Turn and See Us

And so it goes...white supremacy still, in the state’s Capitol.  And this is nothing new of course.  And it exist because we let it exist.

Fear....that’s right fear...and neglect..NEGLECT.  A long time ago there was a book named “Invisible Man” about how whites did not see people of color.  If you want an example, just check yourself next time you are next to a homeless person.

You don’t make eye contact, you look away...

That is the way white’s handled interactions with people of color (not just African Americans) for a long time in this country.  It wasn’t that you did anything negative to “them” (other than making sure you moved to an area where your kids didn’t go to school with “those people”), it was that you flat ignored them.

So you, ignored them.  You looked the other way as gang violence escalated making mean streets deadly.  You looked the other way as war on drugs was passed, supported by Democrats and Republicans, that threw millions into prison, for victimless crimes; destroying families.

And you supported Charter Schools that cleverly and cynically sponsored “new approaches” that just happened to segregate children from each other more than even during Jim Crowe days.    And even more brutally, cynical white corporate elites encouraged in people of color that segregated Charter Schools were better, after enacting policies that emasculated inner city public schools; leaving them cesspools of failure with poor funding and even worse personnel practices.  We should have long ago paid teachers in inner city segregated school more, and rotated staff every seven or so years, because dealing with the broken and ignored, the abused and yes, ,poor, exacts a toll on the teacher and the staff.

Every teacher in California needs to spend at least seven years in a “tough” school.  I did...and it is what prompts me to write this piece right now...I have looked into America’s ugliest side and seen myself.

Sacramento is the most diverse city in Californian, more so than even L.A.  And it has made some strides in finally becoming a city of opportunity for all.

But it has 3000 homeless, it has Black Lives Matter that is very active, because the Sheriff and City Police Departments still discriminate against people of color.  And the communities are angry.

And the communities still are allowed, even encouraged to move further apart...Sacramento sprawls to the east, north and south.  It sprawls maninly to leave the “inner city” and get away from “them”.  It sprawls to Woodland and even Winters for heavens sake still escaping.  Always running...always.

And the State Capitol sits in Sacramento.  And the Capitol is dominated by Democrats, not Republicans who are now the party of racists, but by Democrats who are diverse but still cannot get this thing right.  That’s right, Republicans are the party of racists.

And people of color are keeping track.  And if Democrats don’t finally start to move on this monster, our democracy is over.

It is the running....it is in the FACT that we have to stop the long commutes...our environment can’t take it anymore.

My Naive American brothers and sisters screamed as they were annihilated that it was the land that would strike back, that nature would strike back.  Native Americans did not hold personal lands, they shared land in common.  The idea was that the land was the Great Mystery’s and the People had a sacred duty to preserve it, because it was the source of life, and God, the Great Spirit, (whatever you call it) was right there, right there in the trees, in the clear streams the mighty rivers.  If man destroyed that sacred trust he/she would suffer a reckoning that could destroy mankind.

And that is EXACTLY what the “white supremacist based culture has done”!

When?  When will we stop running?  It isn’t working.  The sprawl has the horrible effect of adding to the CO2 that is being poured into the atmosphere reducing our climate to Pleistocene levels; that will kill all of us.  The heat in the summer, in poor areas, means adding to the anger; as long hot summers drive people to violence.  The heat gets us all to go inside, to avoid the heat, to hide....not just from the heat from each other.

We all sit in little boxes EVERY DAMNED DAY for hours....to get to and from work...and then wonder why we can’t get along with others?

We are NOT designed to sit in little boxes...

We have to stop running.....stop.....turn and face it....it is our prejudices (and I’m talking to everyone here) but do as President Obama said and preached, stop running...start loving and take a risk.

See me...look at me...touch me...trust me...realize that person you look away from or ignore is really you....that without love  and Community there is nothing.

I worked with hundreds of people who did just that.  In Del Paso Heights there were teachers who had been working and working everyday to educated, to teach love and understanding.   In Elk Creek there were white teachers who broke they hearts helping kids who lived in a cesspool of drugs, violence and federal government neglect.   I am proud that I was part of that everywhere I went; not that I did enough, I didn’t....but I will tell you true, I did a hell of a lot more than most.

But just enough will never be truly enough....

We inherited a racist mean society that once enslaved millions of human beings and killed millions more to get their land.  It does not sit lightly on me that my great great grandfather was lynched for being married to a white woman.....that you just don’t excuse.....that you just don’t ignore....that haunts me everyday.

But what that does do, is to slam me squarely in the camp that people of color (I pass easily for white) find themselves everyday....the lynching effected my grandfather and father up to the day they died...

I know, I know, it was over 100 years ago.

Ask a Native American, as a Japanese American, ask a African American if they have forgotten....you don’t.  Ask them why “Black Lives Matter” and LISTEN TO THEM DON’T LISTEN TO YOUR FEARS!

Many forgive, and I have to a point...but when you see what still is in America...when you look at who we just elected President....we just refuse to once again give in to IT...white supremacy.

And we are paying an enormous price; ironically in our climate of all things; suburbia’s sprawl is killing us....and it happens to get away from “them”...

The Great Mystery is working in environmental ways to teach us that we must stop now....we must turn and face ourselves, and find the goodness that lurks in all of our hearts..

Now, at this point in OUR existence, we have no choice...We change or we die.

The Reckoning!