The More Things Change

As the old saying goes: the more things change, the more things stay the same. This certainly holds true for our nation in regards to progressing towards equaliity. When Barrack Obama was elected as the first Black President of the United States in 2008, many tried, erroneously, to proclaim it the begining of a post racial society. They couldn't have been more wrong. I asked how much progress had been made, genuinley, when, although Obama was President, young Black men like Oscar Grant were still getting shot in the back while in handcuffs, by Police, in public? Has "progress" been made since the Civil Rights movement, which really was an extension for equal rights fought for since our country's early history? I think one can make the argument that there has been some progress. Now instead of Mexicans and Blacks being segregated in parks, movie theatres, and schools, from Whites, now they get to be segregated in prisons. To say that we live in a post
racial society where everyone is equal and has the opportunity to pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps, is a fallacy. Not only that, but it's a Red Herring to distract from the real issues of inequality. I don't want my ethnic heritage to be denied or ignored, it's not what was being asked for, the point is not being held back as a result of it. There are still serious issues regarding not only race but economic class, that need to be addressed and rectified in this great work in progress that is our nation. Perhaps as a result of the declining public education system, which I fear is by design as a way of the Republicans keeping the populus ignorant enough to support and vote for them against their own best interest, that we have lost sight of history and are therefore are doomed to repeat it. From the blatantly racist laws of Arizona regarding racial profiling and the attack on Ethnic Studies, to the scapegoating of illegal immigrants in
Californian politics, the Tea bagger movement, the attempt of Texas education officials to censor the truth in textbooks about slavery and civil rights, to the expansion of modern day slavery: prisons. All of the gains fought for and paid for with lives to move this nation towards the principles it was founded on, are now under attack with a desperate zeal. The more things are progressing, the more they are being attacked as an attempt to go back in time, an attempt to be blind to the truth that has been exposed through the struggle and sacrifice by those who sought to lead our nation towards the rhetoric it was founded upon. So it becomes neccessary for us as a nation who truly value the vision of what this country is suppossed to be, to fight now as before, perhaps even more, to make those dreams embedded in the conscience of our nation a reality. I've seen the past and I am not going back.

Motecuzomatzin

If Crying Were a Crime

I have know for some time that police and firefighter contracts must be revisited and revised. I have known that there are some majors that need to be addressed with the department and the way they police, in particular minority communities. But I am appalled by the new low they have slipped to with their citywide billboards. One says " welcome to California's 2nd most dangerous city" and another " Dear Stockton residents, we can no longer gurantee your safety." Which is it, if they were providing gurantees of safety then why are we the 2nd most dangerous city, on their watch? The most troublesome sign is one that uses a tally of Stockton's murders so far as. The undertones are threatening as if to say more trouble is on they way from which only they can protect us. The police do no exist to protect, or prevent, they are reactionary. All of the police in the world can not change the crime in Stockton as long as we have 18% unemployment, 24% below the poverty line, and a 54% drop out rate. Their contracts are plush as it is, yet they expect to be immune from the effects of an economically troubled tax base that provides for their salaries. We cannot exist as a city soley to support police and firefighters, the mojaority of which don't even live in the city they've sworn to serve and protect. Their behavior in using Stockton's misfortune, as well as the victims of homicide, as a bargaining chip is unprofessional and unbecoming. They have a choice to take slight cuts and concessions in lieu of layoffs and last time they chose layoffs, then cried like it was forced on them. So the question remains, are they more concerned with upholding their oaths and protecting the public or their pockets?