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Racism, Trump and Me

/ Katie Wigington / Leave a comment

Upside-down-US-flag-of-occupation

Perhaps I have angered you lately—with my pro protest posts.

I have listened to rhetoric and propaganda from both sides of the political spectrum. I have seen numerous people say their opinions should be respected. Well, no that’s not how it works. I respect your right to an opinion. There is no doubt about that. But to respect opinions that go against my own ethics would be ludicrous.  Especially if your opinion is not fact-based or based on hate.

I try to keep it real. I try to do my homework before I spout off about anything, but particularly politics. I have numerous friends much more left-wing than myself that I don’t always agree with and will say so. I’m generally not a demonizer, nor, do I put people on pedestals. I have no idols, just a few people I admire. I try not to hate.

The last election drove a huge wedge between me and the people I know, including some of my own family, who voted for Trump. (and perhaps they feel the same about my vote for Clinton.)

For me, it was an easy vote. I didn’t struggle with who was the better candidate. I never gave Bernie with his pointing finger and spittle mouth a second thought. I listened to what the GOP candidates had to say- and rejected them based on my own understanding of right and wrong. I watched every debate, I watched every news channel, (although admit that Fox gives me a migraine). I read every article- even the fake news ones. I researched. I watched 90% of the 11 hour Clinton interrogation in the Senate Hearing. (and frankly, I would have told them to go fuck themselves about hour 4.)

I know about Benghazi; I am a military mom. I don’t know – for the life of me- how you can blame the Secretary of State for those deaths, and not blame Bush/Cheney for the deaths of 5000+ troops in Iraq & Afghanistan based on lies. It makes no sense.

Afghanistan War 2001–present 1,954*
Iraq War 2003–2011 3,836*

*Source Wikipedia

And now… the Trump administration is using private email servers … so much for that issue. The corruption from this administration has put anything the Clinton’s ever did to shame. If you can’t see it… you aren’t looking.

I have watched this president (not capped on purpose) denigrate everyone that disagrees with him about anything. He is petty – like I knew he would be. He is knee jerk, he lacks depth, he seriously lacks empathy, he lacks historical facts, he lacks global knowledge, he lacks etiquette, he lacks vocabulary, he has made a fool of himself to the world with every single meeting he has with heads of states. He forgets their names, their titles, and admires thugs and murderers like Putin and Duterte. He is a global joke. He undermines his own cabinet. He insults women on a regular basis.  He always reminds me of the man that tried to put my head through a window when I wouldn’t serve him any more alcohol. He’s a spoiled, rich white guy that no one dare say no to. I have no doubt he has forced himself on women – I have met men like him.  But still, to me – his worst thing is that he is stupid. And by stupid I mean he lacks intelligence. He is not a reader – despite the pictures of his desk with reams of paper—he has lacked a complete understanding of the law. (Which by the way the rule of law is the backbone of our country.) He is not a successful businessman- he has stiffed so many people that he might as well have held a gun to them and stolen the money he owes. Yet people chose to overlook these character traits and voted for him.

And some people think he hung the moon. Some people have put their own morals aside (or maybe not) and decided that this man would do a good job. But has he?  Not by my standards.

So far he has tried to take medical insurance away from 20+ million people  (including many vets not covered by the VA) and sabotaged the market so that either way the American Health Insurance markets are screwed. Obama care or no Obama care – Health insurance is going to be unaffordable for most. And Medicare – that which those of us 65 and over-rely on – is in jeopardy as well. He would like to raise the taxes on middle class and cut the taxes for the very wealthy (proven to not work theory by top economists.)  He has created travel bans that are race/religion based (illegal) halted by the courts. He has rescinded DACA causing 15 States to sue the administration as well as 4 other lawsuits in a matter of 3 weeks. DACA Lawsuits

He has made legal immigration so difficult that it will probably lead to more illegal immigration.

He has loosened sanctions on EPA and National Monuments. He has pulled out of the Paris Accord- (then like a slippery dick, slid back in.) He has effectively dismantled just about any progress Obama made in his 8 years in office.

The article below by the BBC sums up this administrations successes and failures thus far. It’s not a great report card.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38663043

Trump’s support (as seen by lack of disdain and/or some respect) of White Supremacism/ Nazism was not a surprise to me- but what did surprise me was how many people were silent on the matter. (but some quite vocal about Black Lives Matter.) Afraid to speak out perhaps? Afraid to be political?  Afraid to make enemies of the true enemy of America?  Or was it because they held those same beliefs?

