Rickey Smiley’s Message to Black Folks About Voting Is One We Need to Hear ASAP

Comedian Rickey Smiley may be known as a funny man, but his latest post to social media about the importance of voting and the state of things in this country is no laughing matter. In fact, his message to Black folks in particular is one we all need to hear.

As we’ve told you many times before, Smiley has never shied away from being transparent with his fans and followers, keeping it real about everything from personal loss, grief, politics and more. So it was par for the course when he posted a lengthy video about the importance of voting in the Black community and all the political upheaval on Instagram on Monday (May 11).

“Black people, we gotta wake up. We gotta wake up. We don’t vote, we didn’t show up for Kamala Harris. Only thing they needed was just a little bit more than 10 percent to doubt Kamala Harris and not show up and vote,” Smiley began. “If anybody ever watch Roland Martin’s show and Joy Reid, the numbers don’t lie. The numbers aren’t there. It showed a huge drop off.”

Smiley then went on to remind people how many states former President Barack Obama won when he ran years ago and stressed how he won pivotal states like Florida, Ohio, and more. He then pivoted to focus on the smaller, but equally impactful, voting opportunities to elect people at the local level, adding that we don’t engage in our civic duty as we should.

“We not turning out, we don’t vote. And now that they’re doing redistricting, we don’t show up in governor’s races, we don’t show up in mayoral elections, we don’t know up in state house elections with state senators and state house seats. We don’t vote,” he continued.

Smiley then went on to mention Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee—states that have either recently passed controversial redistricting maps or are seeking to do so—that disproportionately impact Black and brown districts in an effort to divide their voting power and dilute their voices. 

He explained that due to their new political challenges, he doesn’t feel right performing his comedy sets when he’d rather be down in places like Montgomery helping to protest and speak up. He then shared his thoughts on the broader community having fun amid all the political upheaval and warned that things were about to get even more challenging.

“Man it’s about to get bad. We ’bout to get ourselves in a position where your voice is not gonna be heard, like for real, for real. Donald Trump said, even when he was running, he said ‘hey, if we get in there, you’ll never have to vote again folks.’ He said it!” Smiley expressed. “He said it, he said ‘if we win, you will never have to vote again. He said it. I remember making a video about it when he said it. We are in some scary times. He is emboldening white supremacists, white supremacists are bothering and attacking Black people. And I’m telling you man, we ’bout to go into some dangerous times.”

Smiley then pointed out a major difference between the civil rights movement of the 60s and the political efforts by Black folks right now, noting that back then, there were at least some federal protections enacted by then-presidents for people like the Freedom Riders and the kids integrating schools.

However, nowadays, with a man like President Trump, those protections are nowhere to be found and instead have been replaced with rules and laws based on white supremacy. The “First Sunday” star ended his videos by once again urging Black folks to get more civically engaged, stay informed, help inform others, and to keep fighting the good fight.

“We are living in a modernized Jim Crow, it’s on the way. It’s here! And it’s gon’ get worse. It’s gon’ get worse. So, y’all please tell people to be aware and share the videos, everything you see that’s going on in these state houses and to get out and vote. We are concerned…fight the powers that be,” Smiley concluded.