Go Vote: Advocacy Without Action Isn't Advocacy

Over the last few weeks, I have been oversaturated with text messages from everyone running for anything. Every day, another one. Another name, another ask, another "we need you." I hear it all the time from my friends and others who are politically involved too. "If I get one more text message from..." And I couldn't agree more.

But here's what I keep coming back to, even with my phone buzzing nonstop. The importance of voting hasn't changed.

I want to be clear about something. I don't have conversations about politics with people who don't share the same lived experiences as me. People who look like me, and people who are furthest away from access and opportunity. That's my choice, and I'm comfortable with it. But what I will say, to anyone, on either side, is this: you can't call yourself pro this or pro that if you are not actively voting. Opinions are free. Votes are what actually move things.

I remember the first time I went to vote. The only thing I knew on that ballot was who was running for president. That's it. I walked in knowing one name and left having filled out a whole page of choices I knew nothing about. Nobody had taught me that the ballot was bigger than the top line. Nobody told me that the people on the rest of it, the ones I'd never heard of, were often the ones making decisions closest to my daily life.

Now I know better, and I do better. I'm a lot more intentional about researching who's on the ballot and what they stand for, so I can make informed decisions about how it will impact my community. That's the part I wish more people understood. It's not about one name. It's about everything underneath it, the local races, the seats most people skip because nobody texted them about it. Those decisions land on our streets, our schools, our neighborhoods.

I voted early. I know not everyone may have been able to. Work schedules, childcare, transportation, a hundred different things can make it hard, and I don't take that lightly. But Election Day is November 3rd. If you haven't voted yet, get out and vote.

And I'll say this plainly. You can't call yourself a community advocate if you're not voting. You cannot call yourself community centered. You cannot be a viable resource for the people you say you care about if you're not exercising one of the most basic ways to show up for them. Caring about community and sitting out the one process that shapes its resources doesn't line up.

The thing is, this.

If you made the decision not to vote, I don't want to hear anything. I don't want to see a post. I don't want to see an op-ed on Facebook about your disdain for who's in office if you did not exercise your right to vote. If you don't vote, you forfeit your opportunity to complain about what's happening.

Go vote.