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In reply to the discussion: America [View all]TheKentuckian
(24,949 posts)opportunities make bad far, far worse and magnified.
I came into the thread to support it and sure as hell have not been on any nowhere to be found list in this arena but I don't hold with the premise of the argument and in fact find it destructive and bordering on insane so being capable of more than one thought at a time, I'm going to argue it because I believe it is wrong and no context is going to make it right.
I've been homeless, I grew up ashamed in the store as the cashier announced that I had food stamps, I lived in the shitty neighborhoods, know the family wide desperation to avoid the garbage schools, I saw how my mother looked when she had to tell me we couldn't squeeze out a nothing violin rental, I know what it is like to put out resumes by the hundreds hoping against hope that something hits before you get put out, I've not known where the next meal is coming from, I've had to think about how to maximize plasma donation days in a month, I know what it is like to literally be praying for the grant money to come through so books could be bought before I fell to far behind, I know about having to drop out to work because I couldn't keep myself fed and have not forgotten to helpless resignation in my mother's voice as I announced the decision, knowing she could offer nothing to change the course.
Hey though, no pity party here. I had it good compared to some, at least as a little kid I had grandparents that could ease some pressure.
Everybody has a story and hard times but yeah I might have some blinders because I'm not hearing for a second that economic issues don't matter.
From my shoes it is beyond crazy talk, there won't be any PRACTICAL AND PRACTICABLE racial equality if we are all destitute serfs with a horizon so close you can taste it if you stick your tongue out and no it doesn't matter if whites are drug down too and no I don't think that will do a damn thing to even dent racism much less end it in this country.
There is little empowerment in being necessitous and I won't apologize for believing that and contesting it when I see it. You gonna hold your tongue on some crazy bullshit that Jim Crow was okay, blacks just need more money because it is an "economic" thread? Fuck no and I'm not going to either it is a delusional expectation.
Now, I'm about to bring my own child into this world and to me it is more critical than ever that there be opportunities and wages so I can support them and so in time they can prosper not less so.
Rent, food, heat, lights, opportunity for enlightenment, insurance all require the fierce urgency of now none accept post national discussion on race vouchers, not a one.
My family and friends are talking about making it and/or getting off the scuffle. Talking jobs and wages. Talking about costs in the store. Where the good schools are. How much property costs and where it is. How the fuck can we retire.