I have been to 38 states, driving or on a train, so I can honestly say that I have seen most of America. Considering the fact that the Entire population of the earth would actually Fit; all be it very uncomfortably (think: ant farm), in the cubic area of the Grand Canyon; I have actually done the math; we have PLENTY of room here. There is absolutely no physical reason for homelessness in the ENTIRE WORLD. There is ONLY ONE REASON for homelessness and poverty in this world: GREED. It is not hatred; hatred is a subtext of greed. Hatred is a devisional tool used by the greedy to manipulate others to do the dirty work.
There are visibly poor people in every state in America. Some states have a lot more poverty than others, namely Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana. They have less homelessness and more poor. The states with least homeless people are Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming. The places with most are California and New York because they are the wealthiest states. Begging is more "lucrative" in their cities and there are more mentally ill people in a larger population. Up to 30% of homeless people are mentally ill with no proper sources of care.
I am so sick of the strange comments on facebook about how some people, namely immigrants (but a lot of other groups get named or implied in the typical classist racist anti immigrant rhetoric), dont deserve to be here and dont deserve to be given any rights in detainment centers. It not only offends me, it TROUBLES me.
We Can Not Go On in this manner.
Today it was implied that immigrants dont deserve emergency medical attention because it costs taxpayers, also implied was that poor people shouldnt get it either because they are dead beats basically. When pressed they went on to say that immigrants who take their children over the border from far flung places are "bad parents". So I responded with this:
Right, so people who work, that dont get paid well, whose employers dont cover with health insurance. who have no money left over to buy insurance because their rent utilities food laundry and gasoline and car insurance and car repair bills are more than they can afford, those people who are single, or married, and have children or dogs or grandparents, they should just go to hell? And guess what, that IS who is going to the ER, hundreds of thousands of them all over america, because their other expenses are so high. The percentage of immigrants who use the ER is lower than the plain old american citizens who cant afford insurance. And those people are NOT deadbeat losers. They are working people with BILLS and kids and cars and grandparents or parents that they support. Many states do Not have appropriate services for adults; Social Security does not pay enough for most seniors to live on; Medicare doesnt cover everything. This is Not an immigrant problem. This is a SOCIAL Issue in our country. Im sure none of you live in alabama west Va. tennessee "missip" florida missouri, s and n dakota, indiana new hampshire, arizona... some of the states that dont have good governments and have really bad systems. The lower middle class is suffering there at the hands of their own stupidity. and someday so will all of you as long as you think like your foolish friends and relatives who keep the corporately funded republican agenda alive by spewing this classist racist rhetoric that you think is somehow righteous. You apparently havent watched your own parent or child or friend die because they didnt have proper care or insurance. You apparently have never lost your job and had to use public services to feed your family, or worse, been denied services and LOST Everything and wound up on the street with 4 kids and grandma. And These Immigrants? they WALK sometimes thousands of miles to get away from their shitty lives and their terrible selfish fat cat governments to escape and find a better life. YOU Cant even BEGIN to Understand Them. Stop acting like you Know Anything. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. IMMIGRANTS ARE PEOPLE TOO.
Of course, he then told me I was too emotional and making it personal and the thing about being bad parents and I responded:
First of all, this Is a personal issue or You wouldnt care and I wouldnt care. This is a personal ISSUE. Secondly, Immigrants are people and they deserve to be treated humanely and given true emergency care regardless of their status. The issue is what our government and the world governments at large do to make this situation one of impinging on the middle class tax payer in america, read: you. You care because its your dollar. If our government gave you health care with your tax dollar this would be a non issue and we could talk about illegal entry. Lets take this ER thing off the table. Its a non issue because frankly the trillions of dollars of tax payer money that the govt spent on war is really the reason why we cant have national health care today, oh and corporate insurance greed. Not immigration. So your taxes, and your dollars are in the wind because of our governments and the world at large being sick greedy fucks in each others pockets screwing every living person out of a decent life in every way that they can to keep their easy cake jobs and their fancy cars and trophy wives. Not the poor suffering bastards who you just called bad parents. Wait, I just realized, you said that. That is really screwed up. Why am I bothering to to explain anything to you? I mean What??!! Bad parents? Dude... YOU SUCK.
and then I laughed for a few minutes and then I blocked him.
But that isnt the answer to this issue. The Moral Issue of Our LIFETIME is at hand my friends. We have martyrs already. IT IS ON.
The other day I was inspired to write this:
IF WE IMAGINE, for a moment, that the Border is Real, and that our government is justly founded and legitimate and that all of us, its citizens, are not illegal immigrant criminals; if we put aside the fact that the US is full of white people who seized and stole this country from the indigenous tribes thereby making the border an utterly imaginary, non-thing that we think is rational and real... Then what exactly are we saying here? That for some weird reason... it is acceptable that "other" people are being treated badly in this country by government agencies and police? And this Bad Treatment, what are the parameters by which you measure it's acceptability? And these "other" people, these "aliens", what are the qualifiers for their acceptability?
You're not really ready to make those distinctions are you? To say 39 hours is okay for a child to be locked in a van, but 42 hours, now that would be bad.
And this idea of "other" is really out of hand folks. Get a grip. WE are the "aliens".
What the hell is wrong with everybody? FACE IT, FACE THIS: WE are the descendants of Criminals, Land Thieves and Murderers. WE ARE THE ILLEGAL ALIEN IMMIGRANTS.
It is Outrageous Hubris how we stomp around this place like entitled babies grabbing at things with our sweaty baby hands saying "Thats mine, Gimme that! wah wah" and making putrid messes everywhere on everything and scratching the "other" childrens faces and just having a tantrum ALL of the Time!!!
As per the laws and protocols of the United States Immigration Department you are not illegal if you come to the border and ask to come in, that is an asylum seeker, or a legitimate immigration applicant. You are not even considered illegal if you try to cross without asking, you are then a detainee, awaiting process. You are "illegal" if you got in and didnt tell anyone and stayed and made money, but that still doesnt make you a criminal before the entry, and even if you were a criminal, why should you be treated INHUMANELY?
If One is rational, One would be predisposed to be considerate and fair to ANY person who comes to the "border" here, bearing in mind that One is ALSO an Illegal Alien, from a long family line of Illegal Aliens, who were quite possibly criminals, land theives, murderers... One might have the utmost humility and respect for those whose may have suffered and died at the hands of one's forefathers and for those descendants now sitting before you, awaiting Your Judgment.
