Self-determination

If a person wants to drive me crazy, all she has to do is espouse some version of fatalism.  The notion that individuals are powerless and have little influence over the course of their lives or that of their community or country.  The belief that circumstances are entirely up to fate and pre-determined by invisible forces drives me crazy.  I come from an opposite perspective, believing in self-determination and that individuals and groups working together have the power to improve their lives, communities, the country and even the world.
The fatalist doesn’t bother to vote because he believes his vote doesn’t matter and that politicians will do what they want anyway.  The fatalist doesn’t protest because she believes that the voices and fists raised in opposition of oppressive laws and policies won’t make any difference.  The fatalist doesn’t write to his representative because he doesn’t think that person will care what he has to say.  The fatalist doesn’t give to non-governmental agencies because she believes her few dollars won’t make a dent in the problem.  The fatalist spends his time dealing with being acted upon rather than acting to have a say in shaping the world he has to live in.  I’m grateful that my family and teachers never fomented that sense of powerlessness in me.

From a young age, I refused to accept that the horror I experienced in life was the way it had to be.  I believed that I could work to change my home, my school, my community, my country, and that with the right motivation, energy, and strategy, I could work with like-minded others to change the world.  I hadn’t thought about how powerful my mother made me feel at age 13 when she gave me a budget to redecorate the family bathroom myself after I complained about its appearance.  She empowered me, enabled me, and encouraged me to effect change in our home.   And I did!

It also helped that I grew up during the Civil Rights Movement.  I became empowered as I listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches and watched the marches on television.  I was in Detroit for the 1967 riot that killed 43 people and destroyed much of our neighborhood.  At the time I was terrified by the violence that surrounded us and wondered how it had come to this.  I still recall my grandfather sitting in the darkness of the living room with a gun across his lap prepared to defend us.  The riots taught me that outrage most be vented by the right strategy.  The city endured five days of self-destruction because Black people were rightly fed up with the current circumstances having to deal with poverty, discrimination, and police brutality.  The lack of opportunities and relegation to second class citizenship was unacceptable and people were angry enough to demand change by the most violent means available.  The problem was that we destroyed our own neighborhoods and ultimately only hurt ourselves, gaining nothing in the process.

Change strategies matter.  I don’t want groups to get to the point again where violence feels like the best option, but we are heading in a direction that has the potential to lead to violence if we don’t use the other means available to us to effect change.  This administration continues to incite white people to believe that their lives are under threat by people of color and immigrants.  When that happens minorities will again feel the bonds of discrimination and oppression tighten.  It is frightening to know that while we listen to stupid tweets filled with lies, misrepresentations, and all manner of false accusations and cover ups, this administration is silently eating away at the fabric of our democracy.  All while the Congress, both houses being controlled by Republicans, refuses to be a check on his behavior.  Conflicts of interest, blatant criminal behavior, and rhetoric that disparages women and minorities and undermines our democracy, are allowed to go unchecked and uncensored by the people whose job it is to address these issues.

I am glad that some news organizations are speaking up and shining a light on the some of the misdeeds, but they and we are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what is happening.  Only the most stupid or embarrassing misdeeds are highlighted while darker, more nefarious things are happening in the background to limit immigration, hinder voting rights, destroy access to health care, and undo environmental efforts.

Democrats must start using their outside voices and take control of the airways like Donald Trump has done.  I wrote to Senator Kamala Harris Friday morning and said as much.  We don’t hear their opposition to the things that are happening loud enough and we don’t hear their defense of our values  enough either.   The lies are being allowed to drown out the truth.  Democrats need collective rallies!  The marches are important and must continue.  But the message of what democrats are for must become louder than what we are simply against.  I wrote to Senator Harris while a democratic senator was on the air.  He was so meek that I wanted to scream.  When confronted with how great the economy was, he neglected to even mention how much the deficit has grown and that we have no money for much needed infrastructure.  He was so disappointing.

It is time to loudly demand some real changes.  First among them is to end the overt strategies to limit minority voting.  Second is to end the electoral college because it favors the small states by giving those individual votes greater weight than individual votes in larger states.  That is wrong and it is also how we got Donald Trump when Hillary had nearly 3 million more votes.  Third, we need to make sure we get to the polls and that our friends and family get there, too.  We need to take over the House and the Senate if we are to preserve and improve healthcare, protect the environment, end voter suppression efforts, pass immigration reform, and be a check on this criminal president.

So, a person like me asks: What needs to change in society and what can I do to work with others to make that change?  Today, my answer is to speak up about the changes I want to see to anyone who will listen, to contribute to candidates who represent my values, and then to vote while encouraging others to do the same.