B•A•R•I 🔱

I hate how Black people will argue that we should vote because our ancestors fought and died for the right to vote, but fail to apply that same logic when it comes to religion, politics, and other beliefs we’ve inherited. Our true ancestors were enslaved, murdered, tortured, and forced to convert to Catholicism, Christianity, and Islam, yet many of our people still practice those same religions without ever questioning their historical origins or how those beliefs were passed down. Personally, I’m neither for nor against voting. My concern is the hypocrisy, contradictions, and selective reasoning within our community. Honoring our ancestors shouldn’t require us to repeat everything they did or believed. It should encourage us to understand what they endured, what they fought for, what they were denied, and what we now have the freedom to question. Unfortunately, far too many people are unwilling to take the time to unlearn and relearn. We inherit beliefs, traditions, and political loyalties without critically examining them, then defend them simply because they’re familiar. And that lack of critical thinking continues to impact our community in ways many don’t even recognize. We cannot claim to honor our history while refusing to question what we’ve inherited from it.