Antone's Nightclub
Fight for Each Other
RECEIVED Wed., May 25, 2022
Dear Editor,
Random gun violence in the USA is a *symptom* of the disease. Our nation was founded on genocide and racial violence. We are aggressively patriarchal and deeply individualistic. We glorify billionaires and look down on the poor.
USAmericans don’t learn the importance of community, of solidarity, of helping our struggling neighbors. We are taught to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that crying is weakness, and that our differences and disabilities are to be mocked.
We live in a country that wages war all over the world. We blindly support terrorist organizations like NATO, commit war crimes abroad, and ignore the suffering and destruction left in our path. Our local police departments carry weapons of war on our streets. We glorify violence and death. We allow our children to be radicalized online.
The taxes we pay to the USA get us nothing. No health care. No jobs guarantee or living wage. No affordable housing. Underfunded education. Only more military. More police. Overfunded prisons. Our entire system of government is oppressive and anti-democratic.
This IS America. This is who we are. We built this. We own this. We are unique in the world in the horror that we inflict on ourselves and upon others. We are never going to fix these specifically American problems without first taking a real, long, honest look at our history.
We have to dismantle the systems of oppression our nation was founded on. This isn’t something we can pray for. This isn’t something we can fix by passing a bill or a reform. The terror is built into our system. To be rid of the terror, we must be rid of the system.
Talk to your neighbors and coworkers. Join a union. Build community mutual aid and defense organizations. Plant a community garden. Join a revolutionary organization. Read the books they told you not to read. We have to take care of each other. We have to learn from each other. We have to fight for each other.
Random gun violence in the USA is a *symptom* of the disease. Our nation was founded on genocide and racial violence. We are aggressively patriarchal and deeply individualistic. We glorify billionaires and look down on the poor.
USAmericans don’t learn the importance of community, of solidarity, of helping our struggling neighbors. We are taught to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that crying is weakness, and that our differences and disabilities are to be mocked.
We live in a country that wages war all over the world. We blindly support terrorist organizations like NATO, commit war crimes abroad, and ignore the suffering and destruction left in our path. Our local police departments carry weapons of war on our streets. We glorify violence and death. We allow our children to be radicalized online.
The taxes we pay to the USA get us nothing. No health care. No jobs guarantee or living wage. No affordable housing. Underfunded education. Only more military. More police. Overfunded prisons. Our entire system of government is oppressive and anti-democratic.
This IS America. This is who we are. We built this. We own this. We are unique in the world in the horror that we inflict on ourselves and upon others. We are never going to fix these specifically American problems without first taking a real, long, honest look at our history.
We have to dismantle the systems of oppression our nation was founded on. This isn’t something we can pray for. This isn’t something we can fix by passing a bill or a reform. The terror is built into our system. To be rid of the terror, we must be rid of the system.
Talk to your neighbors and coworkers. Join a union. Build community mutual aid and defense organizations. Plant a community garden. Join a revolutionary organization. Read the books they told you not to read. We have to take care of each other. We have to learn from each other. We have to fight for each other.
Jen Wireman