58% and I'm done again.

 Do you know why I'm done (asked no one in particular), because 58%. That's the white vote percentage for our soon to be deposed leader. 58% after 4 years of a non stop assault on our senses. After 4 years of brazen bigotry, xenophobia, personal attacks, non stop lies and close to 250,000 dead. 58%. I frankly have nothing else to say. Now I'm really done. 

Done

 I'm done. 

Just The Way It Is

 I’m just gonna start by saying that I don’t believe this current uproar will result in any real change. It’s a very pessimistic view, but I’ve seen it all before. When the statues come down and the names on the buildings change and a couple of people get prosecuted, most will head back to their quiet comfortable lives secure in the knowledge that they have struck a blow for equality. None of that will change the facts on the ground, however. This situation is so big that I really can’t tackle it in one post. In fact, I get so frustrated having to think about this stuff that my writing eventually deteriorates into ranting. I have tried to tackle issues separately, so that they make a little more sense. And I’ve tried to be brief so that I don’t end up going off the rails. I don’t really have any answers. I can’t make people feel better about themselves or the situation in this country and I’m not going to try. This is just how I see things. Nothing is going to change until the powerful are willing to cede some power and control to the powerless. And that my friends, is never going to happen. 

Current Situation

Americans elected the most non offensive black person in the history of politics and felt very good about themselves. They voted for him twice and their job was done. All past sins and future sins were now washed away.

After the depression the American middle class flourished. Strong unions, government programs and general prosperity led to the fulfillment of the American dream. You went to work for 30 years at the same place, retired with a comfortable pension and social security and Medicaid were in place to make sure that your golden years were comfortable. The problem was and remains that the prosperity that was enjoyed by white America, was simply not available to those of color. The net worth of an average white family is 10x that of an average black family.

The dismantling and vilifying of unions that started under the Reagan administration and continues to this day has eroded what was once a robust and growing middle class. The average CEO salary went from 10x that of an employee to 1,000X that of an employee across a couple of decades because of consistent legislation designed to push wealth in only one direction. That brilliant strategy has left behind a middle class fighting over the scraps that have been left by the absolute greed of those in power.

The genius of the plan however is that those at the top have been able to convince those left behind in their money grab that the problem lies not with them, but with the people of color who are coming for everything they have. They are coming for your jobs, homes, daughters and sisters, your piece of the American dream is under threat from those who don’t look like you. And middle America bought this lie hook, line and sinker.

A program as seemingly harmless as Affimative Action has been under attack from the beginning, because it might deny someone an opportunity. They don’t even see the irony in that criticism. If you think we live in a meritocracy, you are sadly mistaken. If you think the same rules apply to all then you live in a fantasy land. If you think all people are given equal opportunity to succeed, then you have chosen to live your life with blinders on.

Most people are well meaning. I believe that most would be happy to give a hand up to someone who is down. However that hand up comes with the understanding that you then don’t intrude upon their comfort zone. As long as the perceived gains are not at their expense, then all is good. School busing, which was put in place to try and level the playing field in education, led to white flight from the inner cities. Blacks move into the neighborhood, it’s time to start looking somewhere else.

I simply have no hope that this is ever going to change. I guess I gave up a while ago. My feelings are not event based. I don’t have to have someone killed on camera by a policeman to realize that our society has failed to live up to its basic creed and never will.  This isn’t a situation where there can be a few new programs or commissions to study the problem and things will get better. It’s systemic, it’s human nature. We as humans need to have someone to point to. We need to have someone to be better than. We only prop ourselves to stand over someone else.

