The events of Ferguson have its origin from decades ago. What we see now never came from a vacuum. For a long time, the residents of Ferguson have been scapegoated for the overall national problems of economic injustice, racism, and other forms of injustice. The rebellion in Ferguson developed in response to decades long oppressive conditions. Decades ago, there were racist housing policies (via restrictive covenants) in the St. Louis/Ferguson region. That region in the Midwest experienced Jim Crow (years ago) just like in other areas like in Virginia, in North Carolina, etc. This article is about the debate about actions of the Governor as it relates to his deployment of the National Guard. There should be an investigation. We have to learn about the responses from the Governor and we have to learn lessons. Yet, one point is to be made. All protesters should not be slandered. Many reactionaries are slandering every protester collectively as nihilistic and terroristic people. That slander should be opposed and condemned. The protesters in Ferguson and throughout America include men, women, and children. They include teachers, clergy people, lawyers, athletes, musicians, scholars, and other contributors to society. Now, we have to grow our political and economic power. That means that more strong, qualified, and politically independent people should govern Ferguson & surrounding areas. We have every right to grow the empowerment of our communities. We want the end of the War on Drugs and all aspects of the New Jim Crow. We want the massive militarization of the local police to end. We will still fight for economic and social justice.
First, the Equal Justice Initiative did the right thing by releasing the report. Some people want to ignore, minimize, or ignore the lynchings that black men, black women, and black children experienced in the 19th and in the 20th century. These acts are forms of terrorism. Black people suffered terrorism at the hands of evil white racists. Also, it is important to know the history of resistance. Our people suffered, but many of our people stood up to combat injustice. Black people utilized tons of rebellions as a way to fight back against the Maafa and slavery. Also, black people formed self-defense units to combat lynching and other forms of injustice that black people experienced. The struggle did not end in 1965 either. The struggle continues. Black people still are oppressed in many different ways. We should use our history as motivation for us to stand up for the truth and to believe in liberation for our people. That's the irony. How can these white racist imperialists lecture anyone on land when they stole the land in the Americas and exterminated Native Americans. They also enslaved black people unjustly. These racists even established artificial borders all of over the land that they stole (under the guise of "Manifest Destiny"). So, hypocrisy, brutality, injustice, and insanity are real components of white racism. There are tensions between Ukraine and Russia. The leader of Ukraine is Petro Poroshenkso. The people of the Donbass region didn’t give NATO permission to tear their country apart. People have fought back against the newly installed regime. There are now 5,000 people dead and 1 million being refugees as a result of this civil war. Ukraine is losing the war and that is why many have signed the Minsk peace accords of September 2014. German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande made hastily arranged meetings with Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The West wanted the control of the resources of Ukraine and Russia. Putin is not perfect, but he certainly is right to defend the sovereignty of Crimea. We live in a new Cold War now. The question is where this new Cold War will lead into?
Revolutionary changes should been executed for decades in America. Similar meetings have gone on for years, but these meetings have never explicitly condemned monopoly capitalism and imperialism. There will be poor people among us, but we can radically reduce the poverty rate. In other nations of the Earth, the poverty rate is below 5%. We can do the same in this country, but the problem is that many reactionaries refuse to accept economic justice (and even some neoliberal Democrats want reformism instead of revolutionary change). Ways to reduce poverty is to establish a fair wage, to make sure that income inequality is reduced. The poor must be empowered to have the same resources and human rights as the super wealthy. That is the point. Poverty is massively caused by the class discrimination and the restriction of resources by the power of oligarchy. Many people who talk about welfare for the poor (as a means to falsely scapegoat the poor when the poor are the victims of economic oppression) ignore corporate subsidies for the rich. Many reactionaries advocate socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. I don't even have a problem with a Marshall Plan to rebuild urban and rural communities nationwide. When you give people human rights (I mean real human rights), and then progress can be made. Poverty reduction efforts are necessities in the 21st century. It is barbaric to see mass starvation and mass poverty in America and throughout the Earth. Criminal justice issues certainly need a push for the abolishment of three strike laws, the end of the War on Drugs (with alternatives focusing on medical treatment), and creating fairness in the criminal justice system. Also, we have to condemn imperialism too. There ought to be no torture and no violations of international law.
At the end of the day, we have to study the numbers in the budget. We have to be informed about these issues, because the budget readily affects our lives literally. It is a budget with many funds and allocations. I agree with some part of the budget. The budget proposals are centrist with its call to cut the overall corporate tax rate, raising the capital gains tax rate, and to its huge funding of the military (that continues to grow the military industrial complex which has caused so much death and mayhem in the world). The problem is that the reactionary Republicans will even oppose the moderate parts of the budget. Income inequality is one of the most important issues of the 21st century. Income inequality in America has already reached proportions that can only be compared with the notorious "Roaring Twenties" of a century ago. Another problem is that the super-rich have even gotten more record wealth while the poor suffer. A disproportionate amount of jobs in America are low wage. Many people have given up in finding new jobs. So, we should have realism. We are in an era where serious economic and social problems are here. That is why we have to keep advocating strong, progressive solutions not neoliberalism (or reactionary ideologies). Any human being has the right to believe in whatever ideology that they want to. So, Sheryl Underwood has the right to be a Republican. A real society always respects the freedom of conscience. She is right to believe in helping HBCUs. I just can’t be a Republican. That’s just me. Senator Brooke and even Eisenhower would be considered leftists by the Tea Party Republicans. The American Dream for some is the American nightmare for others. At the end of the day, racism is rampant among all social classes. Therefore, we have to stand up for workers’ rights as E.D. Nixon has done throughout the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The colonialist oppression of many people and nations (by the establishment) has influenced the growth of the political, financial elites. These elites have redistributed the wealth from the bottom 90% to the 1% (e.g. The privileged few extract the bulk of the wealth created by the many. That is the system of oligarchy not freedom). We have to address the disparities of wealth between the super-rich and the rest of humanity if we will see revolutionary changes. So, we should fight against disfranchisement, deepening poverty, mass incarceration, imperialism, police terrorism, and the New Jim Crow. We have to also defend our voting rights, we have to promote and defend our civil liberties. We have to deal with housing, the homelessness in this nation, our health, and our educational system. So, I choose to be politically Independent.
Art is diverse. Kanye West’s words represent the debate going on in our society. Kanye West should have not come on the stage to nearly interrupt Beck. People know the truth. Individuals know about the double standards in the music industry and people know about how the power structure exploits the creativity of artists all of the time. In the final analysis, Kanye West should not participate in such antics that won’t generate real, lasting social change. He just needs to go back to basics and speak out against police terrorism. He can set up institutions to address the New Jim Crow. He can go out in public and talk about economic inequality and talk about ways to fight it. He can use his voice to speak up about real issues instead of following distractions. It is ironic that he talks about creativity, but he wants to get validation from a system that doesn’t respect him as a man. We are never free by seeking validation from a corrupt system. We are free by standing up for ourselves and fighting for our freedom. He might as well just go all out and just call for revolutionary change in society where black people can be liberated as human beings. We, as black people, have the revolutionary spirit. Kanye West should go out and just speak the truth without the contradictions (that is found in his ideologies) and without the superficial antics that he has done.
By Timothy
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