The Never Ending Struggle

The following is what happens when I get a broad topic for an essay exam:

The struggle for equality has been one marred by violence, economic and social strife. African Americans, women and immigrants have undergone similar road blocks on the road to equality they definitely did not take the same road. While women’s liberation and the Civil Rights Movement are the most well known societal campaigns the plight of the immigrant tends to shift from enemy to enemy depending on what war is on.

For the Great Depression era that war was on the economy. In 1929 the immigrants on the receiving end of the oppression stick was Mexicans. “The government effectively ended legal immigration from Mexico for the duration of the Depression to protect jobs for American citizens” (Keene, 672). By promoting a government program that included a government funded trip home coupled with deportation “approximately 415,000 Mexicans left the United States during the 1930’s” (Keene, 672). With almost a half million workers deleted from the workforce, New Deal programs and World War Two created industry, the United States successfully recovered from the fiscal fiasco known as the Great Depression.

In the earlier part of the 1920’s with the adoption of women’s suffrage came a new vision of the ideal woman in the Fisher girl. With new found political power women now had the opportunity to have their voices heard in Washington. Unfortunately most women tended to vote with their husbands rather than for issue traditionally associated with women. While the flappers were alive and well within the counter culture mainstream society adopted a new vision of the modern woman as the Fisher girl. Demanding a long and lanky physique the Fisher girl refocused women from their new found freedom and made them slaves to their diet. “According to a 1928 study, only 17 percent of American women were both slender and over 5 feet 3 inches tall” (Keene, 645). This new model of the perfect woman would later influence the feminist movement.

In addition to the new found body image Margaret Sanger began the fight for female reproductive rights. Sanger believed that “too many children… ruined women’s health and relegated them to the ranks of the poor” (Keene, 646). By opening the first American birth control clinic Sanger hoped to save women from unwanted pregnancies. Due to the 1873 Comstock Act which prohibited the distribution of pornography and information on contraception and birth control Sanger was arrested. Not willing to be silenced following her arrest Sanger appeared with a gag in protest of her government sanctioned silence. Throughout Sanger’s life she worked to change societal attitudes toward birth control.

As America moved into World War Two the bombing of Pearl Harbor put a new face on the dangerous immigrant, one of Japanese descent. While there had always been tension between Anglo Saxons and Japanese in California and the West Coast it was not until the United States entered the war that the racism became government sanctioned. Like the infringement upon women, deeming them second class citizens, the repatriation of Mexicans and the enslavement of the Africans before them, the Japanese were now second class citizens forced to give up the free way of life they had come to America for in exchange for internment camps. For those citizens who could not tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese immigrants Life magazine provided the answer in their article “How to Tell Japs from the Chinese”, Japs being a derogatory term for the Japanese (Keene, 893). While this national publication offered stereotypical instructions West Coast Japanese were sent into the internment camps with seven days to liquidate their assets. It was clear the national fear was now focused on the Japanese immigrant.

While the immigrants were being corralled away women found a boost in their level of freedom. The men were away at war and someone needed to fill the positions left at home. Many job opportunities not afforded to women in peace time became accessible during World War Two. But “as the war drew to a close” government propaganda urged women to resume “traditional roles as homemakers” (Keene, 697). Although women had to fight to maintain the freedoms allotted them during times of war they were not the only minority group to find temporary advancement.

While women attained levels of employment never before available to them initially many African Americans found themselves the victims of racial prejudice. Many “wartime industries refused to hire blacks” it was not until FDR was pressured by A. Phillip Randolph and the threat of a march on Washington that an executive order was signed “that forbade discrimination in the defense industry”, opening the employment door to African Americans (Keene, 699). Many civil rights activists wanted to use World War Two “to promote a ‘double-victory campaign’ against both the fascism overseas and racial prejudice at home”, hoping to create “an egalitarian and color-blind society”, however old habits die hard and every step forward was met with an iron fist hitting back (Keene, 699).

