Across this country, though, tens of thousands of Black women have been the spearhead of this campaign. They are owed more than thanks.

I remember a political theorist writing about thirty years ago that we should make every policy as if it were designed for a pregnant Black woman, and that would make sure we benefited everybody else. Time has proven that perspective too limited (what if the pregnant Black woman is also a lesbian? or an immigrant? or disabled?), but it makes a point.

Not only should Black women (and men) have a seat at the table. Everyone sitting there should be listening and finding out what they need.