Thread by @bourgeoisalien, Because this is so important and it's time sensitive, I wanted to [...]

Because this is so important and it's time sensitive, I wanted to take a minute to ask everyone who agrees with #ForceTheVote to please, please call the following reps ASAP.

I also want to share my thoughts, then I'm back on hiatus. Read or ignore. Your call. (1/?)

Because this is so important and it's time sensitive, I wanted to take a minute to ask everyone who agrees with #ForceTheVote to please, please call the following reps ASAP. I also want to share my thoughts, then I'm back on hiatus. Read or ignore. Your call. (1/?)

When I first saw how #ForceTheVote divided the left, I wanted to play peacekeeper. I like people on both sides of the debate. What's made me want to take a moment and share my thoughts are the attacks on @jimmy_dore's activism bona fides etc, meant to derail conversation.

In my view, there's a larger problem on the left of both classist and activist gatekeeping. Personally, Ive been involved in political activism since before 2008 and I've been fighting for universal health care since I could vote. I am in no way new to this fight.

Yet I see so much of the rhetoric based on who is and isn't qualified to comment. What exactly makes someone qualified to comment? Are we to examine every campaign we ever worked on? Every petition we signed? Every door we knocked? What is the litmus test exactly?

. @JordanChariton did an excellent job breaking down how I also feel on the @jimmy_dore debate. And no, I don't think a man whose spine collapsed and went bankrupt is 'in it for clicks.'

This debate should've never been about Jimmy. And it should stop.

Inexplicably, the first line of attack against #ForceTheVote was Jimmy's anger and qualifications. Yo, correct me if I'm wrong, shouldn't we all be screaming? Shouldn't we all be angry? And when did the left start demanding qualifications on who should be allowed to talk?

With all due respect, we've listened to seasoned lefty academics for decades, and we are no closer now to #MedicareForAll then we were then.

Hey! Fun fact: did you know a women's right to vote and civil rights pushed their #ForceTheVote AND FAILED A YEAR BEFORE THEY WON?

I support #ForceTheVote because I've taken the time to read both sides of the argument.

Look, we can garner a huge movement behind it failing right now, DURING A PANDEMIC. I believe we'll get more support for this than we ever thought imaginable bc that's WHAT HISTORY HAS SHOWN.

And like @briebriejoy, I too feel patronized and talked down to by many who I consider allies.

Those of us who disagreed have had our activist, educational, and lefty credentials attacked ad nauseam. It's very silly.

Please knock it off. This is not how we coalition build.

And of course there has been ugliness from both sides, nobody is innocent here, but there is a pervading narrative that if you support #ForceTheVote then you are naive and less informed.

This is bunk.

Notice how I've not once said in this thread that if you are against...

... the vote, do I question your credentials as an activist or want to attack your education.

Here's the bottom line: I don't want to see Americans dying anymore for greed and profit. And for me, that starts with #ForceTheVote.

We know that MLK was for a #GeneralStrike...

...and we know that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

THESE are extraordinary times. We are in a national pandemic, 16 million additional Americans lost their health care, 3,000 Americans died daily, another 30 million could go homeless at the end of December.

Our greatest civil rights leaders, MLK, Malcolm X, and Fred Hampton knew that nothing is given unless it's demanded.

It's time to DEMAND that Americans get what the rest of the free world has: healthcare.

We must be bold. The time is now.

WE. MUST. FIGHT.

#ForceTheVote

Latest Threads Unrolled: