Fred! I tend to love all of your shit, but THIS hit me extra today in a way not much has lately. Half of my family is Puerto Rican. The remarks from the "humorist" at the Trump rally undid me in different, deeper way. I needed these songs andI needed to hear about your grandma's elder wisdom today. Thank you so much.
I love this! And it's what drives my writing and actions too. Thanks for articulating this drive so well, Frederick.
"We build because the world requires it of us, because it’s how we honor those who dreamed before us and those who will come after. We build because we know, in some deep, quiet place, that every stone we lift, every word we write, every act of kindness, is not just for ourselves but for the stranger beside us, for the ancestor behind us, for the child ahead. And in that labor, as solitary as it might feel, we are never truly alone."
"Then, together, in this quiet storm of our lives, let us lay our foundations, finding strength in the bonds we cannot see, finding courage in the echoes of those who have already paved the way. Let the water wash over us, let the world throw what it will, for we have inherited this work from those who endured." Thank you for these words. What a gift of a grandmother you had. Thank you for sharing her words and her wisdom.
This is such a timeless, sweet, and profound outcry! It’s surely the soil that yields many truths and that inspires many moments of strength in a sad and confused world.
Yes, once again, we look into the abyss and once again we must see ourselves.
Trump is a single man who has been given the attention that is needed to grow the weeds that threaten to overrun the garden that many would seek. They say that what we feed will grow. If we focus on the negative in a child’s behavior, for example, teachers are taught that the negative will grow.
Why did America let Trump and this far fetched group of zealots reach this moment that leaves us so anxious and grim? Some of Trump supporters have been referred to as the “ group without a high school diploma” by media pundits. Well before Trump, the arrogance of our social hierarchy forced certain communities to the edges, if only how they were portrayed. The media split the world into the high school graduates and the college graduates when the media “ analyzed” election trends and outcomes.
What a way to divide the country…We wonder why people are mad and angry about the status quo. Why some are suspicious and distrustful of whatever the mass media says. Who commiserate with the media ‘ underdogs’ (though Trump is no media underdog. ) Trump has received more media attention than anyone in recent history. The media and the public became fixated on the negative and the negative grew.
The media feeds the negative too often so that it can grow. Third party candidates were completely locked out of the media cycle. This also includes progressive activists and activities.
It’s been impossible to tune in to the news without hearing about some Trump escapade for the last decade. America is fixated with this personality despite their protests. We have given Trump relevance. And we must take responsibility for this. Without the public’s eye, his financial wrongs and sexual wrongs would not dominate the news cycles.
We can’t really see it, but we breathe life into the world of Trump.
The progressive issues can barely get attention. A particular case like that of George Floyd will occasionally garner the same exposure—-though not really since we have no word on how police have made changes in policing since George Floyd lay under the ground with urine running on the ground as he cried out to his mama. Yet, many more have been killed by the police because they could not breathe. Hey, that’s too bad, but we may or may not know the names of these victims because the media selects what we feed.
But we come together when these moments are permitted by the media to connect us through shared images and news. Yet, so many George Floyd’s still need us.
But we are cringing and hiding in our closet because the boogeyman is on television again like Freddy Krueger.
Trump poses a real danger.
But so does our failure to build real movements that can forge true change.
What if we were aching to know if a Third Party, a Black Agenda, a Latino demand that the US finally treat Puerto Rico like the nation that it deserves to be treated was up for global debate. Puerto Rico has been treated like a colony. Residents of the island cannot even vote.
What if we hammered out a Global Plan to heal and restore those injured by historical imperialist domination and chattel slavery. What if we created a world movement and we waited with bated breath to see if we could build a United Movement?
What if our tears and anxiety today was for children who are increasingly seeking solace in suicide, social media, substance use, as school absenteeism soars, and reading scores plummet even lower.
These children are our future. They are relying on us to do more than to permit a system of capitalist domination to drain our spirits and render us helpless.
In fact, Black people didn’t die for us to feel impotent. Black people didn’t die just so we could vote. They died so that we could have the power to change our miserable conditions.
Do we really believe that Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks would stand by as White America made us feel helpless and hopeless because a former TV host has been given the permission to destroy?
