13th Ammendment

😛 In the aftermath of one of the most shocking outcomes in a general election (the likes of which hasn’t been seen in our lifetime) the new president that “America” selected to represent the nation is Donald Trump. Many believe that the country and the pundits as well as national polls all had it wrong all along. It was the media and common sense red, white & blue believing citizens who were all out of touch with the “Law & Order” candidate in Trump and the massive number of “Americans” who voted for him. Trump a “mogul” who’s incendiary rhetoric and vitriol not to mention racist comments only helped to heighten sensitivities and further divide the nation politically, racially, and socio – economically.

I’m not going rehash every controversial statement president elect Trump has made over the past few years but it speaks the truth about what America has become versus what it’s supposed to represent. I’m finding parallels between the history accurately depicted and spoken of in the documentary 13th and how we as a nation came to select Trump as the “suitable” or “acceptable” representation for the highest position in the land. To me the election came down to race and gender bias. An appeal to the white majority to come out in droves in defense of their position in the country as it currently stands is what led to Trump’s victory over Hillary.

The day after the election I went to work still in disbelief like much of the rest of the country that didn’t vote for Trump. It was interesting though that after taking stock of the situation I was at peace. The fact that I wasn’t screaming or crying over the election or depressed was a shock to some who were like how come you’re okay and we’re not? Was I happy Trump was now president? No. Did his election make me feel any worse or better about the nation as a whole? No. Life goes on and all that really happened is another mask has been “Donned” (pun intended) to push the agenda of the elite. Donald Trump is a return to more of the same from yester – years past.

It’s too early to understand fully what Trump’s real approach to all the aspects of being the president will entail. There is no cohesive and clear vision of how to live up to his campaign rhetoric of “Make America Great Again”. For most minorities that statement has little if anything to do with our being uplifted and more to do with going backwards to where things were really only good for once again the top 1%. White America said there’s no way we’re going to allow the world to see America led by a woman when we have men and the history of the presidency being held only by men. I think too many bought into the idea that just because America has seen it’s first black President that it was so progressive as to think it would entertain a woman in that same position.

In the future months to come I expect that president Trump will undoubtedly repeal the Affordable Care Act and increase the privatization of the prison industrial complex. Let’s see how he intends to live up to building a “Wall” that Mexico is supposed to pay for and how exactly he’s going to bring back jobs to America.

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Perspectives: Racism & Ignorance Are They Here To Stay?

Written by Akan Bosemann

In short my belief currently is yes racism & ignorance are here to stay. For as many people as one reaches or attempts to educate about how upbringing, long held cultural, and historical beliefs, coupled with institutional racist systems and policies shape how we as human beings interpret our existence amongst each other, there appears to be an endless ocean of those caught holding onto the centuries old mentality that they are figments of the imaginations of those of us who live day in and day out under the burdens and plights of racism.

Humanity is flawed and can never be perfect. We will choose to do the wrong things at times even with the absolute knowledge that what we choose to do or not do is either right or wrong and ultimately has consequences that affects us all.

I find it almost comical to approach a conversation as complex while at the same time as simple as explaining to someone who may not have necessarily experienced racism or prejudice or injustice to the same degree as some others might have, what it’s like to get those who haven’t experienced the same things to understand the perspectives of those on the receiving end of injustice & racism.

There is often an apathetic victim blaming mentality I seem to constantly come up against. This gnaws at me to no end partly because I have I guess a certain unrealistic belief that if you approach people with logic and basic common sense reasoning they would see exactly what it is that is being said and come to the same conclusion.

How wrong I’ve been but I guess such is the battle of winning hearts and minds. Experience is the best teacher. As weird as it may sound or unlikely to occur, I really wish that the same people who have apathy or don’t want to have uncomfortable conversations, or who want to ignore what’s been happening (due to privilege) could be somehow transported back in time to relive the same atrocities and injustices they so easily dismiss or make light of. It’s because they haven’t lived the same experiences that they are either unwilling or unable to appreciate how evil and corrosive racism, inequality, and injustice are to a human being and the human spirit.

I have flash back moments to the show Quantum Leap with Scott Bakula & Dean Stockwell wishing that you could plug and play police officers who have a history of brutality or unarmed shootings being transported back in time much like Quantum Leap into the bodies of not necessarily historical icons or figures but people who lived during those time periods receiving the harsh treatments of slavery, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, up to present day the difference would be that now they are the ones receiving the abuse, the violence, the injustice when the courts turn a blind eye to the lives being lost.

The more we think we as a society have progressed and become more civilized the less true I find it to be. How can we as a nation tell other nations how to govern or treat their citizens without examining the history of how America has treated it’s own citizens from its beginnings right down to modern day? I suggest the viewing of the documentary 13th by Ava Duvernay as a good place to start examining what we have and continue to see as the heritage of American society. What it means to be a person of color in America and what it means to be white in America.