The separate but unequal policies that had allowed southern racism to legally continue through segregation had reached its limit by the 1950’s. In a post World War era, with the economy in full swing the Civil Rights Movement came to the forefront of American culture. The case Brown v. Board of Education deemed that segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment, another step toward equality (Keene, 766). Not a year later the Emmett Till murder showcased another aspect of inequality as the evidence was overlooked by the jury and the white murders were acquitted then paid for an interview in which they confessed to the murder (Keene, 767). The frustration, disgust and rage at a failed system catalyzed a new generation of activists.

Where civil war had been the previous route to change the Civil Rights Movement adopted a policy of non-violence. Stemming from the churches the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SLCC) was created with their leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This organization provided a dogma as well as organizational skills to structure the movement. With the implementation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC, the movement for the first time had the youthful exuberance of an energized educated student body with the grace and wisdom of experienced civic leaders. Images like those from Birmingham in 1963 only helped to elicit sympathy by showing the police officers as violent bullies and black students as their helpless victims (Keene, 822-823). This publicity nightmare helped bring attention to the Civil Rights Movement.

In the mid 1960’s female activists joined the women’s movement. Betty Friedan reinvigorated the failed women’s movement of the 1920’s with her treatise the Feminine Mystique, and founding the National Organization for Women or NOW (Keene, 834). It was NOW that “convinced President Johnson to issue an executive order that required government agencies and federal contractors to create affirmative action programs to hire and promote women and minority men”, focusing on advancement through legislation (Keene, 834). However as radical feminists took over, the movement seemed to be one only of white middle class women. “Few black women joined the women’s movement, convinced that racial oppression affected them more severely than sexual discrimination”, asserting that for the time being there were “bigger fish to fry” (Keene, 834).

With the loss of Dr. King the Civil Rights Movement lost momentum. In its wake campaigns for Mexican American and Native American social equality arose. The Mexican and Native American’s became the new targets for “factionalism and police harassment” (Keene, 837).As the Civil Rights Movement had Dr. King, Mexican immigrants had Cesar Chavez, the head of the United Farm Workers union. Chavez “used strikes and marches to secure better working and living conditions” and “appealed directly to consumers convincing seventeen million Americans to stop buying nonunion-picked grapes” to improve the quality of life for many Mexican immigrant farm workers (Keene, 838).

While Mexican Americans unionized Native Americans satirized. On November 20, 1969 Indian activists issued the Alcatraz Proclamation, which pointedly presented centuries of injustice that Native American’s had endured (Keene, 839). The Native American movement did not seek out equality or change through legislature and case law like the Civil Rights and women’s movements, or through boycotts like Montgomery Bus, SNCC and Chavez but with protests like Dr. King’s march on Washington. These elaborate and highly visible protests are what led Nixon “to increase funds for social services on Indian reservations and establish the Office of Indian Water Rights” (Keene, 839). It was through civil unrest that most campaigns for social justice found success.

As the debate raged on into the 1970’s women’s liberation seemed to be the only battle unwillingly to die. Gloria Steinem argued that women’s liberation was good for all Americans, while Phyllis Schlafly proclaimed the “Positive Woman” as the ideal by embracing her “distinctly female role” (Keene, 860). With these two opposing views that of progression versus traditionalism, gender roles and reproductive rights were at the foreground of the debate. “The Supreme Court dealt the feminist movement a stunning victory when it legalized abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision” (Keene, 861). Although abortion and reproductive rights have been legal for nearly forty years the debate rages on.

While the Civil Rights Movement, women’s liberation or the rights of immigrants have many differences each of their success is still undetermined. Equality in America is a fight that seems to have no end, with every step forward we see another group arise as the disenfranchised minority. One need not look farther into history than November 8, 2008 to see this is true. On that night Americans chose a black president and on that night three hateful propositions were signed into law against homosexuals. As fear and ignorance led white supremacists to lynching fear and ignorance led the citizens of California to ban gay marriage. The struggles share the same heart but the battles have not been won until all citizens are treated equally under the law.

