Discourse Community

A discourse community is improtant to form social and business connections. I think that it is important to know about dicourse communities because of the certain lingo and words used in certain professions. The language used is unique and specific to the field that the group is affiliated with.

American Puppet

Life is an interesting thing to critique. A critical analysis of life can be overwhelmed with uniqueness. A lot of people may imitate what is seen in movies or on television, which would lack originality, but the bizarre fixations that happen in life are completely unique and original. The way imitations from movies and television which support racism and form the racial constructions that remain still today throughout society. However the way someone endures these racial constructions throughout the person’s life is again original. The authenticity of life itself offers a critical autobiography a novel that could weekly be updated and re-issued. My endurance through these very common actions like divorce, racism, the conservative teaching structures of elementary and high schools, and how it has formed me into who I am today. That is what this chapter will focus on.
I grew up in a predominantly white town, to a mother who is a first generation Mexican American and a father that is Caucasian American growing up I don’t remember my mom being around much because she had a problem with alcohol so we, my little sister and I, were either with my dad, at the babysitter, or with my mom’s parents. My mom and dad’s divorce was difficult to cope with but it was not really hard because I was old enough to realize that what my mom was doing was wrong. I was five years old and my sister was only two years old, so out of the two of us she had a harder time coping with the divorce throughout her childhood. I think the fact that my sister was a female that it made it harder on her as well not having mom around. I don’t have any hard feelings towards my mom because I think she went through something I am not aware of while she was growing up and she used alcohol to get through her problems. Being educated to the level that I am today I understand why she wasn’t there for us growing up and I have forgiven her for not being there for me when I was young. Now my mother has turned the page in life and is there for us in anyway she can. That is what I cherish the most is that she has conquered her alcohol dependence and is now able to be there for her children.
Because of my dad working forty to fifty hours a week we stayed at our mom’s parents house a lot. My grandparents taught me the importance of family in Mexican tradition. The unique rituals that are sacred, the culture that is strong and very different from American culture, the tales that my grandparents shared all have instilled me with Mexican pride. This installation of pride that I had obtained in my childhood combined with the things I continue to learn about everyday has helped me form into a better rounded individual whose proud to be from Mexican ancestry. As I began to analyze the Mexican traditional structure of family I realized how closely bonded the whole family (cousins, uncles and aunts, etc.) was and well we all get along during the holidays. These beautiful experiences has made me appreciate my heritage and who I am. Though being proud of my Mexican heritage, I was often made to feel inferior throughout my childhood because of the racial constructions that even elementary students pick up on. I often fit in early in elementary school because I had my fathers surname and I am not a darker skin toned Mexican. However I had a minority state of mind so I began to show how I differed from the rest of the students at the school. The racial jokes that I heard in elementary school angered me whether about Mexicans or any other minority group. I decided not to make a scene but then when I heard a joke that referred to Mexicans and I saw two other Mexican Americans laughing at the joke, I came out of my inferior shell and said what was on my mind. That day in fifth grade I realized that I needed to accept that I need an education but I don’t need racist friends who will not accept me for who I am. I began to just attend school to get an education. I also began to focus on baseball a lot in junior high school which was fun but I played with all those guys that ridiculed me. I found the guys to be friendlier to me during baseball season than the rest of the school year. The realization of this made me have to make a decision whether to accept this or quit baseball. I decided that I shouldn’t let the actions of others keep me from playing a sport I loved, so I continued to play. I began to lead other baseball players from being so closed minded and convinced them to hang out with some of my minority friends. I think a lot of them realized that they were racist because they feared what they didn’t know, being white and growing up around all white people. This little gesture opened up the minds that had preconceived notions about minorities because of what they learned from media and their racist family members. This is when I realized I wanted to be a leader for minority groups in general. I felt that we can’t just assimilate and laugh with them about jokes that are degrading to society. Leading by example is what I have tried to do since then. Being a leader is something I feel I obtained when I started to try and change the racial constructs in my school. Racism is an issue that can be debated for years, but the historical hold that race carries is powerful still today and will continue because it is profitable in a capitalistic society. The government shows acts of racism everyday when they give their opinions on immigration and border control. Racism equals money in American society from the urban wear (South Pole, Sean Jean, ENYCE, etc.) to the popular wear (Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostale, Old Navy, etc.). Enduring racism and trying to make sense of it has helped me also feel like I need to lead by example and prove stereotypes wrong, but in doing so I am making more money for the government that lets media instill racism still in society. These are issues that I struggle with today in life whether anything can really change and not just look like change but have hidden loopholes to benefit the dominant class. When I think of life critically these questions are what come to mind a lot throughout life on why all white European countries and the United States have racial privilege for the white race. The other thing that critique in my life is the conservative teaching style that I went through all my life from kindergarten thru twelfth grade. All these classes were constructed to make students of mass numbers to be submissive to teachers (who are definitely the minority in population in comparison to the student body). This construction is perfect to set the population to submit decisions to be made by the minority government as well throughout life. The next problem with the education process was my inability to think for myself. Many students even at a young age ask questions about everything and question what really true, but in school we are taught things to memorize and we are not able to question the validity of what it is we learned it was taken as fact and no student discussions were taken into account.

My thoughts

Reminisce

The thoughts that I have elaborated on in this class have made me form into a very different individual than when I first entered. I have been opened up to a new frame of mind and I have learned to appreciate the voices that no one tends to listen too, the voices of Latina’s and Chicana Lesbians. The thought of reading this stuff in class was odd to me at first because it is not a method usually chosen by a professor. I learned through this class the Chicana interpretation of Chingar and of the male oriented society we live in today. The struggles that a women that made it to the United States trying to get the rest of her family to the United States and how they are overlooked and unheard. These struggles that the Chicana goes through are often never discussed and we blame society and the image portrayed towards women and worse the image of lesbians. Many things that I have never chose to pay attention to or that I have not analyzed have occurred in my life and more importantly my mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmas lives. The struggles that I live with everyday being half white and half Mexican is no where near the struggles that these women go through. I have lots of respect for these women and for what they have to endure throughout their lifetimes. An example could be taken from the movie Mi Familia, where the mother traveled all the way back through hell and high water after being deported to reunite her family and be with her husband.
I think that the open to input way of learning that happened in this class though quiet at times benefits all because it gives a student perspective on things and helps the professor decide what way to swing the conversation. I also liked how the material always gave us something to talk about, it was controversial at times but it always made you think. I liked being able to have the freedom to write what was affecting my life at that time on my responses and just incorporate some of those issues talked about in class with my experiences in everyday life. I like having that freedom of not always having to follow the guidelines that were set, especially if it is something that you feel passionate about than you are given the freedom to discuss those issues you feel so strongly about that really affect your life. I know in my papers I wrote about what was on my mind at the time, though I was not always vocal in class, I found myself talking about a lot of Latino and Chicana issues that were brought up in class with my friends and family. That connection is great because it is good to see what you are learning or discussing in class is used in real life conversations. In away I feel that the things that are learned and carried out in that manner are the things that you remember its not memorizing and taking a test and being done with it and forget it, (banking method) it is something that struck a chord in your brain to where you analyzed and discussed it and I think because of that it will be better remembered and not forgotten.
The class has also opened a can of worms within myself on how uncomfortable I am with America today. A country that doesn’t care what minorities have done for it to flourish, all the free labor that it had through slavery and the cheap labor they get now by exploiting poorer economies throughout the world or what we call third world labor. How can America get away with exploiting workers by accepting them into America but when they don’t need the help anymore just treat them like criminals or illegal aliens so they can justify to send them back. Gerald Lopez states his hypothesis of the push-pull theory as: “Where there is substantial economic disparity between two adjoining countries and the potential destination country promotes de jure or de facto, access to its substantially superior minimal wage, that promotion encourages migrants to reasonably rely on the continuing possibility of migration, employment, and residence, until a competitive economic alternative is made available in the source country” (Lopez 93). However America will do its best to ensure Mexico will not get to that point. It angers me how America is nothing but a racist thief that has robbed minorities for over two hundred years and yet imprisons five times more minorities than they do majority (white people).The racist laws we have learned about like 187 are laws that are being put in by whites in California, is it because they fear that they are the minority so it makes them feel inferior so racism and re-issuing stereotypes helps them to feel superior again. Delgado talks about stuff like this in The American Apocalypse when he states: “The U.S. will have a system of apartheid, in effect, with whites wielding power over a large but increasingly powerless black and brown population of laborers and domestics” (Delgado 293). This is evident in California already in many circumstances. All this but it has to be better than it was in the 60’s and 70’s because we feel no need for a movement, today we have conceited to hegemony and are just pawns in a white system that has outwitted us thus far, but we are becoming better educated as minorities and I just hope that the minority intellectuals of today and the future can take counter-hegemonic stories and change hegemony in this country for the betterment of all minorities. This class has continued to open my eyes and my mind to many new ways of looking at the Latino struggle and they are issues that I will consider and reconsider from here on throughout my life.

