LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD: BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS ABSTENTION AND POLITICAL MAROONAGE IN PHILADELPHIA

Abstract

What causes Black people in America to opt-out of voting in the American political process? Do racial or cultural markers play a part in their turning away from the political process? Do economic factors play a role? This question often raises ferocious arguments in America. Yet, there has been no thorough investigation of the motivations behind Black voting abstention. This dissertation seeks to fill that void by exploring why a sample of middle-class Philadelphians choose not to exercise their right to vote. Voter apathy, racial/communal interests, or other factors have historically been utilized to explain why individuals choose to sit on the periphery of the American political system. However, none of these studies examine the cultural factors that cause individuals of African descent to exercise abstention from voting. The purpose of this project is multi-fold: (a) to explore with a sample of Black nonvoters their reasons for not voting; (b) interrogate our current orientation that voting as a needed signifier for our existence, (c) to properly center Black nonpolitical engagement as a possible viable avenue for African-descended people in our pursuit of creating a milieu of resistance and liberation, (d) to help normalize nonvoting practices as valid and acceptable methods of Black political engagement within Africana Studies, the Academy, and the Africana community; and (e) to push back against the dominant discourse that voting is the only viable option for progress for African-descended people in America. This work explores the idea that abstaining from voting, which has been a source of shame and contention within the Black community, may serve as a practical and useful tool in resistance and liberatory fashion for our people. This study seeks to conceptualize and link Black nonparticipatory politics as a form of Political Maroonage. The value of this project is that it should add the academic discourse of the Black nonvoter’s critique of the American political process and add clarity to the politicians who are seeking these individuals’ support for political office.