I was arrested by police in the 2000s as a high school student under the truancy system that Kamala Harris so proudly strengthened when she became District Attorney. We keep talking about how some parents were arrested but we don't talk about kids getting picked up, too.

Truancy laws in California emboldened an already violent and anti-Black Oakland PD and gave them access to kids and their families. I'll never forget the white male officer "you people" -ing me on the way to the truancy center, enjoying the performance of putting me in his car.

The truancy center was a converted middle school in West Oakland that had been made into a child-like jail for all of us. We were allowed a call to mimic incarceration. They didn't have food or entertainment. It was an effort to make us Black and Brown kids feel like criminals.

I sat in the back seat of a cop car sobbing asking to be allowed back into school because I wasn't actually even truant. I just happened to grabbing a donut for the vice principal during my off period.

I know there are only a few weeks left until the election. I know we are worried about what four more years of this might mean for us all.

But, I guarantee that overlooking the lived experiences of Black folx who have had to face the carceral state is not the answer.

Young Black folx continue to experience police surveillance, harassment, and intimidation in their communities. Poor Black folx are criminalized for merely existing. And, now we're being called upon to vote for TWO people who helped build and maintain those conditions.

Sure, we know what the lesser of two evils is. We understand that much.

But, as we continue to watch Black folx being killed by police and juries deeming it justifiable, of course we are struggling with the conundrum ahead of us. It makes sense.

Have I requested my absentee ballot? yes.

Will I cast it for Biden/Harris? yes.

Does that change the fact that my lived experiences are in disalignment with all of this? no.

What we have to do right now is tell the truth and hold multiple truths at once. There is no way forward that both builds Black futures and sustains the status quo that Biden and Harris have fostered.

They have to be accountable to us. They have to listen to us.

I'm never going to tell young Black folx, poor, queer, trans, and disabled people what to do with their time, money, voices, or votes. I'm just saying what I'm doing with mine.

I'm gonna vote for #BidenHarris with intention and with cautious expectation. Selah.

For the basics when reading comprehension isn't enuff: https://twitter.com/JennMJacksonPhD/status/1309108874360893443?s=19