Review versus Critique

Reviews can be posted by anyone where as a critique requires someone to be an expert in the field in order to claim that title. That being said I hate reviewers. They tend to be long winded uninformed and claim to know what they are talking about. The common person can not tell the difference between a reviewer or a critic so as an artist your work is constantly subjected to scrutiny by laymen who are bored and do not have anything better to do than bitch about things they do not like, understand or are jealous of.

Recently a story I wrote last year has come under attack by one such reviewer. I normally would not respond to this type of criticism but it just seems to be a sign of the times. The reviewer is an 18 year old boy in Alabama who didn't like a story I wrote because he thought it was inappropriate and should never have been written. Granted the story is provocative and it is controversial but there is a huge difference between saying I don't like something and it does not deserve to exist. That I have somehow brought a perversion into the world.

Frankly I like the story, a lot of people seem to like the story. It's not perfect. It can use work I will be the first to admit that, but it was good enough to get published. The reality with art is that you are never done. You can always go back and change things if you choose to. The problem with that is if you never leave it alone and say it is good enough you will never produce anything.

I used the Twilight series as a symbol for bad writing. I used Stephenie Meyer as a character in the story without ever saying yes this is Stephenie Meyer, I named the character Stephenie and alluded to her with character traits and exposition. This became a horrible thing because I used an actual person in a fictional story. Oh dear God the world is coming to an end. The thing this reviewer did not pick up on that a critic may have is that the other character was Stephen King who was recreating a scene from Misery.

The well of ideas is only so deep. There are no original ideas. It is what you do with the idea your voice your take on it that makes the story your own and interesting and new. What is ironic is that the piece was about bad art and censorship. And so a piece about bad art and censorship has elicited a response from a reviewer that declares the piece bad art and demand its censorship.

Perhaps this reader got the concept more than he realized. To the point where it required him to subconsciously act out against the piece. Um... I guess it was a good story then.

Tea Bagging in America

OK, so I am going to be really really political right now. Tea baggers can suck it. I don't mean guys who put their nuts on your chin, I mean the Tea Party, the people who think that government is out of control and want lower taxes and small government.  The argument is never about the size of government the argument is about what type of government.

Now I don't like the idea of bailing out the banks and motor industry simply because I think it rewards failure. But I do realize that without the banks or the motor industry the economy would have collapsed. The harsh reality is that, particularly with the banks, we are in a recession made by private sector capitalist greed. Sadly I believe that it can all be traced back to the housing boom. People were buying homes for $500,000.00 and getting 80/20 loans. So with no money down, taking on two mortgages, people who were just so excited to be living the American dream of homeownership got in over their heads. Then the artificially high market value collapsed. Couple that with variable rate mortgages, and you are paying $5,000.00 a month in interest and maybe $1,000.00 on your principal balance. While the banks got richer without having to do any work, as long as people made their mortgage payments, anyone with this kind of a loan became impoverished. When the savings went, and they couldn't get another loan to cover the mortgage, or refinance, coupled with the fact that their $500,000.00 home's current market value is $350,000.00 or less, people started to short sale their homes. But with the influx of short sales came foreclosures. In the case of a short sale or a foreclosure the lending agent takes on a loss. This loss was of their own design by offering loans that no one could afford, by abandoning tried and true business and lending practices in order to make a quick buck. Those that got in while the getting was good made a lot of money and retired. Hopefully their retirement fund wasn't in the stock market.

As the banks took on more debt, they were afraid to lend out money, this directly effected small businesses who need short term loans to cover the cost of their overhead. If mom and pop borrow ten thousand dollars from the bank to buy products from big business to sell to next door neighbor, and the bank won't lend them the ten thousand dollars. Then mom and pop goes under, and big business losses another one of its clients. Trickle down economics doesn't really work, but in today's economy the shit rolls uphill. Hence the bank and motor company bailout.

