Revolution #150, December 14, 2008
Readers Respond to Revolution
Posted 12/6/2008
RE: An American Eviction Story: The Desperate Hours of Addie Polk
RE: Communism as a Science: A Syllabus for Study
RE: Reviving the Shameful Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers
RE: Another Young Black Man Killed by Police in Cold Blood: Don’t Let Them Get Away with the Murder of Julian Alexander...Turn Grief into Resistance
RE: Response to a reader on Obama: Tears & Pride, Reality & REAL Change
RE: Gay Marriage: A Basic Right! A Just Demand!
RE: On the Mumbai Attacks
RE: An American Eviction Story: The Desperate Hours of Addie Polk
This is so sad. How can the USA claim any kind of morality when they literally prey on their citizens in this manner - all for the mighty dollar. Just conniving. It truly breaks my heart.
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Liked the article. Keep up the good work. Been out of prison for 2 months now, enrolled in community college for the winter semester. Can't find work anywhere. Its fucking hard here in MI.
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This is just sickening! We are made to feel as powerless individuals.
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It's so sad isn't it?
in this country people have to try to kill themselves just to get out of debt...
maybe that's why we should all scream "F**k Capitalism" until it falls-but how many more are gonna die until it does?
or will it only be left up to the next generation-then the next-as it has since 1776
any of us today know the real reason behind the original revolution of '76-it was so those fat-cats like Washington and Franklin could have power since The King Wouldn't let them in England...now look what they've caused-the biggest tyrant in the world to be unchallenged in it's greed and lust for world domination...pathetic isn't it?
almost makes me ashamed to call myself an "American"
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There is an answer, it certainly isn't Obama we will now have war until 2016 and no immigration relief
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Good piece. It brings home the personal stories behind the heartless numbers bandied about in the mainstream media.
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I was very moved and also angered by this report of what this capitalist system did to this elderly African-American woman and what it also does to so many millions of other people-around the world as well as here in the U.S. I think that this story is a very good crystallization of the oppression of Black people and how this oppression will yet continue even with a brown face as the face of this imperialist system- Barack Obama. I think that it would be great if somehow folks who go out amongst the masses to do agitation over the crimes of this system, including the financial crisis, taking with them as well, the special broadsheet on "The Oppression of Black People, the Crimes of this System, and the Revolution We Need", could also take MP3's and a sound system and play this during the course of the agitation. I think that this will be very powerful and will spark a lot of much needed and important wrangling.
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I'm feeling the same way as Addie Polk is feeling. As fucked up as the economy is, I can't afford to live in my own house, let alone anywhere else for that matter. I don't have a job that pays anywhere near the amount needed to pay for a roof over my head. When my grandmother passes on, I'll be out on my ass, because I can't afford to live in the house and it'll most likely be demolished like much of the houses in the neighbourhood. Does that seem right?
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Heartrending. Poor woman, how lonely and frightened- and angry- she must have felt. No one cared except her neighbor.
This is just the beginning. There was a case in California where a financial manager killed his wife, mother-in-law and three sons (all A+ Students), then took his own life because he had lost his job and his entire saving were wiped out during the recent stock market crash.
We live in a cold and heartless country where money is all.
RE: Communism as a Science: A Syllabus for Study
This is something very positive and I believe you should make it a practice to make reading list on the different areas, not only of communism, but of conflicts that are taking place in the world...
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It is a great idea there is lot of misinformation about marxism ( HUMANITY) spread by vested interests when solutions of mankind[s] problems are so simple REVOLUTION AND THEN GUARDING IT BY HUMANITY
RE: Reviving the Shameful Legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers
There are countless times throughout world history that minorities have been manipulated and or forced to fight on behalf of European and/or American interests. Instead of disrespecting the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers, who are and deserve to be heroic to all Americans, but especially to African Americans because their contributions in the so-called 'Civil War' helped to change the tide of the war to abolish slavery, you should be showcasing the unjust capitalistic elites who constructed the wars and pitted black against brown, etc. Will you be writing about Indians who fought on the side of the British during the Opium wars in China against the Chinese also during the 19th century? Or any other time in history that the oppressed have had to fight each other on behalf of their oppressor? Or are you only singling out the Buffalo Soldiers that were under colonial rule at the time?
