Violence and crime will not ever go away unless the United States and the world deal now with the growing inequities in our country and the world. The extraordinary, systemic accent to keep the money machines well-oiled and spewing dollars at keeping the so-called world order in its orbit of destruction is blatantly responsible and can in now way be justified.
As poverty, famine, drought, and declining resources for the most vulnerable in the world grows exponentially; no one, not one person can look away and think that it is reversible if nothing is done.
One cannot look at the fires in California, the rivers and streams drying up, the ever-increasing force of hurricanes and tornadoes, and multi-billion dollar losses in just the United States alone and still believe that wearing blinders will drown out the reality of what is happening in the world today unless they are living in total denial. The blinders must come off.
I wish I could say that I was preaching to the choir, but I cannot find the choir.
As a multi-rape victim and survivor, and also one who has suffered multiple break-ins where theft occurred, fraud committed against me, and also been victimized because of the effects of discrimination against working women, even just the beginning of this sentence ought to cause instant pause and be chilling for those who are reading my viewpoint.
Having been caught in the Six-Day Arab/Israeli War in 1967, and seeing the endless wars and covert United States military actions that have been ongoing throughout my life, my viewpoint ought to be scaring the hell out of you, and its strength and forcefulness is intentional.
Of course, we do not want to live in crime-inhabited neighborhoods. Of course, we want to feel that our police departments are there to protect and serve. Of course, we want the police to be part of our neighborhoods with competent and caring community policing, preferably with members of the police departments living in our neighborhoods.
But the years and years increase in the militarization of police departments is certainly a huge factor in the ongoing battle for a balance that does not exist. And I know have known friends over the years who have been brutalized by the police—I was racially profiled myself right here in the Berkshires several years ago.
We must connect all of the dots right now to climate catastrophe, the ongoing proliferation of nuclear weapons, the war profiteering, and the war-mongering that just does not stop.
The children, the elderly, the disabled, and the most vulnerable are on an ever-growing downward slide on a slippery slope that grows steeper and steeper with no guardrails to grab onto; this crisis must be acknowledged.
What does it take for those in positions of power, those in elected positions, those in government bureaucracies, all being paid for by our tax dollars or through the fruits of our underpaid labor, to just simply and unequivocally do their jobs?
Everyone must take some role in standing up now. Protests are important. While signs have their place, the day-in, day-out work, and lifetime commitments to reverse the consequences of the world we are now inhabiting just has to take precedence right now. Voting is so very important, but it is meaningless unless there are candidates who are committed to doing the people’s work. This means candidates who believe in transparency, who do not line their own pockets, and candidates who believe in public service instead of staying entrenched in positions they believe they own while reaping benefits they have not earned nor deserve.
It is all about the children and grandchildren, and their lives will be a living hell if they even survive the horror show that is taking place right now and growing by the minute.
Who is listening? Are you?
