July 4th, 2013
Freedoms can come in all shapes and sizes. It just depends on what your prison is made out of. For some freedom is measured in 15 minute smoke breaks, clocking out, or that next drink. For others, freedom is a little more concrete like the walls around them and the iron bars that puts the sky in perspective, we're all being captive on this planet to a warden we can't define unless we first understand ourselves.
My earliest prison came in the form of classes. Always waiting for that school bell to ring so I wasn't in a box, listening to a lady at the front of the room tell me how what she's saying is important and will help me later in life. I'd go home, to a box, listening to a lady tell me how what she's saying is important and will help me later in life. Even outside of our institutions we're still institutionalized without even knowing it.
The past has shown when you take too much freedom away, it becomes federal and lashes out like Lipton gatherings and civil miscommunications. We're so desperate to feel like we have control of it lives we're willing to compromise someone else's just to feel that power. When we're just acting out the movements for the black box play that we don't know we're in but it feels so free.
4th of July. It is what you make it. Or what china makes I should say. I don't even know if the flames we place under those missle toes are made in America but kissing is a universal language. And when that spark and fuse lip lock and those bombs take off like our emotions in the heat of the moment we watch in awe how far they can fly. How big they can burst. And how fast we are to look away from the ashes being scattered to the next firecracker.
With freedom, I believe being grateful isn't enough. If we are not fighting to keep at least what we have, then we slowly forefit it peace by peace until there is no more war with the outside world and inside ourselves for control. There will always be a need to fight for control of our lives. Whether against a greater enemy as big as institutions that we may not be able to recognize while we live inside them. To something as small as smiling when you see yourself. Because yesterday can't reach you. The past is a prison we lock ourselves in and today, you decided blow up these walls, meld down those bars, and set the sky free.
-DCR
A Recycled People Industry
By Raul the Poet
It was suggested that I begin this article with a strong fact to get your attention then go into a poetic visual of sorts. Something like…
It is estimated that every minute, that’s every sixty seconds, 2 children are sold into slavery. Children who should be laughing, learning and enjoying the innocent moments of life are suddenly placed into a world where humans are reduced, reused and recycled.
Did it work? Well, maybe not so let’s get to the point.
According to the FBI the trafficking and the trade of humans recently became the #1 largest criminal industry in the world. It’s an estimated $32,000,000,000.00 a year industry. Yes, that’s $32 Billion Dollars in one year alone. [Insert possible “I’m in the wrong line of work” joke here?] With this kind of revenue this business isn’t going away anytime soon.
CNN’s Freedom Project stated that “Slavery occurs when one person completely controls another person, using violence or threat of violence to maintain control, exploits them economically, pays them nothing and they (the slave)cannot walk away.” In other words, the human being, whether it’s an 8 year old girl, a 17 year old teen or a 32 year old man, is reduced to an object without say, hope nor self worth. Depending of supply and demand the victim may be placed into “forced labor” for an under regulated industry such as agriculture, fishing, domestic work, construction, mining, pornography and prostitution OR they may be sold as a “bonded laborers” otherwise known as forced labor as means of payment for a loan. (antislavery.org)
The League of Nations states “Slavery occurs where one person exercises the ‘right’ of ownership over a person.” But how do you own a human being? Victims are often lured by the promise of a good job, a false marriage proposal, kidnapped or sold by a family member or friend. The victims are then broken down through a compost of starvation, beatings, gang rapes, forced drug use, threats and threats of violence to family members. The psychological abuse and fear is so intense that most victims cannot comprehend escape. This allows the traffickers to reuse human slaves in various locations and for various reasons without threats of their “product” fleeing. A child victim may be used for sex until they are “unmarketable”. You know, when they lose their sexy baby fat and can no longer bring in the big money. But don’t you worry! Human traffickers recycle! The victims are then reused as labor workers till they are discarded for fresh product constantly being replenished due to supply and demand. Reduced humans, reused humans and recycled humans. All for the green.
Ok, so? Why does this matter to us? Sure, it’s sad that Korea and India face these hardships on a daily bases but this is America! Land of the free! Home of the brave! Purple mountains, apple pies, blue jeans! We don’t play soccer like the rest of the world! We have our own pass time! ‘MERICA! We are so American that we have our own term for the selling of our own American children “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking” (DMST). Americans traffic an average of 300,000 American children each year. ‘MERICA!
The department of justice designated the I-10 corridor as the #1 route for human trafficking across the United States. 25% of trafficking happens in Texas alone. I guess when they said that human trafficking is a global issue, they meant the whole globe. Imagine that!
G. I . Joe said it best. “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” The thing is human trafficking never looks like what you’d think human trafficking looks like. Sometimes, sure, a semi truck full of people gets stopped on the highway on its way to Nebraska or Utah. But mostly human trafficking looks like basic prostitution or domestic labor. Sometimes the TEEN category on a porn site is an 18 year old who wants to make it big in porn and sometimes it’s a 14 year old who looks like an 18 year old being forced into porn. So what do we do?
Educate ourselves and be prepared.
If you got this far in the article, you’ve already learned enough to have an intelligent conversation. It is human nature that when we educate ourselves we tend to educate those around us. Basically our egos need to show off. A “look mommy, I wrote an article about something I learned” aspect. It’s natural, you’re human so let’s have our quirky humanity work for us. Have a conversation with a friend or group of friends over coffee or beer about something you’ve heard or read on the news about human trafficking. Social issues are always battling “out of sight, out of mind” so talk about it. Make it real. “If it’s not on facebook, it didn’t happen” so post about it on facebook and show it happens. Simple and cheap.
The hard part is being prepared. What if you see something or want to help someone? No worries… I got you! Here’s a butt-load of websites. Some are religiously affiliated and some are not but who the hell cares? We have bigger issues to deal with.
National Human Trafficking Hotline:
1-888-373-7888
www.thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com
Safe Houses:
www.freedomplaceus.org (Houston, TX)
www.exoduscry.com (Kansas City, MO)
www.traffick911.com (Fort Worth, TX)
www.beautyforashes.org (North Fort Myers, FL)
If you want to do more… get involved with something local, use your talents or give your time. Lately I’ve been doing awareness events under my side project Raul the Poet Presents Standing Room Only. I’ve gathered poets, singers and speakers and created different shows that entertain and educate people about social issues. I’ve done three shows and two shows were about human trafficking. Check out my side project and new awareness shows coming up at www.raulthepoetpresents.wix.com/sro.
Grant me freedom. For I grow weary of these chains. Of the shackles and iron collar that you have bestowed upon me. Let me crack the halo that scars a ring around my neck, and breathe deeply; large breaths that I have been deprived of for years. Let me pull my arms up, high above my head, without the heavy weight that settles on my forearms when I try. Let me run, releasing my inhibitions from my feet pounding pavement and dirt and grass and glass and sea and sand, without the painful weight against my ankles. Let me crouch, not in fear, and lunge, not in anger. Allow me to bend backwards, to settle my poor spine, and not for your pleasure. Let my bones mend and my skin to grow soft. Let my belly, swollen from hunger, settle into a soft pouch. Let me cheeks grow rosy, not from fever or sickness, but from shy love and tender moments. Let me wrap my arms around myself in a sign of love for myself, and not to protect my tender middle. Let bruises be formed from passion, and bite marks to bloom from lust. Give me the freedom I long, for I wilt without it. Not from old age, but from desperation.
-Jennifer Duran
Grant Me the Strength
Smoke Bombs & Sparklers
On days like this its hard for most not to feel at least a little patriotic. Reserving one day a year for nationalistic fervor , a bevy of colorful explosions, and ritualistic alcohol consumption, for those given a midweek reprieve from their soul stealing professions freedom only comes in moments such as these. The product of one of the best advertising campaigns this hemisphere has ever seen, the marketing of this country as the “land of the free” bears stark contrast to the reality for so many millions of people. Celebrating the idea of freedom more than its actual existence, July 4th marks yet another anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document amongst which the lines “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are the most prevalent. Although the first two “inalienable rights” are fairly straightforward, the pursuit of happiness has evolved much since its original penning, and much in the way that life and liberty were actually denied to such a large percentage of the population at that point, it should not come as much of a surprise that pursuit of happiness, which originates with John Locke's’ “life, liberty, & property”, at that point translated to their perceived rights as rich white men to own other people.
While it would take two more revolutions (the French and the often forgotten Haitian revolution), a civil war , and a civil rights movement before “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” would take on definitions as we know them today, and could be applied to the majority of people in this country, the sad reality exists today that all around the world slavery STILL exists whether it is acknowledged or not. With the United States thirst for cheap goods and services fueling much of the continuation of slavery domestically and around the world, it is clear that there is still much work to be done.
Another affront to the both the idea of freedom and the “land of the free” delusion harbored by so many in this country would be the United States prison system, which according to www.learnliberty.org “incarcerates more people than any other country in the world—more even than China or Russia”. While it is shocking that their are “more people are in prisons in the United States than in all other developed countries combined”, what is even more angering and indicative of the racist manner in which law enforcement, and the penal system functions in this country would be the fact that while the the U.S. rate of incarceration “is 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents...in 2010, black men were incarcerated at a rate of 3,074 per 100,000 residents; Latinos were incarcerated at 1,258 per 100,000, and white men were incarcerated at 459 per 100,000” (http://www.prb.org/articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx )
Although I recognize that I do indeed have the freedom to write these words, and speak my mind (within reason) within much fear of governmental repercussions ( a freedom not shared around the world), I would be remiss if I didn't use this freedom to help others and point out the inequality that still exists today. While today I will still be celebrating freedom, I will be celebrating the idea of freedom in hopes that it will continue to evolve and grow as time progresses, and that one day we will collectively come to realize the errors in our ways, and work passionately to correct them.
-Joshua Genius
Seeing as this week is July 4th holiday week and is really the un-official start of summer, I would like to mention a few things.
As a Brit who has lived here now for almost half my life I both love it and hate it.
Not saying that my British side is ‘resenting’ a loss of any kind (as British kids we are taught to embrace our defeats not re-write history like…) but it has been so hyped up as to be a parody, which Americans seem to love so much.
But wait…..in thinking….this happens all over the world. The flag wavers, the national anthem singers, the wear my flag as a shirt crowd, the ‘patriots’ the ‘nationalists’ the ‘brown shirts’ the ‘minute men’ …I think you smell what I’m cooking!
And I don’t mean my Wiener! ( say the previous sentence in any accent you care for, I like the purist approach and do it Arnie stylie)
I remember watching the royal wedding and the queens ( I have purposely not used caps in reference to the royals) jubilee on the ‘telly’ for maybe….30 minutes or so before my disgust and revulsion kicked in with a vengeance.
The visceral emotions I experienced of seeing the throngs of people cheering, laughing, having a ‘jolly old time’ as some ‘Murican douche presenter proudly warbled, echoed the same fervent nationalistic pride I have always seen, in many countries, over many years.
Some of it can be said as being benign, which I tend to agree with. However I also tend to think that from benign roots malignancy can grow. The fertilizer most often used is patriotism.
Samuel Johnson was quoted as saying ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels’. My opinion is the same.
So while I enjoy these holidays I also realize that I am ‘swimming upstream’ in my POV.
Lastly, I want to point out that I would relish having any summer where I didn’t get bit by some blood sucking insect. Fleas, mozzies, you name it I get bit by it.
You have as I see it three choices.
-
Use a chemical like DEET that’s probably worse for you.
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Go ‘au natural’ and trust the bastards are full.
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Slather on some natural deterrent that smells like citronella and plant oils, which is good for your skin but is really just like a salad to get through before the main meal for the little shits.
There you go. Have a great whatever!
TDB.
Bar Stangled Spanner
VIII
I have heard the saying that some “take their freedom for granted”, and often I observe people taking their freedom too seriously based on beliefs without any foundation of where these philosophies stem from. The direction of thinking that I am going here is social contract theory. This country is founded upon the moral and political philosophies that seem to be influenced by the class system. I personally side with the Feminist perspective and Race Conscious Argument when it comes to modern day social contract theory—politics have not sufficed my social liberties..if anything..the political system has stripped them from me. I do not want to beat a dead horse about social liberties for this article or review what some idealist perceived about human nature—within their zeitgeist. I am just making interesting observations from my worldview about the mind state, especially us Americans, have about our rights and liberties in this existence; particularly my own skewed view.
Previous to entering the mental health field I wanted to be a civil defense attorney. I have possessed excellent verbal and argumentative skills since I could articulate my thoughts and feelings. (just another way of saying I haven’t been too afraid to talk my shit) I thought it would be only natural for me to fight against the system, and/or make things happen for ‘human rights’. Injustice and the treatment of humans have always struck a chord in me. When I was 16, Jeff Blackburn, a great Texas attorney, was my mentor through a work program for school. While speaking with Jeff one afternoon, I remember my world was mentally rearranged, and I decided I was not going to be a lawyer anymore. I arrived at Jeff’s office/house (same thing) early one morning and the smell of old books, stale cigarettes, and black molasses coffee filled this space with their aromas. I felt comfortable because those smells were familiar. We were discussing my reasons and passions for becoming a lawyer. I stated that I wanted to “fight for our rights”, and I thought that I had the dedication and skills to make a difference in this world. Jeff laughed at me and proceeded to explain that—I didn’t have and ‘rights’. Furthermore, that my human liberties had absolutely been consumed by the American system and I could do nothing for anyone and their ‘rights’. I was fucking devastated. For longer than I was listening, he explained to me what his role in the system entailed, and that he his personal life had ultimately been strained due to the dedication and requirements of his law practice. That was 11 years ago—I still see Jeff promoting rights and defending topics that no one else succeeds at. I felt powerless and wanted to reroute what my passion for ‘making a difference’ met. I didn’t ultimately change my decision because I didn’t want the lifestyle; I decided that I did not want to dedicate my life to the system and attempting to change it. I had to start from within.
Janis Joplin says that freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. I’d like to agree with her, and I tend to get slightly philosophical—but we do this to ourselves. Humans make things so complicated—so structured in a manner that it produces oppression. The ones that wrote these social contract theories and translate them for a populous based on Kantian reality and perception philosophies had a lot of trust in people. Based on my experience, especially growing up in a conservative Bible-belt area of Texas in the United States; my rights—especially the right to my own view—has been vastly limited and discouraged. I do not trust the political system (social contract theory) to ensure my rights. I am called a rebel because I believe in human equality and freedom—not power and a republic. Being free is all a state of mind; the chains of perception give me my liberty—I remain open.
-Sunny
Land of the Free
