Poverty Pimps...

Image Source
Koch Brothers vs. Rupert Murdock: The Fight for the Tribune Newspapers
Conner Simpson, The Atlantic

 © May 24, 2021, the Griot Poet

(Listening to Moral Monday, Dr. William James Barber II)

 

“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made, and it can be overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.” Nelson Mandela

 

It is the reason,

The ultra-rich’s opposition

To reparations, a living wage,

Universal healthcare,

A universal basic income,

The 1619 Project,

Accurate history,

Basic human decency,

Exists:

 

[This] is about control,

Of resources,

Of money,

Of where you live,

Or, who you love,

Of life and death,

Of standing pat in our assigned castes,

For generations,

Since the founding of the republic,

It’s why the KKK isn’t on the FBI most wanted list as domestic terrorists,

It’s why from the slave patrols to police unions, qualified immunity can’t be touched,

It’s about power, not justice,

Concentrating wealth,

In the hands of the one percent,

 

Billionaires are poverty pimps,

As taxes go, they don’t pay shit,

Ask Jeff Bezos about that,

Intervening in the seemingly innocuous,

Like school board elections,

Their direct minions

Work in the Senate and the House of Representatives,

150 separate corporate entities controlled what went in newspapers, magazines, radio, television,

In 1980,

In 2021: that number is SIX!

Six control the content

We see

In newspapers, magazines,

Radio, television, Internet,

PARTICULARLY social media,

[Where] malevolent confederate fascists,

Can openly plan an insurrection,

In plain sight,

 

“There was no insurrection. Calling it an insurrection is a bald-faced lie. If you didn’t know the TV [footage] was from January 6; you’d actually think it was a normal tourist visit.” Andrew Clyde, (R-GA), May 5, 2021

 

[This] is the same dimwit,

Photographed freaking out

Behind Secret Service,

Guns were drawn to greet the group of “normal tourists.”

Who spread feces and urine?

In the halls of the Capitol,

Killed a police officer,

Another committed suicide,

One lost three fingers,

Another an eye,

 

I’m sure it happens all the time

At Disney, Universal, Six Flags, and Carowinds!

 

[In HuffPost] D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone says Republican riot-denial “is an assault on every officer that fought to defend the Capitol.”

The insurrectionists tried to kill him with his [own] weapon,

He rightly called out their bullshit,

 

It’s easy to amass wealth,

Just keep the masses warring with themselves,

Don’t let them think,

Read about science, write poetry, music, meditate,

Keep them on a knife’s edge,

“Cancel culture” is the new “war on Christmas,”

With made-up separations,

“Us,” versus “them,”

Blanche versus Melanin,

Crack addicts, versus opioid crisis,

Right, versus left,

Big Lies, versus truth,

Local, cable, versus streaming video,

Atomize the masses into tribal factions,

While Grand Pooh-Bah potentates

Lives behind high gates,

In heavily-armed Cul de sacs,

The plan is to build their dark utopia,

On the carcasses of the unfortunate damned,

 

I end this piece with a quote by David Attenborough:

 

“If you take 100 red ants and 100 black [ants] and put them in a jar; nothing will happen. If you were to take that jar and shake it violently and leave it on the table, the ants will start killing themselves!

 

Red believes that black is the enemy, while black believes red is the enemy when the real enemy is the person who shook the jar.

 

The same is true in society.

Men vs. women

Black vs. white

Faith vs. Science

Young vs. old

Etc.

Before we fight each other, we must ask ourselves:

Who shook the jar?”

-David Attenborough