“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representative of the oppressing class are to oppress them” – Karl Marx.
African Americans and Latin Americans have been oppressed for centuries, and yet still has there not been any change. Many people of the United States blame the individual for being oppressed, jailed, or murdered. These ethnicities and races are still oppressed by the system. Not in a matter of slavery or segregation, but in the matter of poverty, discrimination and classism. I agree that wars and revolutions have made change over the past years, but not enough change that we are able to stand by the 14th amendment that guarantees civil rights for all Americans.
Poverty has been a huge effect around the world, but specifically in the city of San Francisco. According to a US Economic Inequality article, statistics show that the 1% of rich Americans are getting richer and the poor are even more poor. Most distribution of wealth has been going to the 1% of business owners and homeowners. African Americans and Latin Americans have been fooled to believe that they are not in poverty. These statistics show that Americans have been thinking that the United States’ wealth has been equally distributed to all classes, while many people of the United States are living in dumpsters, under bridges, or in homeless resource centers. Poverty would be rare if the government would help the people who need the money instead of giving it to the people who already have it, who then purchase unnecessary items.
Discrimination has been seen these past couple of years in many situations and there is data shown to prove it as well as personal experiences. Every day a young Hispanic or Black male is being arrested or killed because they look suspicious or gang related. Not everybody is a criminal, but also not everybody is innocent. A young Latino male was given a chance to be freed, having all charges dropped, by snitching on three people. Seems like a bribe right? He did not take it because he would rather be taken to jail then later be killed or hurt for ratting out someone else. This shows how corrupt police can be. Although not everybody will believe this, we will never know what the “truth” is, because there is no evidence of the police officer saying this. It is statistically shown that African Americans and Latino’s makeup 31% of the United States’ population, yet 61% of African Americans and Latinos are incarcerated (American Individualism & Personal Responsibility: Are Our Children Being Pushed Into Prison?).That is how this system works: Lock up all these people that are the future of this world and country, and keep the people out that are capable of destroying what was once a great country.
We all believe that Barack Obama is working on making the United States a better place; at least that’s what we are told to believe. But the truth and reality is that Obama is the chief of this system who defends and enforces these laws and is enforcing poverty and classism even though it does not seem to. Obama has presided in part over the deportations of immigrants. Through revolution this can be changed. “Fight the power, and Transform the People, for Revolution!” (America Is Still a Goddamn Nightmare WE NEED A REVOLUTION! By Carl Dix.) We need to build a better future and emancipate humanity to improve this world for future generations. A world that humanity can be grateful for and a world that can appreciate us, the people who will be their ancestors that left them a better world and country with huge opportunities.
Many blame the individual for its actions and consequences, but we as people do not realize the lies and power of the system. Blinded by its lies, people tend to believe that the system is supporting people in need. People are blinded by the power that keeps the people poor and uneducated, and they are blind to the lies that classify them as much less important than the one percent. Wake up and realize. City College of San Francisco is on the urge to being closed because the system saw Latin Americans and African Americans finally achieving and earning the education needed to represent something in this country, and it needs to be stopped. We need to stop the discrimination, classism, and poverty so the future generations can live a better life and not be taught to discriminate and segregate themselves into groups and classes.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
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