More than 50 years waking each morning knowing a better place, a united people, no armies/war, and of course, no poverty. A dream. Traverse racism every single day in a melting pot long melted for the official updated version called diversity. Racism doesn’t exist except for a few bad apples of all colors. Okay, I have some cheap property on the Paris/China border, if you believe this.
That insatiable dream calling for unity among the everyday thirsty, scrambling for more money, goose-stepping to kill more terrorists, dehumanizing gays, and don’t forget about those “illegal aliens,” “four legs good two legs bad.”
For a short time some years ago, I knew a few people that questioned authority, refused to goose step and lived black and white together. They found each other (rounded up) to realize a dream (not really but we thought so), a united dream (poof), taken out with Dr. King, Malcolm X, the Kennedy brothers, (please read, An Act Of The State: The Execution of Martin Luther King by William F. Pepper.)
Some say we were radicals, left wing, maladjusted so and so. I do miss those people working and sharing that ever elusive dream, so many beautiful children. You remember their trusting smiles and jubilance? A thirsty Empire swallowed them and grows. I can’t lie to myself though I’m not the last word. America isn’t beautiful. But we are Globalized, Trans-Nationalized, “oooohh GATS”, strokes NAFTA. “It’s fun killing democracy, watching poor bastards struggle and decompose, as we take all this money and rule the world. Damn Chavez.”
It’s wonderful waking each morning to the sun rise, witnessing sunsets, experiencing my children and grandchildren grow. What kind of world have I brought them into? A place less hopeful, less democratic, more hostile now than ever.
It is my deepest hope that your heart and conscience are at ease. Peace shattered a bit by crackling Bush that talks to God. I hear only a tiny voice inside. I do follow what it says most of the time. What to do about it talking on and on about murder in Iraq, the Patriot Act, fascism, the lies? Go to work to get ahead, narrow the circle of concern and vote ChoicePoint’s DBT-Katherine Harris-Clayton Robert-Bushy Supreme Court. The winner despite the results is the opposite.
I hear that love is for the weak, that masculine bullets and bombs are needed in this dangerous world to subdue those that won’t conform, for those non-believers that sit on a lot of oil, a time for exploiting fear.
Last word… I’m maladjusted for sure, this IS a place for LOVE. Love is the Key to Life.
The following booklist is a suggestion. Which to read first? I suggest to read the first 20 in order while reading the two books of poetry by Jon Eckels (51 and 52). After that read whatever grabs ya.
1. Heart Of Whiteness by Robert Jensen
2. A People’s History Of The United States by Howard Zinn
3. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
4. Lockdown America by Christian Parenti
5. Limbo by Alfred Lurano
6. Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm
7. Secrecy and Privilege by Robert Parry
8. Moyers On America by Bill Moyers
9. Spy Chips by Liz MacIntyre and Katherine Albrecht
10. Failed States by Noam Chomsky
11. American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips
12. Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg
13. Parables of the Sower by Octavia Butler
14. Parables of the Talents by Octavia Butler
15. Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush by Jim Hightower
16. The Hidden Cost of Being African American by Prof. Thomas M. Shapiro
17. An Act of State by William F. Pepper
18. Oath Betrayed by Dr. Steven Mills
19. The One Percent Doctrine by Ron Suskind
20. War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
21. The Soul of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois
22. Point to Point Navigation by Gore Vidal
23. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
24. Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism by Louise Derman-Sparks and Carol Brunson Phillips
25. Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast
26. Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean
27. Tragedy And Farce by John Nichols and Robert McChesney
28. Don’t Think Of An Elephant by George Lakoff
29. What’s The Matter With Kansas by Thomas Franks
30. Race Rules: Navigating The Color Line by Michael Eric Dyson
31. The Great War For Civilization by Robert Fisk
32. Dude, Where Is MY Country by Michael Moore
33. Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
34. Imperial America by Gore Vidal
35. In Search of Enemies by John Stockwell
36. Teaching For Social Justice by William Ayers, Jean Ann Hunt, and Therese Quinn
37. The Middle Mind by Curtis White
38. White Like ME by Tim Wise
39. Point to Point Navigation by Gore Vidal
40. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal
41. State of War by James Risen
42. The Left Hand of God by Michael Lerner
43. Manifesto For A New World Order by George Monbiot
44. Go and Tell Pharaoh by Al Sharpton and Anthony Walton
45. Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
46. Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky
47. I Write What I Like by Steve Biko
48. Collected Essays by James Baldwin
49. The Middle Mind by Curtis White
50. Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets
51. Sing When The Spirit Says Sing by Jon Eckels
52. Change, Changes, Changing by Jon Eckels
Lastly, a few sources for news on the internet:
Be Well,
Namaste
(Jim Cobb would like to see what is on your booklist these days. He can be reached at through this website.)