I am just about at the end of my ability to tolerate the Democratic Party, and I say that as a true progressive voter.

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote that I could not in good conscience vote for Joe Biden on Nov. 3rd. I wrote that after watching the failure of multiple Democratic Administrations to make any significant changes in terms of our endless wars, our lack of universal healthcare and our increasing income inequality, I could not support their candidate this year.

I still feel that way. I still feel that the two parties that control this country are simply two sides of the same tarnished coin. Both owned by corporate interests. Both dedicated only to preserving their own power by thwarting each other.

I’m so damn sick of it!

I still want more choices.

But, in the past few weeks, I have been persuaded that this is not the year to vote third party. I’ve been convinced by the arguments put forth by my husband and my progressive friends, who tell me that it is the height of white privilege to risk a continuation of Trump’s dangerous assault on our civil liberties. I’ve also been swayed by the words of Rep. Clyburn, who pointed out that only one of two men will be inaugurated in January. He said that if we vote third party, we might as well just stay home.

So I plan to reluctantly cast my vote for the Democratic ticket in November. I desperately hope that they win, because the alternative is too horrific to consider.

But here we are, once again watching the Democratic party playing defense as the GOP controls the national conversation. “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” they intone, “We are the party of law and order.”

The fact that this piece of racist bullshit is being said with a straight face while the nation roils with protests and riots under Trump, with violence often pushed by the far right, is something that the Dems don’t seem to notice.

Why am I not seeing Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi or Kamala Harris out there pointing out the REAL danger to Americans? The issue at hand is the fact that innocent Americans…..innocent American citizens…. BLACK American CITIZENS….are being murdered over and over and over again by police officers who almost always get away free.

Tamir Rice was twelve years old when he was gunned down by police because he was holding a toy weapon. Breonna Taylor was asleep in her own bed, in her own home, when the cops entered the wrong place and shot her to death. Michael Brown. Stephen Taylor. Trayford Pellerin. Sean Reed.

You probably haven’t even heard some of those names, right? I hadn’t either, until I did some research for this post.

That’s the issue. THAT is the issue.

The police in country have been militarized. They have been given too many weapons, too much armor, too little training. They are not given support by those who are trained to deescalate mental health crises. They face a public that is armed to the teeth in a lot of states that allow them to carry their weapons openly, or even hidden.

THAT is the issue that I want to hear Democrats bringing out. I don’t want to hear the usual feeble, “Oh, yeah? Well, Joe Biden wrote the crime bill! He is for law and order.”

I don’t want to hear, “We will arrest the looters, we promise.”

Folks, for God’s sake.

The problem isn’t that people are so angry and hurt and frustrated that some of them are resorting to burning buildings. The problem is that BLACK AMERICANS are being killed.

Stop the killing, reform the police, demilitarize the police.

That is what I want to hear my Presidential candidate saying publicly. I want to hear him say, “No justice, no peace.” I want to hear him say, “No more lost Black lives.”

Come on, Democrats. At least try to make me happy to vote for you.

Image: “Vice President Joe Biden visit to Israel March 2016” by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem is licensed under CC BY 2.0