As a middle aged, (used to be) blonde haired, blue eyed, 6'2" white male I know nothing of what it means to be dismissed, segregated or marginalized.
Truly, I am "the man."
But this mayoral campaign has given me the rare opportunity in my life to get a small taste of what it's like to be told to sit on the back of the bus.
As I've stated many times before, Independent voices are not equal to Republican and Democratic voices in Ohio politics.
This seems to finally have hit a nerve with a few people. They have asked me to:
As I heard these things told to me I immediately thought of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
Letter from Birmingham Jail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws, and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts.
MLK was repeatedly told that he should "wait." That now wasn't a good time.
It is possible that this doesn't seem like an important issue to you. "Just be a Democrat. Just get along."
But what I can tell you is: No civil rights movement has ever been comfortable or convenient. There is never a good time.
I stand up against the unjust laws as to how outside political parties are treated not for just me, but for everyone in Ohio that has ever wanted to run as something other than a Democrat or Republican.
Just as you shouldn't have to be a white man to get a fair shake in this country, you shouldn't have to be a Democrat or Republican either.
The laws to keep out outsider voices in Ohio politics are not fair and not just.
I have been told by very knowledgeable people in the field of politics that it is "foolish" to run as an Independent. No voice in America should ever be considered foolish.
I am sorry to say that transformation is painful. It's inconvenient. People's feelings will get hurt. But this is absolutely critical in our growth as a country.
In a land where we pledge "liberty and justice for all," we have been notoriously bad at doing just that.
We have made strides in some of those areas. In other areas we haven't even begun. We have a long, long way to go to get "justice for all."
So, today I "complain" about the inequalities of outsider parties in politics. It may annoy you because that's not your group. You don't care about Independent voices in politics.
But after this fight I will move on to other fights.
When I stand up for you and people tell me to "stop complaining" remember that I didn't stop for them and I won't stop for you.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis