Ice is Ice and Cold is Cold!

Let me say this from the “get-go,” I fully understand that we are not a monolithic people, that your political affiliation is your business and as such, yes, you absolutely have the right to vote for whomever you please. But I’m sorry, you can’t have it both ways.

There is nothing more that “pisses me off to the highest point of pisstivity” than listening to Black folks, give me a rousing, impassioned and empowering speech about how “The Man” (White people) are holding Black folks back. Not because it’s not true, but because White people aren’t the only ones culpable.

There's an old joke about how Blacks would buy ice from Whites instead of Blacks because "the White man's ice is colder." Ice is ice and cold is cold. However, it is a historical reference to the belief by many that Blacks will buy anything from White folks, regardless of if it's the same quality, because it appears more credible or more legitimate if they say it or are selling it.

There is no doubt, as the late national radio host Joe Madison, “The Black Eagle” used to say: “We, as a people, are underestimated, undervalued and marginalized.”

But if we are honest with ourselves; or as Gladys Knight and the Pips would say, if we: “Get right down to the real Nitty Gritty,” often, its Black attitudes, not White racism that’s holding us back.

This has never been more evident than what I have witnessed over the past 14 years when it comes to voting in Columbus.

Since 2009 we have been the majority demographic in Muscogee County.

Congratulations are in order to The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, NAACP, Urban League and other grassroots organizations, because it is because of their efforts that there are so many Blacks who are registered to vote in Muscogee County.

More importantly, more Blacks than any other demographic have voted in every election since then.

The problem is, as a people, we somehow haven’t been able to come together and vote for candidates who look like us and have our best interest at heart. Oh, we say we need to. We always talk the talk.

Every election since I arrived here in 1990, we’ve had the same conversation: “We need to elect someone who looks like us, someone who represents our needs, someone, as I said earlier, who will look out for our best interest.”

The criminal justice system is no different. We need judges who understand our kids and our culture, judges who are empathetic to our circumstances and who will apply sentencing accordingly within the law.

It all ends up being just “lip service.”

Over the years I’ve witnessed us elect alleged drunks, drug addicts, criminals, domestic abusers and candidates with less than a college degree, all White. Why? Because when we can elect someone who looks like us, we continue to vote as if the white man’s ice is colder than our own.

Black people, real talk, we have got to stop holding our people to a higher standard than white folks, especially when it comes to elections and most definitely the upcoming presidential election in November.

So let me end where I began. I fully understand we are not a monolithic people, that your political affiliation is your business, and as such - yes - you absolutely have the right to vote for whomever you, please.

But I’m sorry you can’t have it both ways. You can’t talk Black but vote White! At least not around me.

Why? Because I know ice is ice, and cold is cold!