Browsing: Opinions

     The slavery of today is “Sophisticated Slavery”. The Blacks that roam the halls of the “government house” have no desire to interact with the brothers and sisters that may be in the poor house, the crack house, or the whore house.

     There is a generational divide between Black older voters and many of the young Black voters, who have no knowledge of civil rights, and why voting is sacred to older Black women. Many young Blacks don’t know the history of lynching, homes being bombed, and communities being massacred for the right to vote.

      Maybe there won’t be a copycat mass shooting to grotesquely mark the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. But just as we can be certain there will be another solar eclipse, it’s only a matter of time before a hail of bullets will block out the sun for another community somewhere in America. What’s also true? Expect the shooter to be male, probably white. 

     April 15 – 21 is National Week of Conversation, created “for those seeking ways to turn down the heat of polarization, and … engage in activities that build bridges across differences.”

     Ariyaratne founded Sarvodaya–Sri Lanka’s largest nongovernmental organization (NGO). Sarvodaya, which roughly translates to the uplift of all, has the noble vision of “building a just, sustainable, compassionate social order that fulfills the basic human needs of the community through individual and collective awakening.” It’s a vision combining Buddhist and Gandhian principles Truth (satya), Nonviolence (ahimsa) and Selflessness (pararthkami).

     It’s the forgettable quotes, especially in regard to ongoing war, that may be the most dangerous, because all they do is solidify a collective sense of normal. My term for it is “accepted insanity.” We have the technological and psychological capacity to kill not simply thousands or even millions of people but the whole human race, but let’s talk about it in terms of strategy, tactics and public relations! Let’s talk about it as though we’re covering a bunch of 10-yer-old boys throwing stones. Which one’s going to win?

    Regrettably,  women have suffered denial  of their inalienable rights  by white men for Centuries. Sadly, the resistance to defend women’s reproductive rights  faces constant roadblocks. SCOTUS gleefully overturned  Roe v. Wade. Now Arizona’s Supreme Court reaffirmed an 1864 law, which banned abortions  at all stages. Farmers controlled and labeled their farm animals as livestock and poultry. Republicans at the federal and state levels  are passing laws literally treating  women  as livestock and poultry.

Money Won’t Change You

     E2 is an organization of business leaders pushing policies that are both good for the economy and good for the environment. As of last week, they report at least 301 major clean energy projects have been announced in 41 states and Puerto Rico since passage of the IRA.

     Nuclear weapons won’t go away, the cynics — the souls in despair — tell us. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You can’t, as Gen. James E. Cartwright, former head of U.S. Strategic Command, once put it, “un-invent nuclear weapons.” So apparently we’re stuck with them until the “big oops” happens and humanity becomes extinct. Until then: Modernize, modernize, modernize. Threaten, threaten, threaten.