Chicano Rights Movement

We have been learning about the Chicano Rights Movement and how it affected the last 5 decades. We have learned about the United Farm workers movement and we also have learned about the Chicano movement for a better education and equal civil rights. I learned the vital roles that Cesar Chavez and Corky Gonzalez played in the movement but I also learned how vital women like Delores Huerta were in the success of the Chicano movement. The question you asked the class about are we Latinos on this campus content with the way everything in this community and the surrounding area. I began to think about that question really hard and I don’t know why we are content with the way things are going because we are still paying more for college than other college students in other states and we are still facing racism like a local bartender throwing out a Latino male for speaking Spanish. The other bars/clubs like Uptown and Sky Bar have dress codes that are biased towards certain ethnic groups. But yet we still use these facilities because we are content? Or is it because we fear the repressive state apparatuses like the Bowling Green Police Department? I think that it has to do with Latinos in this generation being duped in believing that we are equal and that we are Americans, and they give us that sense that we are better than our Latino brothers and sisters from our actual homelands and they want those people to believe that we think we are better so that keeps us divided and content with being an American when it is beneficial to America. The same question you brought up about why we are not picketing in front of establishments like uptown are the same thoughts that I have but I think to many people in LSU fear what might happen, they say they don’t feel that it has reached that level yet but I think it needs to reach that level if we ever want to end racist dress code profiling that certain clubs in Bowling Green use. I know the big argument that these club owners and staff use to justify the dress code policy is safety, but I don’t know how my safety can be threatened by someone’s hat being slanted to the side or by someone who is wearing a white T-shirt, if they want to ensure safety than they need to install a metal detector and throw this racial profiling out the window. When I see the videos and I see the people out there protesting what they feel isn’t right I feel proud and I also question the things that we could protest that we don’t. We try one night marches and what not but we haven’t done anything that has taken notice by the city, I think in order for the protest to be successful you have to stir the pot get the Polices attention and the peoples attention you can get peoples attention by protesting until you do not just for a couple hours. The things that we are doing right now is we are going to these clubs purposely dressed against their dress code and seeing if it is race that plays an issue. We are documenting what each person was wearing with a written description and photo along with what clubs let them in and what clubs did not let them in. I think this is good to have a record of events and what not but I don’t feel that the owner of Uptown is going to care with these results as much as he would if we were outside protesting and getting people to go to another club I think the only way to get the owners attention would be his club empty on a weekend night. Like I stated before I think that a few people have thought about these methods but no one has stepped up to lead in protesting because of the fear. Fear of getting in trouble with the law, fear of not having the support of your people, or the fear of being labeled a terrorist. All in all I think that just maybe the government has been successful in forming us to be the humble and content spics that the government wants in society today.

