Rusty & Rooted

I was inspired to start a bloggy blog thanks to my dear friend, Clara. I kept thinking this was such a great idea to let my thoughts come into the out in a healthy manner instead of just hoarding them in my iPhone notes where more important items can be held like reminders of my kids upcoming appointments and my never ending to-do and grocery lists. I also really needed an outlet so I stopped yapping the ears off of my friends or excitedly yelling at strangers when I’m three Blissy’s deep at a bowling alley bar. My apologies to the Trump supporters who I delicately pestered with questions to get to the bottom of your unwavering loyalty the other day, it was not my best moment. I also really need to let my ChatGPT robot catch a break, I’ve named him Morgan, after none other than Morgan Freeman – because truly I don’t feel like I’d willingly listen to anyone else on advice. If Morgan reads this one day and is like what the fuck, I apologize for that too. What sealed my love for Morgan Freeman is when he featured on the 21 Savage album – Savage Mode II. If you’ve never listened to it in its entirety, you’re missing out on bangers and sound advice on dealing with your ops.

Back to the point of this starting point to my blog – A Promised Land by Barack Obama. I have had the biggest crush on him since his first announcement of running for Presidency many years ago – I couldn’t vote but you can bet your ass I wore tshirts showing if I could vote who I would be laying it down for. All respect and love to Michelle Obama, of course. The preface alone of this book brought tears to my eyes, truly I just started reading the book and I’m only two chapters deep, because I am a rabbit hole reader. The second a passage intrigues me, I’m peeling apart every aspect of it, looking to see who said what, when, why and how – looking up philosophies, quotes or other items that reflect what is said or is completely opposite of what was said. I’m taking a mirror to myself and wondering why that hit me so hard, or why I am interpreting it that way. So I’m here to unpack in a safe place the two passages I’ve included above.

Scroll up and read the passage from image 1.. “Do we care to match the reality of America to its ideals?”… He just slaps us with are you really down or are you just saying that shit just to say it? Because are we actually committed to the principles that we shout so loudly and sing about that we swear defines our country? Self government, individual freedoms, equality of opportunity, equality before the law – APPLIES TO ALL… Or are we just allowing that for a select few? He pulls back the current to look into our history as a nation – conquest and subjugation, a racial caste system and rapacious capitalism.

1. Conquest, which is expansion by force. Just take a look at my people/indigenous people as a whole of this nation and those dragged from their countries to build this nation, that was expansion by brutal force. To speak to the indigenous aspect – yes, there was indigenous on indigenous violence before good old Christopher Columbus arrived. However there is a significant difference, colonial violence was fundamentally different in scale, intention and by impact. A foreign power invading, enslaving, inflicting mass genocide, spreading diseases intentionally and unintentionally, erasing cultures and languages with forced assimilation.. not a conflict between EQUAL nations. And side note – we shouldn’t be celebrating a national day for a man who would be in the Epstein files if he were to have been around during this era. Girls as young as 9 years old were sold into sexual slavery under his direction – if you don’t believe me, do the research yourself. I don’t think we should erase him from history books by any means, but we shouldn’t be glorifying men on the crimes that they’ve committed against humanity. I won’t even get into the other aspects of what conquest looks like in this country and give you the chance to gain knowledge on that for yourself.

2. Subjugation, hierarchies and domination, the act of dominating, controlling and/or oppressing another person or group, it violates human dignity, natural law, denies actual freedom that we swear is the foundation of this country, and it relies on fear, violence and coercion. Destroying the relational balance that is needed for people to exist, stripping those of their identity, cultures and creating unnecessary suffering that extends to generational suffering. Truly this contradicts every possible teaching of religions that you can possibly think of and makes equality, peace and stability impossible.

