"Officially" black lives have mattered in the U.S. since the mid 1960's. However Senator Tom Cotton has revealed something recently so hideous that his statement qualifies everything Americans have been told about race relations in their past
I learned for the first time today that our lawmakers believe it is okay for Capitalists to deny civil liberties to an entire class of people for the good of the country. A Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, referred to slavery as an "evil" that was necessary for the U.S. to employ in order to make America into what it is today.
Let that sink in. Do any questions arise? How does that sentiment inform the struggle for civil liberties throughout history and at this moment in America? Does Capital still have the ability to convince lawmakers to enslave entire classes for the good of the nation? What answer did you get?
Senator Cotton is a champion of the idea. If there are more like him making "official" decisions today Americans have yet another worry to add to the life threatening COVID-19 pandemic, and employment worries, and general fear of what the Republicans, Democrats and Donald Trump have been able to do and are still capable of doing when left to their own uninterrupted plans. "Up shits creek" is an apt description of the situation the government has provided for us to live and move and have our being in July of 2020.
Legally since 1964 the U.S. "officially" and reluctantly agreed to grant Black People civil liberties. That's the "official" position. Day to day reality has shown a much different picture right up to the present day. The murder of George Floyd while in police custody has been determined by YouTube to be too terrible to watch unless you are forewarned and agree to being horrified by what you see. You can watch it here (click )if you want to see it but you must click on their disclaimer..
Watching George Floyd have his life taken from him by Minneapolis Police Officers in full view of numerous citizens actively photographing them reveals several things. The first that comes to mind is that the officers involved didn't care that they were being photographed during the killing process. Second is that in reality not much has changed on Main Street regarding race relations in the U.S. since 1955 when Emmett Till was murdered. The third thing that dawned on me is that Donald Trump has been the most race baiting President in recent memory.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. are Donald Trumps own making. He could have behaved responsibly. Instead he wanted to protect the stock market from suffering harm. As a result his plans involved placing the welfare of Americans at risk. So far almost 150k Americans have died from COVID-19. Under the guiding hand of the very stable genius Donald Trump: Georgia, Texas and Florida are seeing the disease destroy the economies of those states and laying waste to their populations.
The irony is that what the President has done is to singlehandedly tank the economy and produce the conditions for social revolt all at the same time.
While it is interesting to note the irony of him screwing things up just opposite of what he wanted to accomplish, the Capitalist class is trying to force Americans back into dangerous workplaces using the cudgel of starvation, hardship and homelessness to make going back to work something the people would be willing to risk their lives to avoid. The lawmakers appear to be right on board.
So, back to Senator Cottons sentiments about embracing evil. His argument was that the U.S. needed slavery and profit more than the slaves needed liberty and justice. My question is this. Is the State still guided by those priorities? Can we expect a class of people to have their rights taken away so the wealthy class can prosper as was done in the past by the founding fathers?
Can we expect help from the Trump Administration? Will Americans be forced by extremity to take on dangerous employment and end up losing their lives for the sake of the economy? That appears to be the model at work in the "cotton patch" of Senator Cotton's mind. We should know what to expect from him and where his loyalties lie.
The government could easily help WE THE PEOPLE. But so far the welfare of The People has not been one of the Trump Administration's primary concerns, to state the obvious. In the past Americans have thought that losing your liberty is worse than losing your life. I don't know if they still feel that way anymore.
I watched this documentary on the life of Ghandi last night. Click the previous sentence. Did you watch it? What do you think?
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