race II?

perhaps i was not as clear in my last entry as i would have preferred to be. the point i intended to make was that economy is primary. this is to say it comes before any of the other things mentioned and it weighs heavier. i don't mean to suggest how much heavier, only that in my estimation it plays the greatest role. it was not my intention to suggest that economy is at the root of all the byropoducts of racism. rather, i think racism divides and has, at times, been the cause of distraction from certain truths which have everything to do with economy.

when the bush's left kennebunkport for the capitol and the sons established themselves in florida and texas, and the talking heads talk talk talk about it being a political strategy, then they pour money into campaigns to win governorships, (and let's face it, in texas the money bought an election for an average ivy league student at best, by all accounts, from maine, over a popular incumbent,) then they win elections creating a presidential dynasty of wealth and power and favors, and the policies of that president afflicts poor people daily in the prisons of the united states, in the alleys behind the hospitals which won't treat them, in their manual labor jobs they get to in 1980s jalopies w/ "w '04," stickers on them, (so fucking fooled,) and they hate labor unions because money was spent to get them to think that way, and despite the fact president's have not affected roe v wade in some 40 years, they vote based on the candidates stance on this issue because money was spent to make them think this way, (they're programmed, man, money was spent to make them think this way,) they buy into supply side economics because money was spent to make them think this way, they tolerate republican presidents w/ their own agenda to make their name in history, (blah, blah, blah,) by invading some piece of crap little country somewhere which could never come close to standing up to our military might, thereby spending billions of dollars and turning what was a thriving economy into the crap economy of the world complete with sagging currency and trade deficits because money was spent to make them think it was the rightthing to do, (though in reality, for every one of those who lose money based on this economy, there is someone who wins and the president and his cronies likely know every one of those people,) they tolerate corruption at the highest levels of business because the ill-gotten money always ends up in their coffers anyway, (thanx ken lay you dirty fucking pig,) they are distracted by celebrity steroid scandals while wildernesses protected by the american people for decades are opened up for drilling which is sure to line the pockets of some rich texas oil baron or another who has got to be friends w/ our average ivy league student because money was spent to make them look away, (look away, look away, look away.) they don't seem to mind a guy who needed the credential of having served his country on his resume to be eligible for the highest seat of power so he chose a crap-ball, outdated airplane to learn to fly, (knowing it would not be involved in a certain "conflict,") and got favors for favors to serve in alabama instead of his other home texas and even skipped duties relative to that cushy assignment, but they do mind the other guy getting an extra-marital bj because money was spent to make them think that way. (they think it is a moral question but where is the morality in all this cronyism and cheating of the little guy?)

race divides and while i have felt the subtle look or occasional gesture based against my long man-hair or my slightly slanted eyes or my skin color which was not du jour for the spot, it has never, ever affected me in the way these other things do. i have never sat in a high level corporate meeting listening to a guy talk about a strategy for how we can continue to get money out of people without providing a great deal of value for said cash without noticing the subjective morality business-people have adopted. but our society, and i do not mean you and me personally or individually, but by and large in our society, we, (and i think it is important to state it that way so we stay angry and keep pushing for something better,) are more concerned with some group of dumbass white supremacists of the week on maury or local news coverage of yet another gang shooting or jerry and his merry band of lowest common denominators or cops and all the poor people on that show, of various skin tones, we tune in in droves to watch in order to feel better about our pathetic lives. this is where i'm coming from. it aint about the skin color, it's about certain people oppressing others with their money. it's about plush, favor-for-favor, repulican-gotten fcc appointments to open the door for clear channel and rupert murdoch cause if you can control the airwaves you can control the people because money will change the way they think. i know, i saw the money spent to make them think that way.

i've mellowed with age and i recognize that the key people in the middle, the decent americans who are somewhat fooled but still somewhat open to reason do not listen to anger. they tune out and disappear. so i've toned it down over the years because i am interested in making a difference. but trust, i liken it to our ability to understand the murderer and the child molestor and yes, even the crooked self-serving politician, because we have a measure of that man inside us, (be it ever so minimal for me and i hope for you,) but trust, i also still have a measure of that seething warlock of a bitch-ass-mother-fucker who is pissed to the gills about all this shit i've been talking about. fuck the g ride i want the machines that are making 'em.

remember joycelyn elders, clinton's failed appointee to be the surgeon general who did not condemn masturbation as a tool of satan? i saw her once on late night tv being interviewed by tom snyder. (i can't remember if i made a phone call last night but i remember this.) he asked her what the #1 health danger in the world was and she answered, (in heartfelt david byrne style,) same as it ever was; ignorance. not aids. not cholera, scarlet fever, polio, hepatitis, the plague, (black or otherwise,) the common cold or any other malady you and i expected to come out of her mouth. this super-intelligent godsend of a woman said; "ignorance," (and just about that softly.) undoubtedly, she's right.

this is why people in america today think the following words are dirty: liberal, communism, left-wing, labor union, gun control, (like some jackass who couldn't pass 10th grade english should be toting an ak-47,) affirmative action, ralph nader, cuba, free speech, etc. these people, too, they are the nicest of people. they work hard like us. they cook and clean and raise families and give gifts at xmas time-they're the freakin' salt of the earth, but they're fooled and it starts at the top.

it's fucking god's fault. i mean, it can't be the fault of an imaginary creature but it starts right there. until more of this ignorance falls away from us, we're going to be influenced by the money they spend to influence us. last week i was confronted by a friend who believes in ghosts. ghosts?! geezus h fucking christ!?! ghosts? (*winces and scratches head*) and they believe in god but they believe in all kinds of different ideas surrounding him, (doctrines and attributes and names. . .) some believe he's a woman. for some there are many gods, all without so much as an ounce of proof. you can hardly get someone to believe there's a guy on tv pulling a train by a piercing through his nose but imaginary, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient creature who created our world and our kind and lives in heaven with streets of gold and has a son who died in order to redeem our sin nature, blah-blah-blahhh? duhhhh, yep. (oh, and did i mention he's a god of love who knew how it all would turn out beforehand, including the hellfire and brimstone and gnashing of teeth part for the relative masses, but created it anyway? spiffy, huh?)

in my 20s i wanted to rage against the machine. i was mad my mother overdosed on heroin, that she was 14 when she had me and i never met my biological father. i was pissed at a lot of things i discovered. thankfully, i've arrived at a point where i recognize the impotence of mine rage. i accept those circumstances that formerly gave me visions in red. it is as it is. going forward i can make of my life whatever i want. the thing is, i have a choice. i could continue to be mad. and i don't regret having been mad, it served a purpose. but that time has passed. so now i choose acceptance of the truth and to go forward. i have a daughter. i am going to make this world better for her. i am.

and to at least a degree, this is how i have come to view race. i would we all just agreed to move past this angry stage of racism and sat down to a meal of enchiladas and collared greens and hummous and schnitzel and all the other foods of the peoples of the world. i wish we could just choose it. now.

i think it is important too, for me to mention that i love my country. i am not a patriot as such-i am opposed to nationalism. still, i recognize the good that has come from this country. i love our constitution and the bill of rights. i know we are a good people, despite the ignorance that sometimes obscures our actions.

race, belief systems, diversionary tactics all. we need to continue to fight the good fight and educate the good people of the united states so their political representatives are more representative of their/our values. simultaneously, we need to continue to overcome racism, by every means available. again, education is the key.