The Economy and Reality

The crisis of social inequality is real in America. The American middle class has disintegrated over the course of years and decades. A new study from the Pew Research Center shows the sharp decline of the amount of middle income households are enormous. The Pew has mentioned that according to its definition, middle income households for the first time no longer constituted the majority of American society. The figures show the stark reality. The study reported that the national wealth accruing to middle income households was 43 percent in 2014 and that is down from 62 percent in 1970. The median income households fell by 28 percent over the past decade and a half. The share of income going to upper income households has risen from 29 percent to 49 percent over the same period. This shows a wide class divide in American society. Over the past 4 decades, the U.S. economy benefits mostly the corporate financial aristocracy. The very rich have prospered massively and we live in a plutocracy today. The great majority of the American population has experienced a deterioration of income, benefits, and the condition of life. The poorest of American suffer greatly. Many survive on next to nothing. One in 50 Americans has no income at all and lives on food stamps. Fifty million people are food insecure on an annual basis. Fifteen million people in the US earn $10 an hour or less. In terms of purchasing power, the annual income of a minimum wage earner has declined by 32 percent since 1968. A “fair day’s pay” and a “decent job” are things of the past for most of the population. Workers in industry, union or nonunion, have been pummeled in recent decades. The experience of the autoworkers, whose starting pay has been halved and benefits eviscerated, is one of the sharpest expressions of a generalized process. Much of the middle class suffer. These people are managers, administrators, technicians, health care professionals, high tech workers, office workers of every type too, etc. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce reports that as of 2009, 75 percent of the instructional workforce of nearly 1.8 million in two- and four-year institutions of higher education in the US “were employed in contingent positions off the tenure track… Although most faculty members serving in contingent positions hold a master’s degree or higher and almost all hold at least a baccalaureate degree, their earnings are not remotely commensurate with their training and education.” The middle class was promoted by reactionaries a bulwark against socialism. America was near a total middle class dominated society. For centuries, Americans fought in a class struggle for economic justice. Today, the ruling class has massive wealth. The American establishment overtly is promoting more war and authoritarian police state policies in America. They advance militarism. The rise of fascism is personified in the billionaire Donald Trump. Trump’s xenophobia and Islamophobia has been embraced by many including parts of the petty-bourgeoisie. The working class has every right to unite and advance revolutionary change.

I don’t know why anyone would support this racist, sexist, xenophobic, and Islamphobic Donald Trump unless they support his agenda. Trump has used his reality TV status to spew hateful rhetoric. This Republican Party Presidential candidate is representative of many GOP people. He continues to fan the flames of hatred after the evil shooting in San Bernardino, California, which was done by 2 apparently ISIS sympathizers. Trump wants no Muslims to come into America. Trump is quoted as saying: "Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for president, we are going to Make America Great Again." He or Trump doesn’t want America great, but filled with hate. His attack on 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide is disrespectful. He’s an extremist and a fascist. Other fascists like Marine Le Pen and France’s National Front are targeting Muslim organizations and they advocate expelling immigrants. Martin O'Malley, the barely noticed third-place candidate in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted "‪@realdonaldtrump‬‬ removes all doubt: he is running for President as a fascist demagogue." Even some Republicans are criticizing Trump on this issue. GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush's adviser on national security issues, John Noonan, likewise tweeted: "Forced federal registration of U.S. citizens, based on religious identity, is fascism. Period. Nothing else to call it." There is the openly fascist group of the Golden Dawn in Greece. Trump’s campaign appeals to racists. He has the money to promote his views. Trump is not the only extremist. 31 governors (mostly Republicans) in America wanted to bar Syrian refugees to come into America after the Paris attacks. People want living wages, universal health care, and a comfortable retirement. The audience for Trump's ideas has certain characteristics. According to an October poll by the Pew Research Center, the typical Trump supporter is white, more likely a man than a woman and tends to be older. According to a YouGov poll, seniors are about twice as likely to have a favorable view of Trump as millennials--the generation that came of age around the turn of the 21st century. Some 51 percent of millennials are "very" unfavorable toward Trump, compared to 38 percent of seniors. Trump supporters tend to be less educated. Trump opposes union, opposes raising the minimum wage, and he is not a fighter for American workers. Trump is not new with this. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, figures like Louisiana political boss Huey Long and Michigan radio personality Father Charles Coughlin were able to pull behind them people marginalized by poverty and divert genuine anger into anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-immigration and opposition to "big government" programs of the New Deal. George Wallace of Alabama attacked the civil rights movement and progressive people. The GOP uses coded racist language at times. So, we have to build an independent, progressive alternative to speak to the needs and desires of the people.

