Forcing Black Leaders to Panhandle For Points

Bren Kelly
9 min readAug 10, 2022

Please, I need only $12 to Win the Election

A few more dollars, and I can win.
Friend, just a few more dollars and I catch them in the polls. Selling out Civil Rights Dignity for Papa Joe. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

It’s disgusting and embarrassing. There I said that, too. Hear me out. When I gave my money free willingly after writing about black women, I didn’t regret it, but I also didn’t expect what would happen next. I started to get a few texts from Senate candidate Val Demmings of Florida, first thank me, then asking me for $20 more dollars, because she had to meet goals before the weekend. If she could have $50 dollars, she could catch Senator Rubio in the polls. Then I got texts from different phone numbers from Senator Warnock saying he was catching up in the polls and could hold on, if I could just give $25 dollars. (Full disclosure: he’s the one I gave to.)

The text barrage didn’t stop there. I got some more Stacy Abrams running in Georgia. She too it turns out was running neck and neck and needed $15 bucks to put over the top. And Val still needed those $30 bucks because Rubio was running his mouth saying he has all kinds of money, but is desperately begging on CNN.

Finally, I gave in. I was waiting for the tow truck to get my broken-down truck in the sweltering summer heat of Texas when an older black American man in a red hoodie over his head approached me at the Starbucks in the doorway, sweating bullets I guess from his sweatsuit, and he asked for an orange juice…

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Bren Kelly

Engaged in new Ideas and old Inequalities, dismantling the system in systemic, born on the 50th Anniversary of Women's Lib Day, still seeking injustices.