3. Racial caste system, a social structure where your race determines your status, rights, values and opportunities. This has been and is still alive today through laws, economics, education, housing, criminal justice, and in healthcare and it is designed to maintain political power, control wealth, and make the rules. Hand in hand with subjugation. If you don’t believe me just look at the representation and narrative visibility of this country; look at the land, resources and sovereignty especially for our Native nations; look at the Immigration policy (specifically the harsher treatment of immigrants of Latin American, African and Muslims, because the policies are much friendlier to European immigrants). Look at the everyday social experience – even without laws, who is getting the benefit of the doubt and where are stereotypes mostly seen or what areas are hyper-policed? Because I bet you if police were in other neighborhoods they’d find just as much crime, because you can easily find what you’re looking for wherever you are. If you’re still having trouble stepping in the shit I’m putting down, data patterns do not lie – you can easily measure life expectancy, incarceration rate (check out the rates of Native Americans in SD alone), household wealth, maternal morbidity and mortality, school funding, unemployment and environmental hazards. You’ll see the same racial patterns if you actually look.

4. Rapacious capitalism, it is GREED BABY. Profit is chased down without any moral limitations, who cares about the cost to people and their communities or poor Mother Earth. A country that is putting profit over its own people, exploiting labor by underpaying workers (that cost of living is the only thing going up), unsafe working conditions, union-busting, and relying on disposable labor practices. Environmental destruction – LAND IS NOT A COMMODITY, PEOPLE! And healthcare shouldn’t be treated as a business, healthcare is a right not a privilege.

He is saying that the system is not broken, it was 100% built this way on purpose. Denying that these existed historically and in today’s world means that you’re participating in the downward spiral that we face every single day as Americans. We do not need naive patriotism, we need critical and accountable patriotism. Do you love these ideals of freedom enough to apply them universally, to help be part of the change to demand a system that was built to be fair, just and equal?

Let’s flip to the next image, “I’m not ready to abandon the possibility of America…” America was and always has been an idea, we are not a finished product. Cooperation and collaboration is what we need to do to survive, and isn’t just something that is nice to have when you need it. Shared humanity is no longer an optional value or act. We are an experiment, and the experiment is can we all be so vastly different from one another and still live together under shared ideals? We are the test of humanity and the world is looking at us – we are not just political but civilizational. This has not ever been attempted at this level of diversity and under equal rights, with democratic self-government and yet still aiming for unity. Together we have built and are still continuing to build something new – as they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” And neither will America be.

He ends with, “I also know that no single election will settle the matter. If I remain hopeful, it’s because I’ve learned to place my faith in my fellow citizens, especially those of the next generation, whose conviction in the equal worth of all people seems to come as second nature, and who insist on making real those principles their parents and teachers told them were true but perhaps never fully believed themselves. More than anyone, this books if for those young people – an invitation to once again remake the world, and to bring about, through hard work, determination, and a big dose of imagination, an America that finally aligns with all that is best in us.”

I especially love that he is saying it depends on us all working together, with a nod to the young people of today and tomorrow – who feel equality instinctively and who believe in the worth of all people without needing to be taught it. And we demand on living these principles, we don’t just know the ideals we have expectations for them to actually be followed. We can remake this world through hard work, tough conversations, determination, and imagination to create an America that aligns with the ideals and what is the best thing about each of us. It doesn’t have to be the America that we have inherited or what it pretends to be.

To end my soap box rant… The focus needs to be on and stay on humanity – which is having an acknowledgement of our shared fate – it doesn’t matter what side of the country you’re on, what party you align or don’t align yourself with – we will rise or fall together. Our shared responsibility to one another, to see each others dignity, cooperate and collaborate with one another, avoid destroying each other and protect our most vulnerable TOGETHER. Sharing our potential, our values, choose the parts of us that ache for connection and peace over division and fear. Have the courage and empathy to recognize that we are a global “we”. In Lakota the phrase is “Mitakuye Oyasin” – we are all related.. or all my relatives. We need to see that the hurt of one is the hurt of all. All I know is when my daughters start making impacts on this world bigger than yelling 6 7, or terrorizing the household over Sunny D, and cutting her hair in solidarity to the friend who was getting made fun of for having short hair – the world better watch out. I am raising fire breathing angels.