Your blame-the-victim mentality is disappointing, especially in a newspaper such as this. You should be spreading the truth about your 'heroic' past presidents and the massive atrocities they administered to the Native American peoples. Remember also that many Native Americans Cherokees also owned slaves.
Be fair. Be just. Be truthful.
RE: Another Young Black Man Killed by Police in Cold Blood: Don’t Let Them Get Away with the Murder of Julian Alexander...Turn Grief into Resistance
The cop hasn't been identified? What is up with that? They can put his name out but not the cop that killed.
It is true, Politicians don't acknowledge these issues.
RE: Response to a reader on Obama: Tears & Pride, Reality & REAL Change
Very interesting, in many ways I agree with much of what is said, in the long run I don't think Obama will make any difference in the institutionalized racism that this country is built on. His election doesn't change that and anyone who stops a moment to really think about it, knows it too. However, I have to disagree with the implication that on the most basic level, this isn't something black people should be "proud" of or something they shouldn't invest their hope in. As a people who have suffered repeated, constant, and (even today) inhumane oppression, our strength has always rested in our hope, that things could and would "one day" get better. The state of black people today, in my opinion, can only be compared to our situation during slavery. At no point in our history have things been much worse (for many of the reasons cited in this article). As a black woman, married to a black man, raising a black son I am incapacitated at times by my fear for their very lives and what this racist society has prepared for them. However, while the election of Obama doesn't change my knowledge of our "reality", it does give my heart and soul a little lift. Something to reignite that spirit of hope and belief that things can and will get better. Not to be dramatic, but I (we) need that to bother getting out of bed and facing this world everyday. Like I said initially, I am not naive, and I do not think much will "change" with Obama as president. However, his election is about some much deeper issues to black people. Some of us may be disillusioned, but many of us are just proud to see someone who looks like us, accomplishing something like this. And I dare anyone to tell me I shouldn't be proud. That my pride is foolish or uninformed. At a time when all the world (and us included) sees is the bullshit racist propaganda put out by the racist media, it beats you down, wears on your sense of self, extinguishes your spirit. You start to believe the bull. If Obama's victory does nothing more than give this "poor black person" a spark of pride, a renewed sense of hope and the energy to fight one more day, then I'll take it. A revolution is impossible without a people with a sense of pride in themselves, belief that they can make a difference, and hope that things will get better. Just my thoughts."
RE: Gay Marriage: A Basic Right! A Just Demand!
I do believe in equality for all human relationships. We, just like them, deserve the respect and the honor to love whom we choose. There are a few things I feel..I hate to say this because of the possibility of being misunderstood..there are few things people need to keep in my mind. 1st I choose who I love with no remorse. 2nd I've never been loved the way I am in my current partnership of 10 yrs. 3rd I don't want your jesus or your religion looming over my decision or over my rights with my partner. So, finally stop bringing Jesus in to this. If and when we get the right to be committed to whom we choose, and we will eventually get this right, understand that Jesus has nothing to do with it. Truthfully I want all the rights when it comes to our home our life decisions regarding our children or our own health. I do not want to be married in your church or have your religious stipulations on my relationship. Our relationships are different but it does not mean we haven't earned the human right to love and be committed to the one we love. We need all the closed minded, church going, cult like behaviorlist, to stop for two seconds and realize that when people feel angry toward you or your god its because of your misrepresentation.
RE: On the Mumbai Attacks
Revolutionary Greetings,
I want to thank Revolution newspaper for helping me to understand every move by U.S. Imperialism makes in the world. Every Monday morning I go On Line to read the new paper. I recently answered the call [Revolution Announces...A Bold Initiative] to support and sustain Revolution Newspaper.
One part of the Call says that, Revolution will be there every time Imperialism makes a political and military attack any where in the world. I now go online every morning to get the latest on what U.S Imperialism is doing. This morning I went on line looking for an article about bombing in India, and there it was [On the Mumbai Attacks]! Now we know what the hell is really going on and what to do about it! You have kept your word!
Lead on RCP!
A reader in Seattle
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I like that last sentence there and there are a lot of interesting points in the piece. Communism is an interesting ideal and concept. People do seem to have a tendency toward it and that is why the ruling class must constantly fight it. Perhaps someday they will lose the battle.
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