Do we really believe that those who stood up to the KKK when they came to burn down our homes would settle for pining over the outcome of two parties that have both failed us.
Do we really believe that the huge movements to protest the Vietnam war would “ settle” for the Democratic Party telling us that the choice is either global genocide funded by our taxes and ignored by our media, or a man named Trump. Today, right now, America is funding the killing of innocent people because another man with brutality on his mind named Netanyahu has made clear that the world must pay for his rage.
Germany was hurting after losing World War One when a man named Hitler came along like a thief in the night. Hitler slowly took a nation that felt lost and weak to the abyss where genocide openly reigned. America and the rest of the world knew that Nazis were killing innocent people. But they decided what the public would know and what the urgency of the public would produce.
Suddenly, like a magician, the big media sources draw back the curtain. We dutifully gape and mourn. We find the next protests and make signs. We jump on social media and we commiserate together.
And then the curtain quietly closes again like it closes on third party agendas and fruitful efforts to think about making meaningful change from the grassroots up
We fund people like Elon Musk because we must be on X and we flood Facebook though both of these corporations have shown they don’t share our same priorities. We must, we simply must, say something on Tik Tok about our particular politics.
Yet, our children and youth have been watching. They learn about subway surfing on these platforms and die with their sneakers off because they fly off their feet when our children fly through the air to their deaths as they fall off moving subway trains in cities like NYC.
School shooters confess their intentions on these platforms which somehow can’t seem to give our children a heads up that a mentally disturbed child with a big gun is heading to their school.
What is the real source of our pain? That we exposed our youth to an unchecked world of social media that has been recognized as a threat to their mental health by public health experts?
Do the Democrats care? Do the Republicans care?
Do we care?
We must start to control our destiny. And when we die, we must die for something. And when we build, we must start with building a movement and with a mindset that freedom has never been free.
Fred! I tend to love all of your shit, but THIS hit me extra today in a way not much has lately. Half of my family is Puerto Rican. The remarks from the "humorist" at the Trump rally undid me in different, deeper way. I needed these songs andI needed to hear about your grandma's elder wisdom today. Thank you so much.
I love this! And it's what drives my writing and actions too. Thanks for articulating this drive so well, Frederick.
"We build because the world requires it of us, because it’s how we honor those who dreamed before us and those who will come after. We build because we know, in some deep, quiet place, that every stone we lift, every word we write, every act of kindness, is not just for ourselves but for the stranger beside us, for the ancestor behind us, for the child ahead. And in that labor, as solitary as it might feel, we are never truly alone."
Beautiful writing as always. God bless your grandmother who passed her legacy well through you. 🙏🏽💕
This was the salve I needed today. Thank you.
"Then, together, in this quiet storm of our lives, let us lay our foundations, finding strength in the bonds we cannot see, finding courage in the echoes of those who have already paved the way. Let the water wash over us, let the world throw what it will, for we have inherited this work from those who endured." Thank you for these words. What a gift of a grandmother you had. Thank you for sharing her words and her wisdom.
To continuing to build, come what may.
Thank you. From my heart, thank you.
Thank you ❤️
This is so breathtakingly beautiful. I thank you and am in awe of you:
Love this - will add more songs to my playlist - and we are on the same page!
MOSF 19.19: Taking Stock – Engaging Our Ongoing Psycho-Spiritual-Historical-Electoral Struggle with Joy and Clarity https://eastwindezine.com/mosf-19-19-taking-stock/
This is such a timeless, sweet, and profound outcry! It’s surely the soil that yields many truths and that inspires many moments of strength in a sad and confused world.
Yes, once again, we look into the abyss and once again we must see ourselves.
Trump is a single man who has been given the attention that is needed to grow the weeds that threaten to overrun the garden that many would seek. They say that what we feed will grow. If we focus on the negative in a child’s behavior, for example, teachers are taught that the negative will grow.
Why did America let Trump and this far fetched group of zealots reach this moment that leaves us so anxious and grim? Some of Trump supporters have been referred to as the “ group without a high school diploma” by media pundits. Well before Trump, the arrogance of our social hierarchy forced certain communities to the edges, if only how they were portrayed. The media split the world into the high school graduates and the college graduates when the media “ analyzed” election trends and outcomes.
