From an Angry Franken Supporter

I feel robbed. More than that I feel victimized. I feel like something that was sacred to me has been stolen and I am angry. My Senator Al Franken resigned today. And a group of progressive activists took a liberal voice away. More importantly they robbed me of my vote and I am really really Angry.

It’s not like I didn’t see this coming. For several weeks I and probably thousands of others like me watched as allegations were thrown at our senator. He dealt with them in a manner that defended himself, yet respected the woman who was accusing him. But that is his personal business and I didn’t hire him for his personal life. I voted for him because he was a sensible person with a good education who I felt could not only win but get a few things done as well.

And he did get things done but not by passing legislation but by using his bully pulpit to give voice to people like me who felt like we didn’t have a voice. You see I was chased out of the Democratic Party in college by a small but vocal group of activists who felt that a social moderate with fiscally conservative leaning didn’t have a place in the party. I needed to go. And instead of fighting back I actually left! I am stilled ashamed that I let someone else scare me from my home base. That is why I was attracted as a voter to Al. He was guy who articulated a vision that saw the party as a big tent. Where there was a place for everyone. And he didn’t as a Senator put down people like me who wanted to manage budgets responsibly and still take care of those who needed help the most. That mattered to me. And I came back in 2016.

However, as a Black man his voice was critical in speaking about the violence towards us. It mattered to him that we were dying in the streets nationally. No he couldn’t pass anything. A Republican majority who didn’t value Black lives wouldn’t let him. But when a person can nothing, Al stood with us and that mattered to me.

Al gave voice to the wage chasm between Black families and their White counterparts. He realized that Black families themselves were being used as boogey people by Republicans. We were the demons you didn’t want in your community and who didn’t live out conservative values, like knowing our place. In their view we had brought our plight on ourselves and we deserved what we got. Al gave voice to our plight in the Senate chamber and in the media and we had a voice that mattered. He was White and he was male but he was a man that genuinely understood our problems and at least gave voice to them. He had a heart and passion for our community.

Then he was taken away. 30 Senators decided that my vote and thousands like mine weren’t as valuable as their progressive voices. 30 Senators decided that it didn’t matter if Blacks had a voice at all in the Senate. No they decided to score points and the best way to do that is the way people of power and money always do. They took away our voice. They silenced us. We were put back in our place. They nullified our vote by pressuring him to leave.

And now these same progressives will in 2018 like in 2016 try to force liberals to toe the line, plug our noses, and vote against our own interests and in the favor of progressive agenda that I don’t see Blacks benefiting from. I don’t know if I can do that this time. I will surely vote Blue. (GO Blue!) But I don’t know if I can award the extremists in my party the award that they covet most a senate seat. I am tired of being a lever puller and I have some things I want to see done.

I am demanding a person who speaks loudly and will do something locally about the wage and capital gaps in the Black community. I demand a candidate who will finally stop being so city centered and realize that out in rural America people are dying, starving, and not getting by and have for a long long time. I demand a candidate that will look at state like Minnesota and finally realize that the progressive veneer has warn thin and that we need to deal with blatant segregation in the Twin Cities, and the poor educational resources in our rural communities. Oh and how about some jobs….real jobs not minimum wage jobs. And actually do something about these issues and quit rolling over like Fido before the GOP.

Everything will not be alright if we just get another progressive. Al was a liberal, an avowed liberal, a full throat-ed liberal, an unashamed liberal and a small group of progressive activists took that voice away from Blacks and took that voice away from rural Minnesota. And they didn’t give thousands of voters in Minnesota a say in the matter. They burned a bridge. And they have until 2018 to rebuild it. Or else!