Well it's happening! The new presidential election cycle is underway, and the news is becoming more interesting or annoying (depending on what you're listening to) as campaign ads start their sharp descent to negativism. Meanwhile, the country is dealing with an old problem: race relations. The police shootings around the country have taken the spotlight rending all police in a positive light and leaving out the overwhelming number of profiled, unnecessary killing of colored people. This is nothing new and have gone unreported for years until the age of technology started to keep you, the people, aware of what has been happening because of phone cameras. The age of technology has now been keeping 'them' more accountable, and by 'them,' I'm referencing the men and women that are not mentally suitable or even race neutral to wear officer uniforms and use those policing powers to abuse people they just don't like. I'm stating it that way because the other 90% of the officers are doing their job and attempting to protect and serve the public as best they can all things considered.It is apparent that the nation is in denial that racism still exist and is alive and well. It may not be right there in front of you when you walk into a store because the 'WHITES ONLY' sign isn't hanging out front, but there might as well be one considering how quickly you're profiled and essentially watched. For sure MLK did the planet and our nation justice by bringing up the fact that black people were as important as white people and that our destiny is caught up with their destiny; we have to work together to realize the true greatness of our nation. That's what he said, and it was what he pointed out to the all white establishment of his day, and he eventually died for it because people don't want to give up their power and control.
This is true in any system where there is an authority figure or organization essentially responsible for leading the 'people' into what is supposed to be a 'better' life. I titled the blog a 'normal' life, but what I was implying is a better one because what is normal to some is not a better life to others because of the vast disparities that exist all around us. The powerful rich don't want to give you any of their power or money, and unfortunately you have to demand it from them or put them in a position where they have to listen. The best example of that was during the Civil Rights movement when all white owned stores were essentially boycotted and the black community was instructed to only buy from black owned stores. The wealthy white began to feel something they hadn't experienced in their time-what it felt like to be oppressed! So they began to soften up as their income dropped. And you better believe that if they hadn't felt the financial impact in their pocket books, they would've just keep on doing their own thing because it, everyone else's poverty, inequality, and lack of hope, didn't affect them.
This continues to be true today, and unfortunately the only thing that has gotten the nation's attention on the race problem that exist in our nation and the disparities that come with it has been the reverse killing of white officers by some of a few of its black citizens. Rest assure that the media has essentially demonized those shooters as mentally unstable or suffering from PTSD, but the facts are that both were highly trained former service members that decided they needed to do something outrageous because they likely knew not one of those white police officers was gonna get charged or even tried for the abuse of their police power. I'm not going to get into talking about the thousands of soldiers coming back to AMERICA from fighting wars we shouldn't even be involved in, but they loved our country or at least the idealism it promotes enough to go. I'm also not saying those two individuals were right in their actions because taking the life of another should be avoided at almost any cost. And, certainly killing people because you don't agree with them or like them is wrong morally and ethically. So a new system needs to be created to balance the 'US' versus 'Them' mentality among the policing groups today.
We have to come to grips with the fact that racism didn't go away because the black man got to vote. Racism didn't go away because we got the Civil Rights Bill Passed. Racism did not go away because the "I Have A Dream Speech" was heard, and racism certainly has not gone away because the President of the United States is black. I would even say that just because you have a Mexican gardener and a black neighbor doesn't mean your not racist or that racism doesn't exist or that you are not supporting it consciously or otherwise. No. Racism is alive and well, and if you think it's a thing of the past, you're lying to yourself. We're good at that! We as human beings are good at lying to ourselves and telling ourselves that 'things aren't so bad!' We think things are good because we don't see homeless people around us. We think things are good because people are dying and being massacred in "other" places in the world, but because it's not happening in your back yard, we can careless...things are 'all right'! But, are they?
As I listened to the future Republican party leadership, I couldn't help notice how much fear they're trying to promote with the tragedy happening around us and in the world. As if somehow things are coming undone...if "we" don't do something more terrorism will happen, and "we" have to stop them. Well, that sounds like a former President's talk about terrorism, and it lead to us looking for bombs that didn't exist, trying to 'control' other people we thought were a threat to us, and what did that get our Nation into? Two wars over 15 years of which we see no less terrorist activity, a mountain of debt, and thousands of American lives gone. In fact, there is more terrorism now because of our attempts to control other people elsewhere. What we should do as a nation is protect ourselves here in the HOMELAND and let the rest of the world do what they need to become ready for when 'trouble' dawns upon their door-step.
We as a nation are working on some basic things yet while acting as if we have it all figured out. People need jobs ere in America. People are going hungry here in America. People continue to not get well because health care is out of reach here in America. Is that really American? I say not, but certain leaders want us, the large majority of the nation, to think that the middle class is shrinking because of trade deals gone bad; they want you to think you're not that far from being 'richer' if those manufacturing jobs would come back to the USA, but the reality is that the middle class exist so 'we,' the less fortunate, are not next to 'them' the super wealthy in the class system. Because if you were, you would really see how bad you have it. You're normal or better life would not seem so normal or better when you see what millionaires and billionaires and their families really do for a normal life. That glimpse of the wealthy way of life or normal life by the common man would likely lead to more of the disturbances we see in the world, except it would be happening here in America.
So I think it's time to embark upon a paradigm shift as a nation. We need to begin with acknowledging we're a self-centered nation and our technology has made us more individualized than any other time in history. We know this because the word "Selfie" is now a word in the English vocabulary. We really need to take a closer look at our Middle East allies-The Nation of Israel for a maybe a better state-of-mind when it comes to terrorism and how to deal with it. How do they deal with it. They make all of their citizens get trained as military personal. They keep in mind that every day may be the last time they will see their son, daughter, mother or father because a bomb could go off next to them, and instead of believing that it couldn't happen to them they embrace it making their family more important, more real and the 'selfie' idea more obsolete. Yes the terrorist may have been succeeding in disrupting the AMERICAN paradigm of 'it couldn't happen to us' mentality, but they are also creating something unexpected..a more real sense of Americana....the substance of what it means to be American. The only difference is now more of are taking to arms than ever before because the only real way to snuff out the 'lone wolf' terrorist is to have more 'sheep dogs' ready and waiting, and you better believe we are...waiting...patiently for those that would wrong any innocent people of America or any other place Americans happen to be, and that has to begin with our improving our race relations, our police and community relations, and bend the spectrum of the poorest to the wealthiest so that one can reach out to the other in good will relations and real opportunity sharing.
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