America used to be the car manufacturers, mostly because Japanese and German car factories were bombed in world war two. With that being said, most people now have Japanese and German cars, some Japanese cars are made in America, but for the most part American cars do not represent the majority of the market. I myself drive a Honda Civic Hybrid, not because I consider myself to be a really green or socially conscious person but because I hate paying for gas and I am poor, so if I can save a hundred dollars on gas a month by having a hybrid, or use the carpool lane to cut my commute in half, I'm going to do that, because it just makes good fiscal sense. If time is money, spending an extra hour on the freeway is a waste of money. American automobiles were behind times. By not keeping up with the current market needs, they became a niche company, which cut into their profits and created the need for a government bailout.

I know I'm a terrible American because I keep my money in a Credit Union and drive a foreign made hybrid, but the fact of the matter is had I not had terrible experiences in domestic cars or with the banking industry, I would drive a Ford and be with Bank of America. But when your cars brake line gets confused and thinks you are applying the brake when the car is off, thus leaking brake fluid which can lead to spontaneous combustion, or you transfer a thousand dollars out of my bank account to some woman in South Dakota via my online banking, that I never registered for without so much as a phone call or letter to see if I had registered for this service, does not instill faith in an institution.

Washington did what they thought was necessary to keep us going. Whether or not you agree with it, the bailouts happened so the real question is what's next?

Health care needs reform as much as the banks do. Insurance companies and drug companies charge exorbitant amounts of money for their goods and services. If the cost was universal to all people then it would not be an issue. I myself have an autoimmune disease. All I need is a hormone supplement everyday. A little pill that keeps me going. That pill with insurance cost between five and ten dollars a month. Without insurance that pill costs me fifteen. Again, pragmatic Lauren, not having insurance costs me nothing. Having insurance would cost me $600.00 a month. As I am a student and a freelancer for all intensive purposes and cannot get employee funded health care. The cost does not outweigh the benefit. Since I am going to school if anything happens I can go to the student health center which is either free or $25.00. Again pragmatism, $25.00 when I need it is a much better option for someone like me, than $600.00 a month just in case.

Tea Baggers are worried about socialism. About government being too big. One of their chants is "gather your armies." Well who do you think pays for the armies? They don't want universal health care because they don't see the need or the benefit, or the cost of the uninsured who run out on their bills. But if we took away life guards, police officers, park rangers, animal control, fire men, city and state parks, Holiday parades, escorts for funeral processions, prisons, prison guards, oh wait they've already privatized prisons at the governments expense, mental health facilities or education, I think they would find something new to complain about.

Everyone has an agenda, and their own set of ideals that need to be met, most are selfish. Tea baggers are just pissed off and want their America back. The problem arises in the definition of America, if you grew up in Tallahassee or in Compton, you would have a very different view on what it means to be an American let alone live in America. Subjective realities trying to dictate for the masses is not the way to run a country as diverse as America.

Religion as Control

All religions exist as a form of social control. It is with the faiths they hold in an Authoritative all powerful being that keeps the minions in line.

Religion is a business just like any other. They require people to buy their product, and what religion sells is the afterlife.

Religion and government are closely tied, particularly in the case of Monarchies.

The Queen of England is appointed by divine right. She is the leader of the people. She is the modern day British Jesus.

Does that make her a holy person?

Not really, but we are supposed to believe that she was ordained by God to her post. Without that belief we can get rid of her with little consequences.

It is the fear and intimidation of possible consequences that allow religion, law and governments to keep their practitioners/citizens in order.

Furthermore, the religions need people to donate or give money to them in order to maintain their institutions. Without land and money they would have no where to preach from.

All religions strive to make their practitioners better happier people, or at least promise that their lives in the here and after will be better by becoming devotees to God and their faith.

Without concrete evidence of an afterlife people buy into this theological snake oil.

Everyone wants to be happy, and lead a good life, but what defines a happy and good life varies from person to person, and religion generally does not fulfill all the needs of the individual and most of the time becomes a trap, creating too many boundaries for a person to fully develop their own independent sense of self.