No, I Don’t Need To Be A Democrat Or A Socialist Because I Am Black

Get outta here with your racist thinking

So, as some of you know, I am running for political office in Geneva, Switzerland. If you haven’t noticed, I am a Black woman. On top of the fact that some think I’ll lose, because I am Black, others have expressed concern and even disappointment at the party that I have chosen to run with.

They’ve been clear that they would have expected me to run with a left-wing party — which is the equivalent of Labour in the UK, the Democrats in the US, or socialist-leaning parties elsewhere. Honestly, that’s if you still even believe that those parties are on the left end of the political spectrum at all. My view is that they pretend to be because that still might get them votes.

What I want to discuss today is the sheer number of messages I have received from those that consider themselves leftists, criticizing me for siding with a movement they believe to be right-leaning, hence anti-immigration and racist. I’ll first start by saying that that assumption is incorrect.

The party I stand with has a strong social justice agenda amongst many other things which will drive an inclusive agenda for all members of society: disabled people, women that have challenges finding employment after the age of 50, job applicants that are still required to put their name and photograph (as is customary in Switzerland) on their resumés and hence face discrimination. There are so many other matters on the agenda and reducing it all to a left versus right debate is disingenuous.

Up and above this though is the sheer audacity to tell a Black person:

“If you run in politics, you need to represent a left-leaning party”.

What the hell does that mean? That as a Black person, I am synonymous with the left? That I can only represent socialist views? What about my preferences in all this? What about my right to free thought? Why should I be caged in with left-wing parties because of the color of my skin?

There’s something fundamentally wrong with that thinking, and I would even venture off to say, that that narrow-minded thinking is actually a hallmark of racism. Think about it for a minute: You’re Black so you can only have socialist ideas like taxing the wealthy as the only solution to all societal ills.

I mean, Black people are as diverse in their thinking as white people are. Why try to put all Black people in a box labeled socialism or labor or democrat? Why? It’s the same as thinking all Black people run fast or love chicken or sing well. You are basing your perspective of an entire ethnic group on stereotypes, and that is racism pure and simple.

Apart from this, I think that left-wing parties want to give the impression that they are the only ones that are inclusive, that they are the only ones capable or open enough to let a Black candidate run. This is total nonsense. Right-wing parties are not racist — maybe extreme right ones are, but right-leaning ones aren’t. And left-wing parties or advocates should stop spreading such an erroneous narrative to get Black and brown people’s votes.

The truth of the matter is that the world has changed. Whereby in the past, political parties stuck to the right or left-wing ideology, today, most reasonable parties are in the center. They promote agendas that are a blend of stuff that historically may have been thought of as left or right-wing.

All in all though, as human beings, we should be able to stand with the political party that represents our views. We cannot tell Black people or gay people or Muslims to stand on the left.

I live in a free country — Switzerland, and like white people, I should have the freedom to stand with and represent a political party that I truly believe is determined to make my city take leaps and bounds when it comes to social justice.

Thank you for reading my perspective.