In even oppression American ideals can't help but to sprout inequality because the American guardrails of democracy were made to only protect the creators of those Constitutional protections and those that were "in their image."
The indigenous people of America and those of African descent have been systematically subjected to genocide, slavery, Indian boarding schools, mass incarceration, and traumatizing oppression upon oppression since before the birth of this nation making the Native and African American forever intertwined with the strangling rope of oppression and cultural genocide. While this rope being metaphorical the spiritual death derived from the cultural death is non-metaphorical and often too traumatizing and
overwhelming for many every single day on reservations and in the poorest communities in this nation of prosperity & decadence.
Paraphrasing the eloquently spoken quote by Dr King that says 'In this other America one-hundred years later we perish on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.'
overwhelming for many every single day on reservations and in the poorest communities in this nation of prosperity & decadence.
Paraphrasing the eloquently spoken quote by Dr King that says 'In this other America one-hundred years later we perish on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.'
I ponder these words of wisdom and I see now an over crowded, multicultural, yet still lonely Island of poverty and a more prosperous ocean, but an ocean poisoned by greed, corruption, and intentional economic, educational, and political inequality which is, in the short-term, self-serving and ultimately self-defeating except for a very privileged few.
Some may say this is only history, but history is not confined to the past. History, unapologetically, repeats itself when not truthfully evaluated. History is carried in all of us and can be as destructive as if a genetic disease passed from generation to generation or it can be a golden road of privilege based upon progeny alone.
Some may say this is only history, but history is not confined to the past. History, unapologetically, repeats itself when not truthfully evaluated. History is carried in all of us and can be as destructive as if a genetic disease passed from generation to generation or it can be a golden road of privilege based upon progeny alone.
For those born into automatic privilege must have instilled into them appreciation, empathy, and not prideful superiority.
I recently saw the absurdity of the situation in New York City where a massive school called "Avenues: The World School" with a tuition of $50,000 a year teaching Chinese and English in kindergarten. This in your face inequality is directly adjacent to a public housing development. The children with a much different progeny walk past this school of technological Marvel everyday like a cruel tease and these little minds not grasping their progeny is a locked door without a key to many places. They go to their underfunded house of learning, but this house does not stimulate their traumatized minds and does not prepare them adequately for life. It does not even acknowledge the multi-generational post traumatic stress disorder of entire communities. Trauma piled upon trauma.
If there's one thing I know about it is trauma. I was abandoned at birth by my father. He chose to walk away. He had a choice and I've tried not to allow his decision to effect the man I've become, but what if he had been stolen from me by the state like so many of my African American brothers and sisters in the new slavery of mass incarceration? How much would anger and bitterness of injustice exacerbate the trauma? Let's come back to the answer.
From the ages of three to five I was violently sexually abused. At nineteen I hit a concrete pole head-on at 70 mph injuring my spinal cord and killing my friend. Trauma piled upon trauma. Every traumatic event is like a seed that grows, festers, and eventually manifests in a negative way. Drugs and alcohol were never my thing, but when I legitimately needed painkillers because of the accident the manifesting began and fifteen years of my life were stolen. That's how I dealt with the trauma I truly believed didn't even effect me, but what if as a child my father and uncle's were stolen and locked in cages? What if my older brother was beaten or killed by those supposed to protect and serve? What if it was normal to see my friends dead in the street? What if the protectors and servers were just another thing to fear? What if my traumas were an entire life of witnessing, fearing, and being the victim of violence? Could my "seeds of trauma" have manifested into violence? Could the violence of, let's say, Chicago be just a powder keg of continuous post traumatic stress disorder of an entire community?
The answer to these questions are found in the fact that they even have to be asked. But, we must analyze the situation to find the true root cause. Of course, there is racism and oppression, but what is the intended end result of these evils? The answer, in my opinion, is quite simple. Poverty is always where it leads and poverty is the kind of trauma that pushes people over the edge.
Before I close let's look at a little history and our current state of affairs.
I want to share powerful words that brings it all together and is another example of inequality becoming interjected in something more American than Apple pie: Poverty
"While this govt refused to give the negro any land through an act of Congress our govt was giving away millions of acres of land in the west and in the Midwest. Which meant it was willing to under gird it's white peasants from Europe with an economic floor. But, not only did they give the land they built land grant colleges to teach them how to farm. Not only that! They provided county agents to further their expertise in farming. Not only that! They provided low interest rates, with govt money, in order to mechanize their farms. Not only that. Today many of these people are receiving millions of dollars NOT TO FARM and these are the very people telling the black man he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps. Now, this is what we're facing in this campaign, but this time when we go to Washington we're coming to get our check"
Dr Martin Luther King Jr
This makes my blood boil in all honesty, but let's look at the present for a moment. Due to the corporatocracy and crony capitalism poverty is colorblind. I'm in no way diminishing the oppression of African Americans. I'm just focusing on the correlation between trauma and poverty and how we all deal with it. Some are killing each other and some are killing themselves in this current opioid epidemic.
So, just to start, America can you finally give a check with sufficient funds? Can you then take those funds and with the vigor put into mass incarceration you provide some mass post traumatic stress disorder therapy and a pair of boots? Then, just maybe, people can heal and if we do you won't be able to stop us from pulling on those bootstraps.
Dr King on economic Injustice
https://youtu.be/n4vdfugMFbg
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