One Mexican-american's thought

The United States of America is a country that was formed by Europeans (mainly English) who were not happy in England so they invaded what is now America and killed, tricked, and stole land from the native people that were here. These Americans were the first true “Wetbacks” to set foot on this land. Mexico was a land formed by indigenous victory over European powers France and Spain. Mexico was a land of great size and potential wealth in land resources like gold and crude oil, however the first relationship problems occurred when Americans found out about these potential wealthy opportunities and decided to cause a war with Mexico. Mexico could have chosen to sell the land, but since they declared not to do so, America took up its role of dominatrix yet again and steal more land by going to war with Mexico. This war led to an American victory and more wealth then they could have imagined at that time. However this led to problems because the border now extended south and now many indigenous looking not white people were now American citizens. Now Immigration is interesting because you have family members that now have been separated by a border that is agreed on by the governments but not the people. The people have to choose to stay at their homes and go through new racial injustices and language barriers to stay at what they know is home but now seems foreign or move south to what is now Mexico. Abraham Lincoln once said about America “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” however in my opinion nowadays it is “government for the people with money, by the people with money, and for the people with money.”
Now that I have given a little background on how these two countries started their relationship, I am going to acknowledge America’s hunger for wealth and racial homogeneity, by examining Americas programs for Mexican workers which helped to ensure more wealth for America, and by examining racial bills that have proved the want for racial homogeneity. America is a country that strives on making money at any cost (death of soldiers in war to exploiting immigrants for cheap labor) and because of the hunger for wealth they issued programs for Agribusiness to survive like making the Mexicans an exception to the Immigration Act of 1917. “In 1920 the alien land law was passed in the State of California which restricted the ability of noncitizens to own land.”(Johnson 110) This is an example of the begining, of what I think, is the want for racial homogeneity. Now to show that America is all about the money and not the people is the deportation of three hundred thousand Mexican and Mexican-Americans that didn’t have proper documents upon request during the “Great Depression”. Some of the people deported had never been to Mexico before, imagine not knowing anything about a country that you are assumed to be from and having to adapt to survive at least until you can get to an embassy or immigration station. This halted the immigration flow until World War II when the need for more agricultural workers was needed again so the Bracero program was started by the American government. The Bracero program was a wide-scale labor contract made with Mexico. The American government knew that the Mexicans were willing to work for low wages and in inhumane work conditions, but after about ten years of this program Americans start to realize they can tell the difference between Mexican-Americans and Mexicans. This leads to in “1954 “Operation WetBack” which was portrayed by mass media as a National Security issue.” (Garcia 119) This led to the deportation of over one million Mexicans and yet again Mexican-Americans that didn’t have documents upon request and the restriction of the border, which also led to the beginning of the “undocumented immigrant.” This also is where I think that the racial homogeneity thoughts continued and can be seen in the actions of America. Now immigration was put on the back burner until the birth of proposition 187. Proposition 187 was possible because of what is called an initiative process. “Initiative process is an exception to the general rule, affords voters themselves the opportunity to directly enact laws. The initiative, consistent with its progressive era roots, often is regaled as a populist tool that may force change on a government captured by special interests. In this spirit, initiatives have furthered a number of laudable goals in some states, including eliminating the poll tax and extending the franchise to women” (Johnson 110). Proposition 187 “the measure would bar state and local governments in California from providing non-emergency medical care, public assistance, social services, and education to undocumented immigrants. It would further require California law enforcement, health and social service agencies, and public school officials to report persons suspected of being undocumented to the Immigration and Naturalization Service(INS)” (Johnson 110). The question that was brought out by people that opposed proposition 187 is whether Proposition 187 is racist? I believe that it was racially motivated and that the white Californians feared becoming the minority in California and losing power to Mexican Americans, so subconsciously or consciously the white Californians are forming the thought of racial homogeneity. The question whether Proposition 187 might properly be classified as racist, however is deeply complicated. Part of its support comes from its concerns with the fiscal consequences of undocumented immigration. Some voters undoubtedly were fearful of a loss of control of their culture, society, and lives. Others, however, were