Education

Education is the first, best and only starting point if there is going to be any systematic change. It is also the only place where I am the least bit optimistic that there can be real change. Currently Public education in grades K-12 is systematically unbalanced. I can’t speak to all states, but I know that there is usually federal & state money that goes out equally to all districts based on enrollment and then local money is added to that from property taxes. You hear people talk about moving so they qualify for the “good” school districts. This is primary a function of personal wealth. Everyone knows where the “good” school districts are and if they are financially able, people will move there. What moving to the “good” school district represents however, is leaving behind a bad one. And what of those children whose parents aren’t fortunate enough to have the money to move to another school district? They get left behind, literally and figuratively. Public school education is guaranteed to all of our children, but there’s nothing guaranteed about the quality of the education you will receive. In most cities you will find schools well stocked with computers with great campuses and facilities and very manageable student to teacher ratios. In that same city you will find kids going to school in old buildings in need of repair with students being forced into closets because of lack of space, with limited access to computers and facilities. The best teachers, for the most part, chose to teach in the better school districts, so naturally, those students get a better education.

Of course there are magnet schools and school vouchers and the like that now allow kids to travel for school, but along with those opportunities being limited, the bigger question is why should they have to travel outside of their district in order to get a decent education? This is the question that should be answered. Why should children be forced to wake up at 5am to take a bus across town just to get an education that is guaranteed to them by the government? Is that fair? Is that equal treatment? We have set up a system whereby we are choosing which kids get ahead and which kids get left behind. You have parents who can afford to live on the “good” side of town, then you get to go to the “good” school. You have parents who can afford to send you to private school, then you get a great education as well. You have parents or in some cases, a parent, who can’t afford either of those things, then you get stuck with the leftover school in your district.

The system of education that we have in this country is basically set up to provide a permanent underclass. We as its citizens seem perfectly happy to have a separate and very unequal system of education our children. We seem content as a country to condemn a portion of our children to a life without opportunities. We end up sending out a portion of our children to a gun fight armed with a butter knife and expect them to compete on equal footing. And then we are so quick to point a finger when they fail. But how could we expect anything else? The truth is that we don’t expect anything else. We need a permanent underclass in order for our wonderful system to keep on humming. I asked this simple question in a post I wrote a few years back and I’ll repeat it to end this segment, “why, do we as a county, value some children more than others”.

 Law enforcement

We have Paramilitary groups that are charged with keeping the peace in our communities. They are set up to be insular and excuse the pun, self-policing. They see themselves as constantly under attack and their only defense is to create a wall of silence that cannot be penetrated. Instead of being a part of the community, they see themselves as being above it. Only they can see the evil in the hearts of men. Only they get to decide whether you are a law abiding citizen or an evil doer who deserves to be punished. You see with police, everything is black and white. Good or bad, warning or ticket, arrest or death. They say ultimate power corrupts absolutely and have to look no further than your local police officer with a badge and gun and the immunity that comes with being a member of the last great defense to the downfall of western society.

Of course, I exaggerate slightly. There are people who join the police force with the genuine belief that they are going to be helpful to their communities. Those people are quickly absorbed by the unstoppable and all-encompassing notion that it’s them against us. People are always quick to point out that it’s “just a few bad apples” in each department. I am very sure that every officer in the department knows who those “bad apples” are and yet they refuse to say anything. Their silence makes them complicit in everything the “bad apples” do. They also do their best to cover for the bad apples if someone makes a complaint against them or if they commit some horrendous act in the line of duty. That makes them all bad apples as far as I’m concerned. I believe that NWA made the definitive statement about the organization and we can leave it at that.

The fact that police in this country were originally created to track down run-away slaves should not be lost on anyone. When the start of your endeavor is steeped in racism and slavery, it makes a permanent and indelible mark on all of your activities going forward. The police in the country have been used to enforce every despicable racist policy that the government has perpetrated against people of color. They are too numerous to mention, but just know that the police force has been there to provide their whole-hearted support and violence to each every one of them.

I honestly don’t see a way out of the current situation with the police. The police unions and the policemen and policewomen themselves are unwilling to accept any other role than overseer of a plantation. They stand above us with their whips waiting to deal out justice should anyone get out of line. A reduced role for the police would be a start, but that can only go so far. Give someone a badge and a gun and their worst tendencies will almost always emerge.

