US AND THEM

I have a neighbor named Jim. He owns his home, where he's lived for 71 of his 76 years. 2008 was the first year of his long life that he made more than $10,000. And that was from SSI, the minimum the government provides for those who have not paid enough into the system. He receives food stamps and Medicaid paid, and continues to pay, for his 17 prescriptions and the plastic surgery required after having cancer removed from his face. Jim is White.

When I first met him and told him my name was Jose, he immediately asked me if I was Puerto Rican. After trying to explain the concept of a mixed heritage to no avail, we moved on. He'll still occasionally refer to me as Puerto Rican a year after we've known each other. Jim also likes to use the words nigger and colored when referring to Black folks, to include the president. And without a drop of hate in his voice or demeanor. It's so ingrained in him that he can't see the contradiction of using these words of hate in one breath, and in the next saying how every Black person he's ever actually met has been a good guy. Even the one who married his daughter.

Jim is a Republican and he basically has an IV of the kool-aid strapped to his arm. From segregation through the Reagan-crack years, welfare reform, COPS premiering on FOX, he's been staring at the TV and accepting these stereotypes as the truth. The only common factor between Jim and the Republican party is his skin color. He refers to the Welfare Office as the gift shop, but received a significant amount from an office he hasn't contributed to.

The fact that Jim takes what he's given for granted, while demeaning minorities for receiving the same is a common internal dispute. Jim feels like he "deserves" it, while others don't. He's never earned anything. His home was passed down through the generations. From a time when it was illegal for minorities to own property; Not long after they were actually considered property.

I know Jim grew up in a different era, so I don't hold it against him. He's in his last days; he can live them the way he wants. But he is a window into the past. And his programming needs to be understood, so we can counteract it and progress. He's a good guy; it's the subtle, institutionalized Racism that's the culprit.

Lately, I've been hearing the argument that it's no longer and Black/White thing; it's a class thing. I agree and disagree. It is a class thing. But it's also a Race thing. It's not either/or. It's both. We can't skip race to get to class just because class affects White people. Class cannot be dealt with until the Races are united within. Only then can we fight our true enemies. When we begin to focus on our similarities more than our differences, we will begin to understand and respect one another.

There's definitely a Class war going on, but our collective ignorance of history leaves us confused and frustrated. Targeting those that are in our exact socio-economic positions and keeping us divided. To be conquered by the Bankers.

We've been tricked into believing that (unregulated)Capitalism is good for us. Us, being the bottom 90% on the wealth scale. When everything's for profit, the common good is sacrificed. And as absurd as the phrase "bottom 90%" seems to be, it's the truth. The wealth gap is beyond the average citizen's comprehension. For example, in 2007, CEOs averaged 866 times as much as minimum wage employees.




Ben Franklin said "The inability of colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George the III and the international bankers was the PRIME reason for the Revolutionary War."

After Woodrow Wilson realized what he had done by signing the The Federal Reserve into existence in 1913, he regrettably said "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."

We are on the edge of life as we know it. Although many people, Black and White, have been living in depression-like conditions for years and decades, only now that it has "trickled up" to another class has it sparked such outrage and public disapproval. Alas, the outcry is here. People are awakening to the truths of money and the evil at its root. The Federal Reserve, as a private corporation, lends the US Government money, with interest. Then through taxing the people the debt is paid upon, but never fully satisfied. That's because the Federal Reserve also prints our money, and they never print as much money as they lend.

That's a very remedial explanation of how the Banking system works, but its intricacies are not the main concern. Right now, the concern is the tax money we are promising to pay is being given right back the the Bankers. In effect, never lending us the money in the first place, but requiring us to pay it back. Twice.

There's a difference between a Human and a Person. According to the Uniform Commercial Code, person means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity.

We have to stop being People and start being Human.