This post is in a short response to a Facebook post made by a friend. I won’t include it here but suffice it to say that it released a floodgate of words. This is relatively unedited, so you will read redundancy and ill-composed sentence structure, but I couldn’t care less.
Most of my readers enjoy reading about my misadventures and I am well aware that when I get serious, my “likes and comments” plummet. That’s O.K. I will continue to spout off when the mood strikes because I don’t want to stand silent when our voices are needed. And our voices need to be raised right now.
The post had to do with whether or not your opinion of people changes based on who they support politically. It suggests that it should not. This is my response to, first, the poster and then to a friend of the poster, who agrees with the premise of the post. The name has been changed to protect the innocent.
This is easier said than done, xxxx. The fact that a person would vote for someone who is a known racist, a misogynist, a liar, without empathy for the poor, who is homophobic, anti- immigration, anti-Muslim, etc., and continues to support such a person, says alot about that person who you consider to be a good person and worthy of your friendship. I have friends and family who support such people and I don’t believe I can still hold them in respect or in a close relationship. I choose not to associate with people who hate or support those who hate and are a danger to the health of this planet. I will take a stand against it and cannot look into the eyes of others who can tolerate for the briefest moment those who don’t stand against it be they acquaintances, long time friends, or family.
My comment was not meant as sarcasm. I cannot stand with others who vote for a government of hate, warmongering, whoremongering, scaremongering, and that is spending money, 25 billion dollars, on a wall, and increasing billions on the military, increasing coal mining, oil drilling, dismantling the EPA, using our SS monies to continue wars that serve no one but only to fill the pockets of the already rich, who lie about everything… the list goes on and on. For me to continue in a relationship with someone who supports “not my president” and his band of criminals would be like me saying, as Trump did about the white supremacists and neo- Nazis, that there are some fine people among them, that those who support them are fine people. That would be ludicrous and hypocritical. No. If one hates like he does and supports his policies and refuses to see what damage he is doing, I do not, cannot, see them as who I thought they were. I see them as what they are, in collusion with a would be dictator and so much worse.
I won’t compromise. I didn’t say I voted for Hillary. I didn’t mention my vote. Our history is bloody and I’m not just talking about the U.S. Genocide, oppression, inequality, injustice, xenophobia, are what characterize the human race. Power corrupts and an oligarchy we are. The constitution was written for the benefit of the white landowner. America was built on the backs of slaves and indentured servants, on the backs of the poor and dispossessed.
From our first steps on this continent, from England, Spain, France, Portugal, we have been trailing blood from our hands and feet. We continued the bloody wars that were taking place in Europe, fought over land and resources and we have never stopped. If you want an eye opener, simply read the basic facts on Wikipedia on the US history of war. Peace, freedom? For who? At what cost? What a joke!
The American dream has never been and will never be. It is an illusion created while we were sleeping. Ask a native American, ask a Black man or woman, ask the working poor, ask the homeless, ask the deported, ask the refugee, ask someone in prison on charges of marijuana possession, ask the dispossessed who can no longer afford rent and even less, buy a house, a car or take a vacation. Ask a single mom who has to choose between paying rent or buying food, ask a promising student who can’t afford college… Ask, ask, ask some questions. Then ask whether 25 billion dollars should be spent on a wall when our roads, highways and byways and bridges are crumbling. Ask why we need billions more spent on the military? Could it be because we are hated around the world? Could it be because the government is afraid of civil war if they take our Social Security, our health care, our homes, our land. Have you read why there was a provision for a militia in the constitution? Read it and weep.
Trump isn’t and never was a politician and he’s ignorant and selfish and worse. He’s just the fruit of the horror that we as a country, a white nation, have sown. Take a good look while you still can. And weep. Weep because the human race, at its core, is homicidal. We have devised ways to finish off life on this planet. What an accomplishment. Way to go guys. Let’s see which homicidal leader will start the final war. Let’s see what unregulated chemical manufacturer will pollute the last of our drinkable water and fertile land, what under-regulated oil company will drill and frack away our oceans and lands, what plastics will clog everything including marine life and forest dwellers.
I could go on, but I won’t. Read it for yourself. I don’t need to school you. You’ve heard it all before but you refuse to open your eyes. There’s no way that the will of the people prevails. Never has, never will.
Rise up people and face the torture chamber, the lynching rope, the chopping block, imprisonment, the firing squad, the reservation, or banishment, if you’re lucky. Many already have.
Rise up if you dare. Fill mass graves. Fill the newscasts and newspaper headlines with your death. All this while the rich line their pockets. Do you think they care about you? Why would they, except as you serve them? You answer that question.
eyeamdust 
My ancestors came from Europe. My husbands ancestors came from the Scandinavian countries. They cleared and worked the land, and raised their families to do the same. In the past one hundred years, my farm has been passed from the pilgrims to my children and some day their children. They hired no slaves nor killed any natives. My family members still live on the land and reap the benefits of the soil. My loved ones who needed medical help received it and needed not to sell land to care for them. No government is perfect, but somehow, some people are able to feel comfortable with their lives and others struggle. I don’t know why that is so. My heart aches for the homeless and the struggling young families, and yet, to me the American dream was fulfilled by allowing us to be in business. I was also able to run my own privately owned business right there on the farm. My children have been able to buy their own homes in cities, and haven’t had to have slaves to do it.
I believe that satisfaction with life comes from focusing on the positive things, not the negative, promoting love, not hate. Working hard, not being lazy.
