Vote or Die - I'm a Black man in Arizona participating in the most consequential election of my lifetime whether certain white men want me to or not.

I've voted in four different states. Now I'm a Black man in Arizona participating in the most consequential election of my lifetime whether certain white men want me to or not.
Oregon
You knew some vote-or-die, do-it-to-honor the-sacrifices-of-the-ancestors, you-can't-complain-if-youdon't-participate Black folks. But you also knew scores who didn't trouble themselves with participating at all. Into your 30s you felt somewhere between those philosophical poles, among those who, each election cycle, needed convincing that their vote mattered a good gotdamn.
Why? Despite your mother, grandfather, and great-grandparents all migrating from the Cradle of the Confederacy to your birthplace of Oregon by 1960, none ever told of being bitten by attack dogs or knocked on their back by the surge of a fire hose; of suffering the degradation of a Whites Only water fountain; of a Klansupported governor or the specter of hanging as "strange fruit." Maybe to protect you. Maybe to forget. Maybe in favor of inculcating you with something stronger than a civic duty-a religious one-none of those elders mentioned having braved vitriol or violence outside a polling station, facing a poll tax or literacy test, seeing their vote rendered inconsequential in a gerrymandered district. Your great-grandparents and grandfather were active citizens but never schooled you on the state's political milieu or impressed upon you the obligation of voting ASAP.
By the time you could cast your first ballot-1996-you were a crack-dealing college student, and voting for Clinton, or one of the local candidates you couldn't be bothered to learn about, felt somewhere between a risk of your freedom and an assured waste of time. It was an easy-ass, foolish-ass decision. You never talked politics with your live-in girlfriend or homeboys. And nobody discussed them in the barbershop, the parks, the open gyms.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

THE BEST BARS IN AMERICA 2025
WHEN YOU SUMMON MEMORIES OF YOUR favorite bar, what comes to mind? Is it the dexterity with which the bartender chiseled a block of ice into a gleaming sphere? Is it the way eyedropper pools of herbed oil floated on the surface of your martini like skimmed stones? Is it how you got to watch your $30 cocktail emerging from a dome of smoke? Maybe, maybe.

A CRUSHING WAVE OF SHOW
Thirty-five years ago this July, an avalanche killed forty-three climbers on a mountain called Lenin Peak. I witnessed the disaster and have lived with the memories ever since. Here's the untold story of mountaineering's deadliest day.

THE SINS OF THE FATHER
Why did the NFL humiliate Shedeur Sanders? The seeds of the answer lay in draft day 1989.

NATE BARGATZE GETS THE LAST LAUGH
FOR YEARS, THE HOLLYWOOD ESTABLISHMENT REJECTED HIM. NOW HE'S AMERICA'S MOST SUCCESSFUL COMEDIAN, WITH AUDACIOUS PLANS FOR HIS LIFE AFTER STAND-UP—WHICH IS COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK.

Learning How to Take a Punch
LET’S NOT WORRY ABOUT LEARNING HOW TO THROW A PUNCH right now.
What I've Learned
Bob Odenkirk Actor, comedian, director, writer; 62; Los Angeles

FLOWER POWER
Get to know the summer version of work wear: gardening style

IMPERIAL PHASE
Acclaimed writer and poet Ocean Vuong returns with a sweeping novel about life in small-town America

BONO WANTS MORE
THE U2 FRONTMAN SPENT THE PAST FEW YEARS REEXAMINING HIS LIFE AND CAREER. NOW HE'S BACK WITH NEW PROJECTS, NEW MUSIC— AND A FRESH SENSE OF URGENCY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE HAS A TARGET ON ITS BACK
As we reach the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the same forces that made it necessary in the first place are tearing it down. Next, they're coming for all of us.