Economic Situation

The average black family has 1/10^th the accumulated wealth of the average white family. Try to comprehend what that means. Basically, after 150 years of freedom in this country, black families have 1/10^th the accumulated wealth of white families. That’s not even the 3/5^th of a person that black people were counted as when our founding fathers decided to create this wonderful experiment in democracy. Can you imagine the long term systematic obstacles that have to be in place in order to keep an entire race of people from making any economic advancement in 100 years? Well, you don’t have to imagine it because it’s been going on since the 1860’s and continues to this day. There is no disputing this fact, so either you believe that an entire race of people are inferior or you understand that we have decided, as a country, to keep a system in place so despicable that most can’t even fathom it or acknowledge it.

 

Protest

The groups or institutions being protested against cannot dictate the terms of that protest. If protest (regardless of the manner it takes) makes you uncomfortable, then it’s working. Protest and dissent are what this country was founded on, but the public only likes it if it’s nice and quiet and doesn’t interfere with the football game. If everyone joins in and it becomes the cause of the day, then it’s no longer a protest, it hopefully has morphed into a movement. The problem with movements is that they are easily co-opted by those who have motivations that may have nothing to do with the original protest. When NFL or NBA owners say that they are willing to take a knee with their players, it has nothing to do with justice for African-Americans. That has to do with the almighty dollar. They have seen which way the wind is blowing and they don’t want to get left behind. Their goal is to get back to being comfortable as quickly as possible. I didn’t see any owners taking a knee with Colin Kapernick. He was drummed out of the league and the owners couldn’t separate themselves quickly enough from the controversy. Ratings were down, and the public was upset, so they stepped in to make sure that the money kept flowing. I see the images of police at protests taking a knee, but if they wanted to make a difference, they would just point out the racists in their own precincts. They know who they are.

I am never happy when people start looting and burning cars and buildings. I understand that some are there to take advantage of a situation, but I also realize that some are so frustrated by their situation that they don’t see any other alternative. I saw clips of inmates burning their own stuff in a prison because they couldn’t get proper protection and health care for the Covid crisis. That’s the kind of frustration that people feel against a system that is rigged against them and refuses to acknowledge the problem, much less try to address it. I don’t condone looting, but I don’t condemn those who participate either.

That’s about all I can say today. There’s so much more but frankly, I’m tired. And just like everything else I’ve ever done or said, it ain’t gonna make a damn bit of difference.

Swing and a Miss

 Joe,

You had a chance to make a real statement with your choice of VP. I'm sorry, you did make a statement and that is that you are a company man who's afraid of what the Republicans might say. You picked the safe choice. The person who Republicans can't really tear down because in her previous positions she towed their line of law and order. Poor people kept in prison regardless of guilt or innocence because they can't afford to pay ridiculous bails, your VP doesn't give a shit. Police corruption and violence go unchecked under her oversight because hey, let's not rock the boat. 

Your VP choice is the ultimate house negro. Given a chance to actually help people of color, she instead decided to side with the establishment. You had better choices but they would have caused too much chatter. Instead you choose the person who will always ask, "how WE doing today boss". 

I have no choice but to vote for this ticket in November, but you will leave the Democratic party in the hands of the ultimate "get along, to go along" candidate. I always suspected that you were a company man but this choice has confirmed that opinion. I will never forget the "gays shouldn't be allowed to marry" stance that you and Obama adopted before the election even though you didn't believe that. Political expediency is the place where hopes and dreams go to die.

I certainly hope the excitement over this pick turns into more votes, but you've abandoned the heart and soul of this party. What do think your VP pick would have done if the current protests had happened on her watch? She would have been calling in the feds and putting people exercising their constitutional rights in jail. She can claim to be a liberal now, but her record says something else.

You blew it, Joe. But then I guess it's to be expected from someone like you.