I believe that each individual in politics, business or otherwise, is just trying to do their best to cut out a life that is reasonably happy. If they don’t succeed in that, I don’t criticize, but try to empathize.
I’m not a philanthropist, but I do my best to promote well being among my acquaintances, and quash the negative thoughts and actions.
What more can anyone do?
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@D.M: Not everyone starts out with the deck already stacked in their favor, the ability to work for yourself instead of another. Your ancestors worked land stolen from the Native Americans. They directly reaped the benefit from the death and displacement of the true “landowners.”
When you wrote, “I believe that satisfaction with life comes from focusing on the positive things, not the negative, promoting love, not hate. Working hard, not being lazy.”
It made me think of a scripture in James 2:16, ‘If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?’
Your heart can ache all it wants but as long as you continue to support politicians and policies that hurt the hungry, the thirsty and the stranger, Jesus says you are part of the problem.
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The Natives do not consider the land as something that can be owned.
All the successful businessmen I know started out working for others. And all the poor people I know have equal opportunity to work for others, save and rent or buy a place of their own.
I and most of the people I know are very generous with what they have giving and helping in any way they can those who cross their path.
I consider myself one of the most generous people I know. I don’t believe any of my relatives would argue with that.
If you want to choose any single sentence from your original post above, I will gladly discuss it in detail.
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Only 8% of the population of Minnesota is Black according to the 2016 census. Over 75% are white. .09% are Native American. This got skewed with the immigration from Northern European countries.
The name Minnesota is a Souix name. Bemidji is an Ojibwa name. The tribes in Minnesota were many and diverse. The native Americans were pressed out of Minnesota or onto diminished lands called reservations, where hunting and fishing rights were taken away. Their language was forbidden, as was all other aspects of their cultures. There are multiple histories describing the starvation and deprivation. There’s no room to go into it now on this blog post but you can read it for yourself.
Yes. Our ancestors settled in Minnesota and worked hard and were kind and hardworking people. No one is arguing that. No one is arguing at all, but we can not, should not bury our heads in the sand and say, but we didn’t hurt the Indians, we don’t hate the Blacks or Hispanics, or anyone else. But we must remember that the land our ancestors settled on and that has given you and your children the life and the privilege of a good life, was available to homestead first because the Native Americans were driven from their homes by unjust treaties and later by presidential proclamation. Like I said in this post, blood was clinging to our hard working hands and feet.
The reservations still exist. You can find easily where Native Americans are living in Minnesota. They do not have the same good life and privilege that we enjoy. This dessimation began in the early 1800s with treatise made and broken until 1899 in Minnesota.
I don’t hate anyone. I don’t want to have anyone treated with disdain and suffer. We, our ancestors, came from elsewhere… Germany, Scotland, the Caucuses, Scandinavia, and we worked the land but don’t, please don’t forget our real history, not the bullshit history we were taught in school that praises the great white way and written for those who hate all that isn’t white. Tell me, if you can, when was America great, for every person equally? For who was America great? For Black, Indian, Hispanic, and don’t forget how we have historically treated the Chinese and Japanese. Read history if you dare. Read the history that is based on archival evidence and not those only written to glorify our conquests.
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My head is not in the sand. I know that our Federal government allows free enterprise and has always allowed much benefits to those who have come from other countries who seek refuge, work and benefits, .
I have known personally many native Americans; was born and raised one mile off the Red Lake reservation line, as was your mother also. We interacted with the natives, our relatives were teachers in their schools, they were free to come and go, to hunt and fish as they wished. In fact they fished out the two great Red Lakes and sold the fish for profit, the Minnesota DNR then restocked the lakes which the natives still fish and sell. They attend our public schools and they are freely able to receive Medical and dental services at State and Federal expense. The natives forbid alcohol sales within the Red Lake Tribal nation, and yet, they freely come and go and purchase much liquor from the Minnesota liquor businesses. We too are allowed to come and go through their land, which is a sovereign nation.
I have also dealt closely with many Hispanics who have settled and worked int he midwest. They too are often migrant workers, and I have worked with them as well as fostered many of their children. They have the same opportunities our ancestors had, to work, buy settle, and become citizens.
When people choose to become dependent on the services of another country without being citizens, our taxes are footing the bill for those services.
I am not political or savvy about other nations, because I have not traveled nor lived anywhere else. But can only speak from my own experience. This is a land of opportunity. Each of us is responsible for our own life. I don’t blame the past for the present. Each of us has opportunity to make life better.
I choose to make it better by not dwelling on the negatives.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak my mind.
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I do hope Diana that you understand that I am not pointing fingers at any one person or group. Racism and therefore exploitation is codified in western civilization. While you and your friends and family are good, hard working people, and that includes me, racism is imbedded in our political and social systems. We can talk about overt racism, which I am talking about, but I want to pay close attention to racism that we observe everyday but we are so immersed in it we are not even aware of what it is. We in America are all living on Native land that we paid for with bullets. We did it because we brought racism with us from our native lands which we won through constant battle. Since humans formed tribes, we have enslaved others, stolen resources, and killed one another. The formation of the United States followed suit. Nothing has changed.
I think the majority of us just want to plant and harvest our food, keep a roof over our heads and have family and friends. But history shows that we are pressed into service by the landowners, the owners of the wealth to fight to protect their wealth. Our indoctrination is complete because we comply and believe that they in turn will protect us, but that’s not how it works.
Anyway, this is a huge conversation and hardly “handleable” in this format. I hope you know that I love you, dear cousin, and appreciate the conversation. Stay positive and happy.
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