A bitch thanks all the chil’ren for forwarding information and some really great comments!
A bitch would like to thank Brother Rob for being so fucking cool. My ass was very emotional while we volunteered Sunday…thank you for understanding and not saying anything too nice, which would have made a bitch cry and turn…well…bitchy. Thank you to everyone who made it out…you go on with your bad self Clip Girl…and thanks to everyone who donated items as well. A bitch was inspired and the sight of so many giving so much soothed my aching soul.
To a certain Che, a bitch will take your Red Cross concerns to heart. However, a bitch encourages chil’ren with concerns about a charity to find another. Habitat for Humanity, an organization a bitch has personally seen in action and will defend viciously, is also stepping up. No need to break open a vein if you’d rather build a house.
2 cups coffee followed by Splenda and a dash of 1% organic milk, 1 Claritin, 2 government regulated fake assed Sudafed sans fed and cigs…
ABB's Call to Arms...
Poverty is the problem.
Loyal readers will know that this bitch is familiar with poverty. My ass volunteers in some of the poorest neighborhoods in St. Louis. My father, bless his soul, grew up in abject poverty…so poor that he never talked about it. At my poorest my ass has not known poverty. Poverty is a physical thing that invades the soul and spreads its toxicity into communities, cities and eventually every fucking orifice of the nation.
Many would like to explore poverty only through its past. This bitch thinks that is a mistake. Poverty must be understood for its past, present and future. When we explore the role of poverty in our analysis of the Katrina evacuation debacle we inevitably sink into a vat of race. Race is connected to poverty and this bitch does not seek to debate that. However, class and social standing have always been connected to poverty too…white poor, black poor, Native American poor…the poor. Poverty is an equal opportunity destroyer of lives. Does the face of poverty have to look like you for you to act?
Most of America abandoned its poor long ago. After the racial turmoil of the 1960’s, middle class blacks and whites…yes, my ass said BLACKS and whites…fled to the suburbs and abandoned the nation’s cities. Right now, in most American cities, it is possible to live and work and totally avoid being confronted by the harsh reality of poverty. It’s simply a matter of taking the “right” road to work.
A bitch is a mentor to a 12-year old victim of poverty. The quality of her education, living conditions, nutrition and health care are a shame. My ass struggles with the contrast between her life and my own daily. Never having seen a dentist, never having new shoes or shoes that fit, never knowing where the next meal will come from, never having enough books in school, never feeling that home is home…never knowing a moment without want for the essentials.
Never allowing herself to covet the unnecessary.
Never being prepared for a disaster. Knowing that disaster is relative...a sick parent...an unanticipated expense.
While conservatives pontificated about the quality of life in Iraq, our own dirty little secret festered in both rural and urban communities.
The shit that we fail to clean up today will still reek to high heaven tomorrow. The poor have no transportation, no set income, no resources and no family to flee to in the face of a disaster. Fixing the “poverty problem” is essential to our nation’s security. One hour of Katrina footage should demonstrate that.
For the love of all that is holy, please don’t let this be another Titanic…another confrontation with our callous class system that we will soon ignore in the face of the monumental challenge of fixing it.
In the aftermath of Katrina the poor confronted us with our neglect and indifference. Think about that…imagine it in your city.
How many men, women and children live below the poverty level in your hometown?
How many would be left to face the flood unprotected?
This isn't about money...its about giving of your time, mental energy and speaking truth to power about where our tax dollars really need to go.
Are you ready to fight a war on poverty?
For information on mentoring contact Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
For information on how you can help build decent housing and decent communities contact Habitat for Humanity.
Get to know the invisible poor and find out how you can go to battle against poverty in your community. That is a wonderful way to build a positive legacy out of this tragedy.
My tears are now dry…
The storm has ended…
But the wicked are at work…
...and this bitch is preparing for battle…
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7 comments:
I can't even imagine what poverty, real poverty, is like and still, in swedish standards I'm poor. That makes me believe even firmer that the mildly left wing party (social-demokrats) that has governed this country almost 70 years in succession, is the way to go.
Sadly, I think that it's going to change in the elections 2006.
This post needs to be required reading for everyone. Not just for the Neo-Cons who redefine obtuse but for everyone. The wheels are off the wagon. We have work to do. We have got to bridge the gap between the haves and have nots or we're going to find ourselves reverting to a few lords and a hell of a lot of serfs.