motivated by the desire to halt the flow of Mexican Immigrants to the United States and to hasten their return to Mexico. Others were unabashedly anti-Mexican, regardless of the immigration status of the persons” (Johnson 111). I also think that all of this wouldn’t had happened if Mexicans spoke English, were somewhat wealthy, and were white; they wouldn’t have any problems with them “taking over California.” Other examples that I obtained from Kevin Johnson’s article that helps with this issue of racial homogeneity were actual quotes from what white people with powerful positions really think about “Illegal Aliens” The Proposition 187 media director for southern California had this to say “Proposition 187 is a logical step toward saving California from economic ruin. By flooding the state with 2 million illegal aliens to date, and increasing that figure each of the following 10 ears, Mexicans in California would number 15 million to 20 million by 2004. During those 10 years about 5 million to 8 million Californians would have emigrated to other states. If these trends continued, a Mexico-controlled California could vote to establish Spanish as the sole language of California, 10 million more English speaking Californians could flee, and there could be a statewide vote to leave the union and annex California to Mexico”(Johnson 112). Howard Ezell, who was the Western Regional Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, had been quoted a few times and he would definitely make Neo-Nazis and the KKK proud with these comments. “Illegal Aliens should be caught, skinned, and fried…. The mindset on the part of Illegal Aliens, is to commit crimes. The first law they break is to be here illegally. The attitude from then on is, I don’t have to obey your laws…. The people are tired of watching their state run wild and become a third world country” (Johnson 113). The last person has a very creative mind as well, she is passionate about her cause. A Proposition 187 drafter it really is her cause that she is trying to make a law that racially discriminates not just Mexicans but South and Central Americans and even some American citizens. All this fits the Racial homogeneity the brainwashing that associates being American is being white. One of the drafters of Proposition 187 Barbara Coe had these things to get off her mind when it comes to Illegal aliens and notice when she speaks if you feel a strong racial intent in her choice of words. “You get illegal alien children, Third World Children, out of our schools, and you will reduce the violence. That is a Fact…You’re not dealing with a lot of shiny face, little kiddes… You’re dealing with Third World cultures who come in, they shoot, they beat, they stab and they spread their drugs around in our school systems. And we’re paying for them to do it… My friends have never heard a racist word out of me. I just don’t like wetbacks” (Johnson 114). These types of feelings of hatred towards human beings makes you wonder why Mexico is still willing to put up with humility of their people and it also shows the evilest creation of all time money and how powerful it really has become. All this further complicates the immigration policies between the United States of America and Mexico.
The next issue that has effected the immigration flow of Mexicans into the United States and how the Mexicans are viewed in the United States at that current time is mass medias portrayal of Mexicans, on the news, television sitcoms, and in movies. The examples I am going to examine come from to sources: the first source is Celluloid Immigrant which was an article that was read by the class this semester. The other source is The Border According to Hollywood: The Three Caballeros, Pancho, and the Latin Senoritas. Both of the sources analyze stereotypes that have formed through popular mass media devices and informed the people that all Mexicans are a certain way. The mere fact that subconsciously Americans believe what is seen and heard from mass media outlets, until an American can personally change his/her mindset to accept the fact that these images are negative stereotypes and that mass media portrayals are either completely falsified or only pertain to a select few. The sources list movies as playing an influential role in stereotyping Mexicans. Another problem with stereotypes portrayed in these movies is how the stereotypes tend to be carried in the minds of the American viewer and passed down generation by generation and as a result stereotypes become hard to eradicate. The existence of these stereotypes are still seen in popular television shows today. Some of these shows are Desperate Housewives (ABC) and the OC (FOX) which both have shown the stereotypical Mexican gardeners and nannies. This is a common stereotype which suggests the only kind of work a Mexican man can do in America is either picking fruits and vegetables or taking care of a houses landscaping, and the Mexican woman in America can either be a nanny or maid. Celluloid Immigrant analyzes The Border According to Hollywood analyzes some popular American comedy films that portray the border towns of Mexico as an unpleasant place to visit unless someone is looking for trouble, sex , or drugs. The comedies Maciel analyzes are Losing It, The Three Amigos, and Born In East L.A.. The film Losing It took place in a bordertown called Tijuana “Tijuana is portrayed as a sleazy, dirty, criminal, and despicable area” (Maciel 223). The Three Amigos took place in a Mexican border town that portrayed the image that these Mexican border towns were inferior to the towns and cities that border Mexico on the United States side.

