Archbishop Hélder Pessoa Câmara famously stated, “When I give the poor food they call me a saint, when I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.”
If you don’t believe him, look at how the Republicans attack President Obama. Mitt Romney and his followers believe that Obama is a socialist. They try to tell us that his views will turn America into a dictatorship and would deprive the people of their freedom. Let’s imagine that America.
EXCLUSIVE BLOG: The Despicable Act Of Paying For Prisoners! By Russell Simmons
1 percent of us would control the majority of this nation’s wealth. We could institute laws and policies that would fill our prisons with one or two racial groups under the guise of fighting crime and drug addiction. We could have the appearance of a free media that is controlled by a small fraction of people that we use to scare our people into supporting policies against their interest. We could spend billons on wars that protect and further the economic interest and goals of the 1 percent, but claim we don’t have enough money for education and healthcare for those who can’t afford it … Oh sh*t.
EXCLUSIVE BLOG: Respect My Revolutionary Gangsta!
This has been America since Kennedy’s magic bullets sprayed pink mist on the windshield of his convertible. I can say Obama is genuinely invested in ensuring that everybody in America has the same chance at the American dream. Aren’t those the ideals that this country was founded on, yet so seldom adheres to?
Obama represents those of us who can’t speak for themselves. They don’t own any news stations or newspapers. They don’t have lobbyists. Romney and people like him do, which gives them a voice.
Unfortunately those lacking these luxuries don’t have the same interest of people like Romney. We want education, and they want to keep us dumb because God forbid, the poor learn they are being oppressed and can actually do something about it. If you think that it’s far fetched, ask yourself: why did they prevent slaves from reading and writing? Then ask, why do the poor in this country have one of the worst education systems in first world countries?
One of the reasons is to put them in prisons to make a profit off their labor, which is legal modern day slavery. If you think slavery in America is outlawed, remember the 13th amendment only banned slavery if it wasn’t for punishment for a crime.
Federal Prison Industries, also known as UNICOR, produces goods and services that generate $2 billion in revenue annually. The average wage of a prisoner working for UNICOR is 73 cents per hour. That’s 50 cents more than what Nike pays its workers in Vietnam.
We have 500,000 people in jail right now. It is in the private sectors to create an environment conducive for incarceration amongst the disposable poor. When you take into account that 82 percent of inmates are high school dropouts, you can see why they want to keep you dumb as well.
When the oppressed are kept ignorant they are unable to recognize they are even being oppressed, so certainly they remain unaware of what they can do to end their subjugation. The answer to that is unity and self-improvement.
Just because the system is not in your favor does not absolve you from the responsibility to take advantage of the opportunities you do have to make life better for yourself, as well as those around you. I know it’s substantially more difficult to create success coming from an economically deprived environment, but if you dedicate your life to success, success will come. It is also your responsibility to encourage behavior conducive to success.
That being said, it is the responsibility of the government to protect those who they were elected to represent. Hell, even Ronald Reagan said that. When they are not, it is the responsibility of the people to unify and have their voices be heard.
When they ask the Mexican for his papers in Arizona, he is being oppressed. When the white guy in Minnesota works his ass off to earn enough money to come home to an eviction notice, he is being oppressed. When they go into Middle Eastern and African countries to steal their natural resources, they’re being oppressed. When they go to the Philippines and pay them 5 cents an hour to produce a product producing billions in profits, they are being oppressed.
We all must band together to destroy this cycle of deprivation, ignorance, and oppression. Whether you’re Black, White, Asian, or Latino – if you’re poor you shall continue to be a subjugated unless we band together to create a voice so loud, those in control have no choice but to listen. Remember there are no race problems, only our problems. One Earth, one blood.
–Garvey Ashhurst Follow Me On Twitter
Garvey Ashhurst is a young up and coming poet, songwriter, and blogger. He is the reason that the system is afraid of a black man in a library. His aim is not to be Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, or Ghandi, but he hopes to make them proud by keeping their ideals alive through his lifestyle. He hopes that one day young brothers will say, “I want to be the next him.”
