by Debbie Brady
I just got in from a “Know your rights training. This is probably at least the 10th one that I have attended in the last 50 years. I'm a lifelong activist. The one thing I have noticed about these talks over a fifty year span is that they all tell you that the only way to retain your rights is to ignore your contempt for the people trying to take those rights away from you. Not only do you have to ignore your contempt, but you are also must show undeserved respect for these brutes. The biggest problems I see with cops is that they are terrified of the people they sworn to protect and serve. Everyone knows that anyone who is scared shitless and has a gun is very dangerous. That is why all these trainers tell us to kiss their ass.
I don’t know about you but I have never been very good at kissing ass.
How the hell did we get here?
In more civilized societies, if you were accused of an offense against the people, you were allowed to confront your accuser and defend yourself, in the presence of your peers. Not today. Not in the good old USA.
Today if you are pissing off the powers that be, whether it’s because of what you are doing or who you are, you have to take whatever these cops want to dish out, while respectfully saying, “yes Officer” or “no Officer”, until you get your day in court, that is if they don’t just shoot you down in cold blood. Then you have to sit and listen while the cop lies his ass off and everybody believes him. Your court appointed attorney will of course tell you how sorry he is as the bailiff hauls you off to prison.
This is the fate of anyone who comes to the notice of the powers that be in any negative way, unless of course you’re rich. The filthy rich, ala Bill Gates, are a dwindling but very powerful minority. Nobody screws with them. There are many people though that are rich enough to fight off the legal problems of an errant relative if they want to. Ninety percent of these people are white, heterosexual men and women. These folks are also more than well represented at the top of the corporate and government ladders. As a class they have a lot of clout. In fact they have all the clout.
If you do not fit their cookie cutter, white bread perception of what a real American is, you not only have no clout, you have no rights!
If you don’t believe me, check out the ratio of white heterosexual men and women in prison, compared to everyone else. Never mind, the numbers are too depressing to contemplate.
Another example: When a college sports team wins or loses a big game, a riot may ensue. Police are assaulted, cars are turned over and fires are started by screaming kids running through the streets. These are usually white kids though, so the cops and judges are tolerant and few if any penalties are assessed. If however, some black folks are peacefully protesting the murder of an unarmed teenager by police, look out! The robo cops with their body armor, shields and bully clubs are out in force. These guys mean business and if you happen to be anywhere near them you are going to get hurt bad. I know, I’ve been there. And when you wake up, maybe in the hospital, your troubles are just beginning. I’ve been there too.
The thing is, we outnumber these people by a growing and large majority. Their numbers arediminishing. It's just a giant game of monopoly where the best cheaters are gathering in all the money and forcing more and more people out of the game with the resulting loss of clout. That’s it folks, you are out of the game and your life no longer has meaning. Many of us never even got a seat at the table to start the game. If you are not in the game, you have no clout and no rights. You are much less than a second class citizen, you are a target and sooner or later you will be hit. What can we do? How about something simple, like vote. I’m a firm believer in the KISS principle, Keep it Simple Stupid. This is a right most of us have, thanks to the true heroes of our experiment in Democratic Government, the men and women who fought and sometimes died to give every citizen the right to vote.
This is a battle that is ongoing and will never end as long as there are those of us who continue to vote for humanity’s best interest and oppose the winners of that elusive big game. They are the guys who scrape all that phony money into their fat greedy pockets and then decide to dictate the rules to the rest of us. We outnumber these guys by a bunch, ten to one, one hundred to one, who knows? The only thing they have is money. We have the numbers. The current US Congress, one third of the US Senate, many governors and hundreds of State Representatives were elected by 34.8% of the eligible voters in this country. Come on guys, this is exactly what these pooh bahs want.
They don’t want us to vote. The fewer of us that vote, the greater their power is. They retain their clout and we are all still targets. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being a target. So do us all a favor and VOTE! Let’s get rid of these assholes, and return power to the people, us. We are the people, not those damn clowns pushing all that phony money around on their stupid game board.
I don’t know about you but I have never been very good at kissing ass.
How the hell did we get here?
In more civilized societies, if you were accused of an offense against the people, you were allowed to confront your accuser and defend yourself, in the presence of your peers. Not today. Not in the good old USA.
Today if you are pissing off the powers that be, whether it’s because of what you are doing or who you are, you have to take whatever these cops want to dish out, while respectfully saying, “yes Officer” or “no Officer”, until you get your day in court, that is if they don’t just shoot you down in cold blood. Then you have to sit and listen while the cop lies his ass off and everybody believes him. Your court appointed attorney will of course tell you how sorry he is as the bailiff hauls you off to prison.
This is the fate of anyone who comes to the notice of the powers that be in any negative way, unless of course you’re rich. The filthy rich, ala Bill Gates, are a dwindling but very powerful minority. Nobody screws with them. There are many people though that are rich enough to fight off the legal problems of an errant relative if they want to. Ninety percent of these people are white, heterosexual men and women. These folks are also more than well represented at the top of the corporate and government ladders. As a class they have a lot of clout. In fact they have all the clout.
If you do not fit their cookie cutter, white bread perception of what a real American is, you not only have no clout, you have no rights!
If you don’t believe me, check out the ratio of white heterosexual men and women in prison, compared to everyone else. Never mind, the numbers are too depressing to contemplate.
Another example: When a college sports team wins or loses a big game, a riot may ensue. Police are assaulted, cars are turned over and fires are started by screaming kids running through the streets. These are usually white kids though, so the cops and judges are tolerant and few if any penalties are assessed. If however, some black folks are peacefully protesting the murder of an unarmed teenager by police, look out! The robo cops with their body armor, shields and bully clubs are out in force. These guys mean business and if you happen to be anywhere near them you are going to get hurt bad. I know, I’ve been there. And when you wake up, maybe in the hospital, your troubles are just beginning. I’ve been there too.
The thing is, we outnumber these people by a growing and large majority. Their numbers arediminishing. It's just a giant game of monopoly where the best cheaters are gathering in all the money and forcing more and more people out of the game with the resulting loss of clout. That’s it folks, you are out of the game and your life no longer has meaning. Many of us never even got a seat at the table to start the game. If you are not in the game, you have no clout and no rights. You are much less than a second class citizen, you are a target and sooner or later you will be hit. What can we do? How about something simple, like vote. I’m a firm believer in the KISS principle, Keep it Simple Stupid. This is a right most of us have, thanks to the true heroes of our experiment in Democratic Government, the men and women who fought and sometimes died to give every citizen the right to vote.
This is a battle that is ongoing and will never end as long as there are those of us who continue to vote for humanity’s best interest and oppose the winners of that elusive big game. They are the guys who scrape all that phony money into their fat greedy pockets and then decide to dictate the rules to the rest of us. We outnumber these guys by a bunch, ten to one, one hundred to one, who knows? The only thing they have is money. We have the numbers. The current US Congress, one third of the US Senate, many governors and hundreds of State Representatives were elected by 34.8% of the eligible voters in this country. Come on guys, this is exactly what these pooh bahs want.
They don’t want us to vote. The fewer of us that vote, the greater their power is. They retain their clout and we are all still targets. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being a target. So do us all a favor and VOTE! Let’s get rid of these assholes, and return power to the people, us. We are the people, not those damn clowns pushing all that phony money around on their stupid game board.