We can either learn the lesson this tragic event is trying to teach or we will repeat it over and over. Let the deaths of this past week not have been for nothing.
a bitch is right. we can do something about this now or we'll be headed in the same direction as iraq before too long... teetering on the edge of civil war, and although i'm not living below the poverty line, i know what side i'd be on.
fuck these fucking fuckers who let so many people die so needlessly in the week since katrina. fuck them for not thinking to protect that whole city, and fuck them for not caring to get so many people who had no way out of town the hell away from that squalor.
if there were any justice in this world, bush would be shot with a looted gun while photo-op'ing in the vast graveyard that was once one of our most beautiful cities.
at the very least he needs to be lead the fuck out of the white house, and the sooner the better.
excellent post. i'll point everyone i know toward it.
To my ABB:
Thank you for hearing my concerns. I know I can be a little cynical, but, I promise, I have the best interest of the world in mind.
I also, know poverty all too well. I sold some very personal property (i.e. my iMAC) this weekend to help me overcome the tragic shift from academia to life in the 'real world.' It was sad to see her go. However, I still made time to bring one of my favorite homeless a can of Dr. Pepper (Che can't drink soda no more...Kidney Stones) and a bag of Rap Snacks.
I can't seem to let myself become one of those people who is "all about their own needs." Often (stupidly no doubt), I will give my shirt to a stranger (sorry to any of you who have witnessed Che's half naked body). There is something that goes beyond a feeling of completeness that comes with giving. It's not, contrary to popular belief, a GOOD FEELING that keeps me giving.
It's that whole compassion thing. I see myself in those that need. I see their future changing based on something I do. I realize that in the world, I am a catalyst for positive happenings. (No, I don't suffer from delusions of grandeur (sp?)) but I realize the time to act (which unfortunately, In St. Louis, is every minute of everyday.)
Anyway, "I believe it's the right time for a sublime detonation of a new beginning."
Neglect, hate, poverty and the depreciation of human life in the unappreciative capital system have GOT TO GO.
I'm with ya girl, maybe in the shadows, but our spirits are one in the struggle for new Hope.
Peace and solidarity my sister.
Che
I also likened the Titanic disaster to Hurricane Katrina. The bulk of the deaths in both were of the poor. If you look at many disasters throughout history, that seems to be the unfortunate reoccuring results.
Will Katrina be a wake up call to the upper class and the rich? Has any other disaster done so? Maybe this is the time.
I have never, thank the Lord, experienced poverty. I grit my teeth at people who say they are poor yet have a mortgage and/or a car and/or new clothes. You are not poor. You may live paycheck to paycheck. You may be broke for a few days. But you are not poor. Poor is having nothing.
The rich and upper class have 95% of all the country's money. That's obscene.
I'm with you, ABB. Screw the war on terrorism. That's just smoke and mirrors coming from D.C. They are afraid of the real war - the war on poverty. They know the poor outnumber their asses thousands to one. They remember what happened to the likes of Marie Antoinette and Nicholas II. And they are scared.
Ya know what's funny Peggy. The minute after I wrote about selling my computer I realized that having a computer to sell means I am NOT poor. I'm glad you read what I wrote!! (btw, financial aid bought my computer).
I think it's important that you don't trivialize or judge the poverty-experiences of the people around you. I think that if you want to work for justice, peace, and the deconstruction of the american class system, judgements, and de-humanization of individual poverty will not help. In other words, "don't hate."
My point remains the same:
The promise of "the american dream" and realizing that the resources are NOT AVAILABLE to attain the "american dream" is the true definition of poverty in this country.
selling your resources to survive is a path to poverty. Our government has sold our resources...health care, employment opportunities, etc all so the government can maintain their extravagant functionality.
After years of education,the promise of comfort in the wake of hard work seemed inevitable. However, I have no resources available to me to achieve my goal. Yes, selling my posessions puts me in touch with poverty, granted to a lesser extent than those wandering the streets of St. Louis with nothing. I have no health insurance. I have limited opportunity for resource attainment. But my experiences will not be trivialized.
I just think it's weird that we have no resources, decreasing opportunity for resource accumulation and a declining sense of human value. That was my point.
I mean, I always get yelled at for wanting the world to be equal. Equal on all levels. The problem is, much like here, the US government destroys opportunities for the poverty-striken world and in the meantime gets rich.
Oye! I could go on all day.
And yes, Peggy, I am struggling to survive. I appreciate the fact that I have posessions to sell. However, when dealing with poverty I think it's important to realize poverty is a relative term.
When it comes to revolution or awareness of poverty it's been shown that throughout history it's not always the persistently poor who revolt. It's the NEW POOR...people who had 'things,' freedom (i.e. gasoline for their cars, etc) and had these things immediately taken away. Being new to my growing loss of opportunity, I understand the concept of new poor. Hence, the reason I'm such a wonderful activist (hahah just kidding).
Anyway, I'll stop typing. and sorry for seeming like a big baby...I was all about some self pity lastnight while I was typing.
Peace!
www.katrinasurvivor.net
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