Patriotism at its finest!

Under the wings of an Angel named Che, I hope to change this rigorous and unfair way of life we have in this United States of America. Death fell to the arms of a man that died fighting the very system that strives today in America. A system that makes the rich richer and the middle class slowly heading down to poverty. Today the gap between rich and poor furthers on a weekly basis. Poverty annoys my soul as it did Che, the poor hearts do not feel morality when the poor are not shown any morality by the rich. A system that is in comparison to the great Roman Empire, by having standing military bases all over the world. An Empire that has its President viewed as the most powerful position in the world, that has no real boundaries on what the President can do, The President is an Untouchable when it comes to world policy. An Empire that Che accused of ruining the economies of all South and Central American countries to enrich their own economy. An accusation that seemed extreme and was seen as not true, is now being seen as truth by everyone that wants to acknowledge reality. All the countries that America tried to help in Central and South America are still on the lower end of economic ladders but yet exploitation of raw resources were consumed by the American Empire. Under the wings of an Angel named Che, I hope to exploit these travesties by a written ballad on the American Empire, Though this revolutionary used armed combat I have realized that the only true way to fight the Empire and avoid death is to use the freedom of speech and hope that my voice can be heard. Che will not rest peacefully until the people of exploitation get what they deserve. An empire is only as strong as its people make it and I hope that the people stop believing everything that Peter Jennings, Katie Couric, and Brian Williams say and question certain propaganda issues. Che would be disgusted of the propaganda brought forth in today’s news to divert the attention from the unplanned and quite lengthy time we have had soldiers in Iraq. Propaganda that has our citizens focused on border and illegal immigration issues, that have no relevance to any terrorism other than racial profiling that suggests that Mexicans and the Labeled Terrorists look alike and can blend well amongst each other. Mexicans have done nothing but helped American society throughout history and will continue into the future whether by doing jobs that the United States citizen views as to good for or by rebuilding federal buildings that white labeled terrorists like Timothy McVeigh blew up. The border issues shouldn’t be focused in Mexico, they should be focused on the Canadian border which has had the only true proof of a terrorist entrance into the United States.
This is the kinds of propaganda you see in the news instead of hearing about the gap between rich and poor. “The White House professes to be untroubled about economy issues. Average after-tax income per person, President Bush often points out, has risen by more than 8% since he took office, once inflation is taken into account. He is right, but his claim is misleading, since the median worker—the one in the middle of the income range—has done less well than the average, whose gains are pulled up by the big increases of those at the top of the Economic ladder” (Economist). Privately, some policymakers admit that the recent trends have them worried. The statistics suggest that the economic boom may fade and Americans still head to the shops and spend, but it is falling savings rates and rising debts, not real income growth, that keep Most U.S. citizens purchasing merchandise of some sort everyday. A bust of some kind could lead to widespread political hostility. Eventually, if things carry on like this for long enough, we are going to end up like Brazil. Brazil has been notorious for the concentration of its income and wealth throughout its history. Several new studies show parental income to be a better predictor of whether someone will be rich or poor in America. Under the wings of an Angel named Che, I hope to exploit these cover ups by the American Government that wants all to keep spending and not pay attention to these economic discrepancies. What deceit, we are all unaware of what the Empire is really doing because most citizens are so busy trying to make money to support their families that they are unable to comprehend what form America really is taking currently and preparing for the future, the world power that bullies all other countries and exploits them for their resources and possible economic growth beneficial to the United States future. This is evident in every country we have occupied, had political, or military influence in, whether it is for crude oil, installment of American products, or for any other political interest of benefit. As life goes on and I still try to figure out who I am and what it is I want the outcome to be, I don’t know the answer but I do know that deceit, fear, and propaganda are not the methods that I feel are appropriate to get the general backing of the people in society. We grow up taught to tell the truth but we have been lied to as citizens of this country our whole lives, whether it be the American history full of fallacies we were taught in grade school or the news we watch daily on the National broadcast stations we are lied to. We are forced to educate ourselves but some can’t do that because they need to work and have no time to educate the most important tool any man or woman possesses which is the mind. The information is out there to educate the general public on what I call the propaganda roller coaster of fear. Fear is used as a mind control tool that helps the general public be more submissive to decisions. Fear is what let the American citizens give congress the power to pass things like the Patriot Act, which led to many people just disappearing for a week and find out they were being detained as prisoners and interrogated about any relation to Al-Qaeda. The Military Commissions Act 2006 has now been passed with no citizen upheaval? How can the President of the United States do what he did to get this bill passed. Our checks and balances system is in place to prevent the president and congress to much power, we learned this in any American Government class. The Supreme Court tried to put some light on this unconstitutional bill already which had, and still has no disregard for civil liberties. The Supreme Court ruled in June that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and International law, this is supposed to be that check into balance, however Bush urged Congress to change the law during a speech on Sept. 6 in the White House East Room conveniently attended by families of the Sept. 11, 2001, victims. He also insisted that the law authorize Central Intelligence Agents to use tough; yet unspecified methods to interrogate suspected terrorists.
