The Voting Booth

by Brandy Colbert

Cuter than any of the girls at my school. And she’s maybe the most intense stranger I’ve ever met, but it’s kind of dope that she cares so much about something when she doesn’t even know how it’s going to turn out.

BW are the most passionate <3

There are very clear Before and After moments when someone hears about Julian. Before, they feel fine thinking whatever they think about me. Even if they don’t know anything at all. But after…that’s when all the backtracking starts. You can practically see it on their faces, the worry that they’ve done or said something that might be offensive to the guy who has a dead brother.

“You really do have your whole life planned out, huh?” She slurps down the rest of her coffee and pushes the cup away, standing up. “If I don’t plan it, who will?”

“Because Black and brown people don’t have that kind of luxury.”

“Plenty of Black and brown people don’t vote either,” she says, her voice tight.

“Of course. But the reasons are...

Black and brown people vote more than we get credit for, first of all. We’ve stopped a lot of assholes from getting into office and voted out plenty, too.”

darker skin than theirs, curly hair.

she also vowed not to be a white person who raised her mixed kids without knowing anything about Black culture, like our history and how to do our hair. She’s not perfect, but she tries pretty fucking hard to do right by us.

Nice to meet you, DeAndre!”

“Well, you don’t deserve any awards for knowing their names.”

He is one of the rich kids from Salinas Prep that Duke was talking about, and he’s not as bad as that stereotype, but he doesn’t always rise above it.

I’d never be a girl who wanted to go to the same college as her boyfriend.

actual adults who could make compromises and hard decisions.

It’s incredible how many different ways there are to ask someone how they could have possibly gotten into this program. Or to ask if I lived in the projects. The first week, my roommate had asked point-blank if it’s true that Black people don’t wash their hair. I was ready to leave almost as soon as I’d set my bag down.

You know I care about how you’re treated. And I know things are different for you than they are for me…that you deal with shit I’ll never have to experience in my life. But I have to do this. Just to see if they’d even take me. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.”

She’s the type who votes because she doesn’t want to look bad. She doesn’t actually care about the issues, because most of them don’t affect her and her family. But heaven forbid she get judged by someone in the school drop-off line, you know?

So she does the bare minimum and slaps a sticker on her chest so people will know she did the right thing.”

performative lol

She’s pretty even when she’s frowning.

even ardent non–cat people, who love nothing more than to tell you how much they are not into cats—

Why was she not also known for how she helped out underprivileged kids and spoke out against the Vietnam War and advocated for LGBTQ rights? She was even under CIA surveillance at one point because of her political views,

Eartha Kitt the woman gave me courage. If she could be a sex symbol and politically involved, why couldn’t I be a serious student and also have a social media account for my cat?

the duality of a black woman 😍😍

sometimes I got tired of explaining my Blackness.

Then it was just me, Alec, and Frank, who talked about Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker until he was silent, just enjoying the music.

We sat and listened to Coltrane, whose music I knew because he’s one of my dad’s favorites.

“Because now everyone’s in bed and all I want to do is shout to the world that I’m Marva Sheridan’s boyfriend.” We kissed and we kissed and we kissed.

Gertie and Frank were just as clueless, my heart sank a bit. I didn’t expect every white person to know everything about Black history,

Red foods are a big part of the tradition. We always have red velvet cake, hot links, a red drink, like strawberry soda, and watermelon.”

celebrating Black culture and the community that kept it thriving.

And a hundred and fifty years of freedom doesn’t erase four centuries of bondage and oppression, Alec. Black people weren’t even free when the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Some people celebrate both, but it makes more sense to me to celebrate Juneteenth instead. I’m not going to feel bad about that.”

With anyone else, that would have been a red flag. But I knew Alec and what he believed in. Nobody was truly perfect.

“I know. But this isn’t all up to you to fix. You’ve done more today than most people will do in their lifetimes.

People said things like he must have been a thug, and wasn’t it ironic that the guy who was so concerned about gun violence got killed by Black-on-Black crime, and more bullshit that made me feel like my eyes would bleed.

white people never get it lol this is SAD

But then I came across a link to a forum for teens, and the more I read, the more I started nodding, agreeing with everything they said. Like how it was hard to concentrate at school now, and how people did fucked-up things like

compare your sibling’s death to their grandparents who had passed away from natural causes in their eighties.

I started going on the forums every night before bed. Not just because it seemed like some sort of sleeping pill, but also because it made me feel better. When things started getting too cluttered in my head, it cleared my mind to scroll through the forum and read about people who were feeling the exact same way for the exact same reason.

It feels like maybe, if one thing gets off track, my whole life won’t fall apart.

“I’m tired of being angry all the time, Marva!” he yells now, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. “You’re always upset about something: guns, abortion, racism, immigration, healthcare…like, damn! I’m not saying those things aren’t real problems, but it’s depressing always thinking and talking and worrying about that stuff. Sometimes I need time off.”

oh my god. WHITE PRIVILEGE IS REALLL

And you’re tired? Of being angry? Give me a break.”

better, and it doesn’t cost you much except actually putting other people’s needs ahead of yours. Not all the time. Just sometimes. Like today.”

But I’m too overwhelmed right now to make sense of the mess of emotions inside me.

haven’t heard her laugh like this since I met her, and it feels like when I hear a really good song for the first time and love it right away.

I couldn’t remember the last time my dad had hugged me, and right then, I never wanted him to let me go.

🥺🥺

I’m a Black man. It was my job to teach him what that meant in

this world, how much more dangerous it was for him,

“That’s what people want—for us to be too scared to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in. I think that’s more dangerous than trying to change things.

“You are who you’re supposed to be.”

that he should do whatever it took to stay alive. Not safe. Alive.

I didn’t understand how anyone could hate Black people so much just because we were Black.”