What a way to divide the country…We wonder why people are mad and angry about the status quo. Why some are suspicious and distrustful of whatever the mass media says. Who commiserate with the media ‘ underdogs’ (though Trump is no media underdog. ) Trump has received more media attention than anyone in recent history. The media and the public became fixated on the negative and the negative grew.
The media feeds the negative too often so that it can grow. Third party candidates were completely locked out of the media cycle. This also includes progressive activists and activities.
It’s been impossible to tune in to the news without hearing about some Trump escapade for the last decade. America is fixated with this personality despite their protests. We have given Trump relevance. And we must take responsibility for this. Without the public’s eye, his financial wrongs and sexual wrongs would not dominate the news cycles.
We can’t really see it, but we breathe life into the world of Trump.
The progressive issues can barely get attention. A particular case like that of George Floyd will occasionally garner the same exposure—-though not really since we have no word on how police have made changes in policing since George Floyd lay under the ground with urine running on the ground as he cried out to his mama. Yet, many more have been killed by the police because they could not breathe. Hey, that’s too bad, but we may or may not know the names of these victims because the media selects what we feed.
But we come together when these moments are permitted by the media to connect us through shared images and news. Yet, so many George Floyd’s still need us.
But we are cringing and hiding in our closet because the boogeyman is on television again like Freddy Krueger.
Trump poses a real danger.
But so does our failure to build real movements that can forge true change.
What if we were aching to know if a Third Party, a Black Agenda, a Latino demand that the US finally treat Puerto Rico like the nation that it deserves to be treated was up for global debate. Puerto Rico has been treated like a colony. Residents of the island cannot even vote.
What if we hammered out a Global Plan to heal and restore those injured by historical imperialist domination and chattel slavery. What if we created a world movement and we waited with bated breath to see if we could build a United Movement?
What if our tears and anxiety today was for children who are increasingly seeking solace in suicide, social media, substance use, as school absenteeism soars, and reading scores plummet even lower.
These children are our future. They are relying on us to do more than to permit a system of capitalist domination to drain our spirits and render us helpless.
In fact, Black people didn’t die for us to feel impotent. Black people didn’t die just so we could vote. They died so that we could have the power to change our miserable conditions.
Do we really believe that Fannie Lou Hamer and Rosa Parks would stand by as White America made us feel helpless and hopeless because a former TV host has been given the permission to destroy?
Do we really believe that those who stood up to the KKK when they came to burn down our homes would settle for pining over the outcome of two parties that have both failed us.
Do we really believe that the huge movements to protest the Vietnam war would “ settle” for the Democratic Party telling us that the choice is either global genocide funded by our taxes and ignored by our media, or a man named Trump. Today, right now, America is funding the killing of innocent people because another man with brutality on his mind named Netanyahu has made clear that the world must pay for his rage.
Germany was hurting after losing World War One when a man named Hitler came along like a thief in the night. Hitler slowly took a nation that felt lost and weak to the abyss where genocide openly reigned. America and the rest of the world knew that Nazis were killing innocent people. But they decided what the public would know and what the urgency of the public would produce.
Suddenly, like a magician, the big media sources draw back the curtain. We dutifully gape and mourn. We find the next protests and make signs. We jump on social media and we commiserate together.
And then the curtain quietly closes again like it closes on third party agendas and fruitful efforts to think about making meaningful change from the grassroots up
We fund people like Elon Musk because we must be on X and we flood Facebook though both of these corporations have shown they don’t share our same priorities. We must, we simply must, say something on Tik Tok about our particular politics.
Yet, our children and youth have been watching. They learn about subway surfing on these platforms and die with their sneakers off because they fly off their feet when our children fly through the air to their deaths as they fall off moving subway trains in cities like NYC.
School shooters confess their intentions on these platforms which somehow can’t seem to give our children a heads up that a mentally disturbed child with a big gun is heading to their school.
What is the real source of our pain? That we exposed our youth to an unchecked world of social media that has been recognized as a threat to their mental health by public health experts?
Do the Democrats care? Do the Republicans care?
Do we care?
We must start to control our destiny. And when we die, we must die for something. And when we build, we must start with building a movement and with a mindset that freedom has never been free.
Beautiful, and so needed during these dark days. Thank you <3