I, like many people here in this country grew up in what we would consider today idyllic conditions. I grew up in a time when running the neighborhood was encouraged, mom didn’t want us underfoot all day. We left the house, played in the yard, the neighbors yards, creeks all sorts of places, any place but the home mom was cleaning. Growing up we had a firm understanding that we were Irish Catholics, and that we went to school and church with the catholics, they were our community. There was always a little tension with our neighbors, it never occurred to me it was our Religion.
It wasn’t until well into my adulthood that I realized that there were other worlds out there. As a young american woman in the 80’s the door to the world was opened like it had never been before. A generation ahead of us had cleared the way- or so we had thought - for our equality in the workplace, the home and society.
This is where I entered into the world. I entered the world believing that the work had already been done. The fore-fathers wrote the constitution, the civil rights movement took care of the racial divide and now everybody is equal and lets all get along.
Needless to say I found myself so un prepared for the external world that this developed into a 13 year marriage with a Shi’ite Iraqi Arab. The America I learned in those 13 years would scare the living shit out of most people I know today. The truth about what I saw with my own eyes on how policies are carried out in the name of America, and if not America, Israel’s name, and America’s dollars. The America I saw disillusioned me as it has most of the world.
I have spent most of my adult life trying to reconcile the divide inside myself over gross injustices within our democratic system. My origins and upbringing were staunch republican views, however I now understood how those views effect the rest of the world. When America farts the rest of the world gets shit on.
The ideals this country started on were beautiful to the whole world. The whole world gets goosebumps when they hear these words written into law. The whole world aspires to meet the goals set forth in a document much older than our American Constitution. The whole world deserves the rights within our American constitution, look at the Magna Carta, this is not new information. For a few centuries that dream inspired millions of people to leave their countries of origins and land here, on the American shore to start a new life, where they are treated equally and with respect.
That was the dream that was followed, however there was another level to this ‘dream’ that most immigrants were not so aware of, and many never saw. As immigrants arrived here 3 things that our American government needed were coming with them, A massive labor force, a voting population and a massive army. By marketing the Native Indians land the way our fore fathers did, they very quickly amassed a huge army, a solid workforce and a consistent voter base. That is kind of the original immigration policy in a nutshell, I believe.
Our history completely leaves out the fact that millions of natives were already here. Many of the immigrants running from oppressors to come here to oppress the Native American. The propaganda campaign is complete, genocide is not only allowed, it is embraced in the name of our constitution. How is this different than Hitler’s plan of genocide towards the jews? How is this different than what Israel is doing in Palestine?
I sit and observe my fellow Americans today and see the anger, the racism, the class divide, the frustration. I hear pleas of basic human rights in Detroit with the water shut offs. I hear pleas of civil rights abuses with the protest in Ferguson, Oakland, L.A. and New York. I see gross murder occurring across the map in the name of democracy and freedom. These murders are occurring in Syria, Iraq, Liberia, Sierre Leone, Nigeria, Uganda, Ferguson, L.A., New York, Argentina, Columbia, Gaza and I’m sure in countries that I have never heard of but would be fascinated in learning about.
These are just the headlines for today.
The judgement I see from my fellow Americans shames me deeply. It shames me because we have forgotten where we have come from. Those of us so opposed to immigration should ask ourselves where we would be if our borders had not been open. Ask yourself what is going on in these other countries that people are fleeing from enmass. It does matter to us as a nation. It matters what is going on in Argentina today. It does matter what is happening south of our border, we should be much more concerned with what is happening south of our border than what is happening in Iraq. The hypocrisy of the American People is on display for the world to see in whole new way. Not only will America Free the shit out of Iraq, it will free the shit out of it’s own cities.The american people will deploy billions of dollars in rockets to save the yazidi’s in Iraq but wont allow a homeless child to cross our border from countries that have been torn apart just as bad as Iraq. WTF.
The American people will watch while over 1200 people die across Africa, and bring 2 Americans home for treatment. WTF.
The American People filter billions of dollars to Israel while the Israeli Government has broken UN truces, has invaded a sovereign land with such brutal “shock and awe” and continue to push their own little ‘manifest destiny’ right through Gaza. These are horrible abuses of our American constitution that we would never allow in a country like Iraq, or Libya, or Egypt, or Iran. Have you ever asked why?
American People will scream about their freedom, defending their right carry arms, their right to free speech but my very humble opinion is that most of us, and I include myself here, should invoke our right to remain silent once in a while, and in that silence we should read the constitution.
What is happening in America today is the result of our fore fathers sins. We have been building and building sins generation after generation. Each generation gets further and further into debt economically as well as karmically, causing further racial divides, class divides. Our policies breed terrorism. Our policies create a place for terrorism to be a for profit industry, and it is corporatized. Business men started our country for their own profit margins. These same business men continued to profit from the backs of the blacks, the irish and the other nationalities that have all held at least one generation as america’s ‘nigger’. Those same business men still operate today, in the name of corporations, hiding behind privatized rules that appear to trump the American constitution, in America and the whole world.
The constitution has gotten so complicated over the years that entire libraries are written about it. It would not surprise me if this constitution has not been read and analyzed by more people than the Torah, the Bible and The Koran all combined. There are also cases where interpretations of the constitution may differ between parties, or people, much like a religion. The interpretation about what the authors meant about ‘all men’ is just a start of the controversy that can surround this document that is on the tip of all of our tongues lately.
I want America to stand by the ideals that made our country a dream for most of the world. I want us as Americans to realize that greatness is not force, greatness is restraint. I want America to be what I was told it was when I was growing up- the greatest place on earth. I want an America where my children can walk down the street without having to worry about being shot. I want police officers that serve and protect. I want a transparent government in all aspects, no more national security, I am tired of thuggish protection. I want America to be one color, we are all american and we are all human so we have more in common than not. I want my children and grandchildren to live in a society they can be proud of, not one that is set up only for a few elite people.
I want to know my neighbors, and care about them. I want an America that welcomes those from troubled parts of the world and a government that understands what help is.. I want a government that isn’t our countries largest employer. I want an America that treats it’s criminals better than animals. I want an America that understnads why we have crime. I want an America that allows the people to determine where our taxes our spent, no more financing wars that are killing millions of people every day. I want an America that offers opportunity to every citizen in some form or another. I want an America that offers a government that is there to help the people. serve the people, protect the people or allow them to protect themselves. I want an America that I can believe in because I do not believe in America today.
Our fore fathers were not perfect, and neither are the leaders in place today. It isn’t up to them to save America, it is up to you.
I would love for you to post up your story below in comments- or link to your own blog on this subject.
-Melissa
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