Under the wings of an Angel named Che, I hope to change the country for the better by trying to illustrate and make public the real truth of what our government is really doing now and for the future. Though these are elected officials the truth is that if a voting citizen of this country writes his/her Representative or Senator about their only child and how he/she wishes they would bring the troops home, then the Senator or Representative opens a letter from a contractor like Haliburton that says of the money that can be made for the future with contractual work for companies like Haliburton and a good amount of money is offered to be made by that Senator or Representative, than sorry to that family and every other family with loved ones there but they are staying in Iraq. Where is the democracy in any of the decision making by the politician here? This shows the haunting truth that politicians are taking monetary benefits to send voting citizens children to war and the money to be made from this is like the price tag for the citizens lives and if the politician feels the monetary benefit is enough then the vote for war is easier to make despite the deaths of some of it’s citizens. These types of things are happening and many people are blinded from it because we don’t realize that we have been in some sort of war for the past 15 years and yet we continue to back these decisions by voting the same people into office or by not taking civil action against these travesties. Under the wings of an angel named Che, I cry for the citizens of this country and I also cry because I ask myself a question everyday when I wake up that I don’t think many people realize the closeness of reality of this question if we don’t change our Imperialistic ways. The question is, where does the American government expect us to go when the bombs fall?
The threats we have are our own fault. Any problem we have today with terrorist groups are the result of our interference or interactions in the world in history. We as citizens seem to live in amnesia. We don’t remember what we personally did last month, let alone comprehend what our country has done in the past to most of these labeled terrorist groups – to exploit them for American interests. Then once these people realize they are being exploited, or the United States has no use for their services, they are discarded like old laundry.
This is evident with our most targeted labeled terrorist – Osama Bin Laden, who originally was pro-America and Anti-Russia. During the Cold War, the United States exploited his services. But Osama figured out that he and his followers were being exploited, and that the United States had no need for him after the Cold War ended. Yet this exploitation and other U.S. decisions to protect its resource interests in Saudi Arabia have angered Osama and his followers. Now they are the main target of the Labeled terrorists.
Many historians have been quoted by saying “history repeats itself.” That is something that needs to be understood by all citizens right now. They need to realize the Roman Empire fell, the great French Empire fell, the great Spanish Empire fell, and our Founders the great England fell, so if it’s true which it has been thus far then we are the next to fall somehow. George Washington stated such warnings in his farewell address in 1796: “A passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions” (Washington Farewell).
All of the European powers of old also know we are heading down the wrong path but the citizens of America don’t understand because the propaganda of deceit and fear, which keeps us ignorant of history and the possibility of repeating itself.
Under the wings of an angel named Che, I hope to form my own Trojan horse trick to put the balance back in a country where less than five percent has the money and power, while the remainder is left trying to hold up the weight – many working for exploited wages or in horrific work conditions – and defending the economic and political interests of that less than five percent, which we still call defending our country. That promotes wealth and prosperity to the elite group while it brings sorrow and poverty to the foot soldiers of today’s society. While the children of the elite grow up with any monetary or educational benefit they want, the children of the middle class working parents, soldiers, or poor grow up fatherless, motherless, or in a dire fight to get a college education, even though it may never accumulate the benefits that an elite child’s college education would.
Under the wings of an angel named Che, I wonder if I am a “terrorist” or one of the only true patriotic people to still exist questioning every governmental decision and following the words of our great Founding Fathers of this country who always warned to keep an eye on your government. Many things that our government has adopted or enacted have been warned by historical American figures as dangers to the prosperity of our countries future. In George Washington’s farewell address he warns of dangers that can occur in the gaining of to much wealth and power. Washington states: Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other” (Washington farewell address). He is stating that by the United States having an overgrown military power it is a threat to our liberty and well being. Another President’s farewell address that had very ironic warnings in them was that of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower talks about the acknowledged military power as not bad if used properly. “We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment” (Eisenhower farewell). The military always claims that it is for human betterment, but they keep quiet the monetary implications that these wars bring currently. The monetary implications are also talked about in Eisenhower’s farewell speech when states: “Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist” (Eisenhower farewell). The interesting thing about that part of the speech is in his original speech he had prepared he called the military-industrial complex, the military-congressional-industrial complex which makes even more sense in present day because the congress is heavily involved in hearing contract bids from these military industries and accepting monetary perks in voting which industry gets the federal contract. The military-congressional-industrial complex is something that needs to be viewed by all citizens because they need to know that though these military industries employ a great number of people across America it also opens up another debate about war itself. The federal government accepts contracts to continue the success of these military industries but in order to continue contracts for new military equipment wars need to be fought. Though I believe that the complex doesn’t create wars it makes it easier for politicians to go to war when a conflict is brought to the center of attention. People may argue the truth behind this statement but the facts are that we have been in some sort of war for the past

Works Cited

Inequality in America: The rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
Jun 15th 2006 WASHINGTON, DCFrom The Economist print edition
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7055911

My name is Ryan Kreischer, I am very political and racial minded, I am a constant critic of the U.S. Government and of U.S. Media and popular culture. Historical figures that I admire and study are people like Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Emiliano Zapata, and other counter-hegemonic individuals that find problems with Imperialism and racism.