I have been arguing with people for 2 weeks about NFL and taking a knee issue and I am done. People will believe what they want to believe. No amount of logic and /or facts will change the will of some people. They want to be where they want to be. I see that as narrow-minded. Perhaps they see me the same way. Eventually, the facts will prevail.

And from BLM’s and Colin Kaepernick taking a knee- and trumps tweetstorm shit-show about the NFL when Puerto Rico is dying was just about the final straw for me. An insult to the flag and the troops and the anthem– not at all. I know this country is split in half about this – most of the veterans I know personally say they fought for this right (to protest) even if they don’t agree with it. When a silent protest is seen as unpatriotic I have to wonder what kind of protest is okay with you?

You want to know the real insult to the troops? Wars for no reason. The killing of 18–30-year-old people in the name of a war that has only made the issue of terrorism worse. We (the US) have effectively insured the terrorist of the future are the orphaned and homeless of the war-torn countries of today. We have a country full of veterans from wars since Vietnam until today with PTS due in large part to the fact they realized it was all for nothing, that they were killing people that wanted the same things we want- food, shelter, education, good health, and their children to be safe.

Another insult to the flag and patriotism is the heinous racism in our country. I have always been painfully aware of racism but lately it’s so overt I don’t know how anyone can deny it’s happening – and yet they do. Under trumps leadership (for lack of a better word) it has become okay to hate people of color. Newsflash folks – it’s not okay. The so-called “race card” is a misnomer. The “card” is issued by white people to denigrate blacks even further—the card is used by whites when they don’t have the intelligence to have a real conversation about race. The race card – is a term invented by whites who hate blacks.

If you wonder why I am writing about all this now- it’s because these thoughts eat me alive until I spit them out, because I can’t sleep thinking about this—and because I want to make sure that it’s clear that I have not come to these conclusions lightly- but not with great difficulty either. My core values have led the way.

My core values consist of equality, truth, and belief in humanity. The latter isn’t always easy for me–humanity lets me down on a regular basis, yet I continue to hope – and sometimes I see hope prevail. Recently someone asked me if I ever lose hope… I can honestly say that I have- but not for long. I lost hope this last election – for weeks I was depressed, angry, tearful and fearful. It was a blow I was not prepared to handle. I had to vow to myself to make sure that I leave my son and grandson a legacy they can be proud of to restore my positive energy  (hope) so that I am able to fight racism, hatred, fascism and all things intolerable to our Constitution as Americans and humanity in general. I don’t have much to leave anyone, just an abundance of tenacity and some words that tell the story of who I am. Who I hope to be.

I really don’t care if I am alone in the fight- though I know I am not and grateful for that. And I don’t think that everyone I know has to think the way I think – but some basics are a must. I will not tolerate racism—just like I will not tolerate rapists, murderers and child molesters. They are all the same category to me—unacceptable. If your racism is showing I am going to call you on it. I won’t be a coward and look the other way. I won’t worry about hurting feelings or losing a friendship. No one should allow that kind of behavior – as long as we do it will prevail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEAR

/ Katie Wigington / Leave a comment

Fear is a horrible thing…unless you’re a writer. Then it’s a catalyst.

I know a bunch of people who are running on fear all the time. Mostly, they are afraid they will be laid off or fired for some unknown broken rule, or because they were late due to the fatal head on collision that happened two minutes before they arrived to the same spot. Or maybe because they were less than subservient to some narcissistic moron who isn’t sure what kind of latte they want, and whose brain is void of anything but the words ME. MY. MINE.

The veiled threat is always there, and that started me thinking – this was how the unions got their start. People were overworked and under paid and if they said anything about it, they quickly lost their jobs or maybe they just disappeared.

Unions leveled the playing field-for a while.

Sometime in the 1820’s the 12 hour work day was changed to a 10 hour work day thanks to the first labor union, then in 1866 the work day was actually cut down to an 8 hour day. Big business was not thrilled as this cut into their bottom line.

Private businesses don’t like Unions. They don’t want their feet held to the fire so their employees can have protection against poor working conditions, unfair wages, fake “management” jobs (so no overtime is paid. ) and let’s not forget health benefits, vacation days and sick leave. Employers say paying people is enough. Well if it is enough people wouldn’t be in the position they are in today.

