6 people I avoid talking to about politics
If no productive resolution comes from election talks, why bother talking to these groups?
The following post is part of my former Substack publication “One Black Woman’s Vote” that is now in “I Do See Color.” To see more OBWV posts from 2026, click here. For 2025 OBWV posts, click here. For 2021-2024 OBWV posts, click here. New OBWV posts will be published by the second Saturday of each month.
Before I saw the model Tyra Banks on “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” one of my go-to GIFs when a politician I liked let me down was the highly publicized “I was rooting for you” scene between her and a model contestant named Tiffany.
Nowadays, my go-to is Mekhi Phifer with the cigarette from “The Bobby Brown Story.” As of this weekend, that imaginary smoking session is dedicated to Eric Swalwell, the U.S. representative from California's 14th congressional district since 2023 and a leading gubernatorial candidate.
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While there are two sides to every story, I cannot both support the Jeffrey Epstein survivors speaking up (while the GOP desperately tries to hide details) and then act like I didn’t read that draining CNN report about Swalwell. Social media is a mixed bag with some defending voting for Trump while shaming Swalwell, another group using the Swalwell story as the reason they don't vote because “all politicians are the same” and a few other groups using this story to rant about politics in general.
It's another reminder of why I cleanse my follower and following list. I don’t waste time speaking to (non)voters about politics when I know the conversation won’t lead to productive resolutions.
End the conversation immediately with these six (non)voters
There are certain people I’ve learned to avoid when it comes to political conversations. Over time, patterns emerge, and I throw up the deuces with these six groups.
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1. People who won’t vote because they believe all politicians are criminals.
There are approximately 507 instances of alleged and actual misconduct by legislators in the United States Congress from 1789 to the present. (You better believe I'm looking at chief executives who were also slaveowners as criminals who didn't make the list. Regardless of slavery being legal at one point, I don't respect any president nor other politician who participated — or that bizarre take on Black dog owners.) Meanwhile, Arrest Trends reports that, across the United States, an arrest occurs every three seconds. Let that sink in.
Recommended Read: “Megaphones get you expelled from Congress, moving your mouth doesn’t ~ The dumbest excuse of 2023 to defend why white women can protest but black men can’t”
The 2016 estimated total arrest volume — approximately 10.5 million arrests annually — was considered a “historic low” mirroring the early 1980s. Now imagine if someone had that same inactive voting mindset about all the other people getting arrested. You would not have a job, a house, a vacation, any kind of music playlist for any genre, or even get the oil changed on your car if you just decided to stay away from everybody who ever had legal issues. Instead of tuning out all politicians because a select few are shifty, vote for ones with clean records — if you insist every arrest should mean a permanent cancellation.
Recommended Read: “A fair one between senators could recreate disturbing past with Congress ~ When Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin trying to fight Sean O’Brien becomes far less amusing”
2. People who don’t vote and encourage you not to vote
There’s a difference between being disillusioned with the system and actively discouraging participation in it. I understand the cynicism. But when someone proudly opts out of voting and then tries to convince others to do the same, it sounds desperate — like you were that popular kid in high school and can’t figure out how to make that happen in college again.
If you’re determined to not vote, you don’t need a crowd of “cool kids” around you (or to be the loud-and-wrong leader of your crew) to do this. Voting is one of the most basic forms of civic participation, and Black folks went through all kinds of hell to give us this luxury. You don’t have to believe it solves everything, but your health, your finances, your job, your housing, your food and the air you breathe are all affected by who is in office. If you treat Election Day like a dodge ball and boast on social media about how you dodge it, that’s your problem. Don’t make it everyone else’s.
And stop complaining after you don’t do it. That makes as much sense as ditching the school project but critiquing the final presentation after the teacher saw it for the first time.