Yesterday was King Day.

(“King Day” is the term I’ve started using instead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.)

King Days are often colored in by current events.

Martin Luther King III set this season’s colors, saying there should be no celebration unless there’s voting rights legislation.

*An expressive oil painting of a black man rejoicing in a crowd | Created by Jay W. Austin & DALL•E*

We’re seeing some of the clearest examples of the motivations behind political ideologies in this fight over voting rights.

More conservative folks want to make voting more “secure”—something more liberal folks see as racist. More liberal folks want to make voting more accessible—something more conservative folks see as a threat to security and control.

And I think I’m downplaying the feeling of more liberal folks by limiting their desire to more accessible.

They’re advocating for something that has been fought for, in part by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself: voting rights. Their advocacy is a continuation of that march.

My own advocacy is a continuation of that march, too.

But if we’re talking strictly about communication, then we voting rights folk need to understand that the words and passion we use to galvanize likeminded thinkers won’t work for un-likeminded thinkers.

Translate your genuinely ethical messages into their language. It’s a language of security and control.

Pointing out their errors, fallibility, and conspiratorial thinking only propels them further away from serious democracy. You can spend your energy trying to persuade them to our side, or you can work to redirect their energy towards something that would benefit us all.

Aye, I’m Jay. You’re on my personal site where I post things I make about interrupting mass incarceration, protecting migration, environmental justice & sustainability, language, communications, storytelling, creativity, and tech.

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