I actually have paid little attention to the OCCUPY protests across the country, until someone posted something a little disparaging about young people and the movement in general, on facebook and someone else spoke up and said hey wait… we are just looking for a fair shake- not a hand out.

Now I know there are more than a few protestors showing up at OCCUPY because they just want to stir up trouble. I heard of people actually quitting their jobs to go. Well that’s nice but sort of dumb and won’t look good on their resume.

But here is the truth. There has never been a better moment for Unions to make themselves heard or grow their numbers. This is what Unions do, they fight for the underdog.

According to Science Daily The decline in fair wage is directly correlated to the decline in Union membership.
 
From 1973 to 2007, wage inequality in the private sector increased by more than 40 percent among men, and by about 50 percent among women. In their study, Western and co-author Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, examine the effects of union decline on both between-group inequality and within-group inequality. Between-group compares people from different demographics and industries, while within-group looks at people from the same demographics and industries.

Focusing on full-time, private sector workers, Western and Rosenfeld find that deunionization — the decline in the percentage of the labor force that is unionized — and educational stratification each explain about 33 percent of the rise in within-group wage inequality among men. Among women, deunionization explains about 20 percent of the increase in wage inequality, whereas education explains more than 40 percent.

Part of the reason for this gender discrepancy is that men have experienced a much larger decline in private sector union membership — from 34 percent in 1973 to 8 percent in 2007 — than women (who went from 16 percent to 6 percent during the same period).

“For generations, unions were the core institution advocating for more equitable wage distribution,” said Rosenfeld. “Today, when unions — at least in the private sector — have largely disappeared, that means that this voice for equity has faded dramatically. People now have very different ideas about what’s acceptable in terms of pay distribution.”

Interestingly, the study finds that union decline explains little of the rise in between-group inequality.
“Unions standardize wages so that people with similar characteristics — if they’re union members — tend to have similar wages,” Western said. “So, it makes sense that deunionization has little impact on between-group inequality, which, by definition, exists between groups of people that are different.”

While the purpose of unions is to standardize wages for their members, Western and Rosenfeld find that even nonunion workers, if they’re in highly unionized industries, tend to have fairly equal wages, partly because nonunion employers will raise wages to the union level to discourage unionization.

In terms of policy implications, Western and Rosenfeld think their study could help reignite the dialogue on labor unions, which they believe has disappeared from economic debates in recent years.
“In the early 1970s, unions were important for delivering middle class incomes to working class families, and they enlivened politics by speaking out against inequality,” said Western. “These days, there just aren’t big institutional actors who are making the case for greater economic equality in America.”

While the purpose of unions is to standardize wages for their members, Western and Rosenfeld find that even nonunion workers, if they’re in highly unionized industries, tend to have fairly equal wages, partly because nonunion employers will raise wages to the union level to discourage unionization.

In terms of policy implications, Western and Rosenfeld think their study could help reignite the dialogue on labor unions, which they believe has disappeared from economic debates in recent years.

“In the early 1970s, unions were important for delivering middle class incomes to working class families, and they enlivened politics by speaking out against inequality,” said Western. “These days, there just aren’t big institutional actors who are making the case for greater economic equality in America.”

Cited: American Sociological Association (2011, July 26). Union decline accounts for much of the rise in wage inequality, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2011/07/110726092151.htm

A union can only be as strong as its numbers. But, big business and many small ones outfoxed people when they convinced them if they left the union they would be taken care of. They convinced them they would pay health benefits, 401K’s and that they would get yearly pay increases. Instead, in many cases all of those things went away and eventually so did the job.

If you are 25 years old and lucky enough to have any job, chances are you are underpaid, and have no benefits. If you are 60 years old and job hunting good luck. No jobs, no benefits, no government hand-outs. You will hear people say things like “You should have been prepared.” “You should have saved for that rainy day.” But maybe this isn’t your first rainy day.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Your savings should not be what you live on. If you are living on it and still working something is wrong.

I have been a member of many unions- some strong, some so weak they’re gone. I was never very pro union, I didn’t understand the history or the insurmountable odds they fought against to help people like you and me get a fair shake.

Fear will make people irrational. Fear will start riots. Fear will make people slip into depression and some will even kill themselves. I did some research on another subject a while back and while reading newspapers from the 1930’s depression era I realized almost every day in every  paper some mother or father were killing their children and then themselves out of shear despair. No jobs, no food, no heat. No hope.

I think Unions are in for a come back. I hope they can accomplish some good- without over taxing the business owners. There has to be some balance for everything to work.

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