There is a huge amount of Hispanic culture in Houston. More immigrants from Latin American countries are coming into Houston. Houston has the third largest Hispanic population in America. 44 percent of Houston is Hispanic. Hispanic people make up about 18 percent of the Houston city council. Most Hispanic people in Houston are Catholics while there are some Hispanics in Houston who became converts to Islam. There has been an increase of Hispanic Americans living in Kashmere Gardens, South Park, Sunnyside, and the Third Ward. There are Mexicans, Cubans, Central Americans, and other Hispanics living in Houston. The Institute of Hispanic Culture is found in Houston at 3315 Sul Ross. It serves the Houston community education of Hispanic culture and other services. They work with local universities and other cultural organizations. Since 1965, this institute The Talento Bilingüe de Houston (TBH, "Bilingual Theater of Houston") is a bilingual theater in the Second Ward of the East End area of Houston, Texas. It is found in the intersection of Jensen Road and Navigation Drive, adjacent to Guadalupe Park, and the two city blocks from Downtown Houston. La Voz de Houston is a Spanish language weekly newspaper which was distributed by the Houston Chronicle and a subsidiary of the Houston Chronicle. Armando and Olga Ordóñez, refugees from Cuba, established La Voz de Houston in 1979. On Thursday December 2, 2004 the Houston Chronicle purchased La Voz. Ordóñez remained as the publisher of La Voz. As an employee of the Houston Chronicle she began reporting to Jack Sweeney, the publisher of the Houston Chronicle. The 14 employees of La Voz de Houston became Houston Chronicle employees. The offices of La Voz de Houston moved to their current location. The Chronicle gives advertising sales and editorial support from the Chronicle. It talks about issues important to Hispanic human beings. It shows news, foods, sports, entertainment, and other issues. As of 2004, the weekly newspaper has a circulation of 100,000. In 2010 Héctor Pina of La Voz won the first place award for opinion writing in the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors 2010 competition for the best journalism work. El Día was a Spanish-language newspaper published in Houston, Texas by El Día, Inc. The company's offices are in Greater Sharpstown. Luis Jimenez was the late Tejano sculptor. He created the Vaquero art installation at Moody Park through the help of the City of Houston and the National Endowment of the Arts. It was commissioned via the Art in Public Places program. The University of Houston Art Professor Delilah Montoya has done great research on Luis Jimenez.


Therefore, we have to act accordingly and stand up for our human rights for our survival and for our black descendants. We want our descendants to live in a much better world than today. The one percent uses propaganda, from TV, magazines, etc. to promote anti-God values like profanity, disrespect of parents, racism, sexism, anti-black stereotypes, idolatry of false gods, greed, materialism, imperialism, etc. The handwriting is on the wall. Many of us don’t realize that there are solutions to these problems. Balance is one key part of spirituality. So, we should both do individual solutions among ourselves and collective solutions among us as a people (and as a community). Like others have stated, we should use our economic resources to help our enterprises and our infrastructure. We should treat black people with dignity and with respect, and we should care for each other as we are family. We have the same origin and we all share one DNA. It feels so much better for us to work among of our black people to get something done than to worship whiteness. Blackness is beautiful. Black Unity is critical in any solution too. The solution ultimately lies in US. We have the power. Our ancestors built great civilizations and with our power and ingenuity, we can change the world. Even back in the 1950’s and the 1960’s (to the 1970’s to a certain extent), there was a strong camaraderie among us as black people. With the recent events going, more black people are rising up against police terror. We should rise up against police terror and other evils (like we are against poverty, pollution, health care injustices, etc.), but we want to promote our liberation unconditionally and on our terms. The criminal injustice system is truly evil. It is a total fact that black people are convicted in a higher rate than white people in America even if all are convicted for the same crime. Many potential jurors are asked questions that have nothing to do with a trial. Jurors, who are white, are not asked whether they support O’Reilly or Donald Trump.

The criminal injustice system shouldn’t be respected and it has ruined lives of tons of black people. Police terrorism is wrong. Also, unfair sentences against black people in the prison industrial complex are wrong. I compare the Maafa to the Holocaust. We should be aware about how bad the new Jim Crow system is. It has harmed the lives of both black men and black women as well. We desire black men and black women to be respected and free. We know how harmful the system of racism/white supremacy is. This is why we believe in independence and black human autonomy. Black human autonomy means that we alone are the agents of change to help our community and we control the destinies of our own lives via self-determination. We want great education, health care universally for people, an end to all police terrorism and occupation of our black communities, an end to gentrification, the fight against poverty, and employment for black people who want jobs (and other economic opportunities). Racism is found worldwide too. The jury tactics (as found in the email) is common and juries readily determine the life or death of black lives literally. Also, we want black women to have liberation. The rightful conviction of the evil white male (not man) Holtzclaw (who raped black women) should have happened a long time ago. We have an epidemic of black women suffering abuse and rape. Black women should always be respected and supported by black people always. Black people standing up for racial justice have nothing to do with advancing racism. Racists use reverse psychology, word games, misogyny, and outright historical revisionism as a way for them to promote their evil agendas. That is why we should always support black scholars who are fighting for wisdom and are showing the truth on these matters.

By Timothy