“We are “free” only as long as we play our assigned parts.
Once we call out power for what it is, once we assert our rights and resist,
the chimera of freedom will vanish. The iron fist of the most sophisticated
security and surveillance apparatus in human history will assert itself with a
terrifying fury.”
-Chris
Hedges
Contemporary American People Mindset
We live in a world where apathy and ignorance are running
rampant and is highly contagious in our society. Like a virus, it spreads
throughout our community and the entire nation with no limitation and continues
to poison the minds of both youth and adults. We are currently living in two
societies; on one side we have a minority that is aware of the current status
we are all facing when it comes to ongoing systemic racist mechanisms towards
African Americans, Latino, and people of color to this present day. On the
other side, the majority, where spectacles triumph over literacy and continue
to choose comfort over struggle.
Hispanics/Latinos Home and Abroad
As a brown skin Latino with indigenous ancestry background, I
am aware of our history when it comes to colonialism and religious persecution,
we too also understand what it means to fight for freedom. Freedom for us is
still a constant struggle, we are still going through ongoing fight not only in
the United States but back in Latin America countries like Ecuador, Bolivia,
Colombia, Cuba, Brasil, …etc. In Eduardo Galeano's’ book Open Veins of Latin
America, he exposes how Oligarchs, Corporations and Venture Capitalists have
extradited so much wealth from these countries and how they became so powerful
in the global financial market. Uruguayan author gives his assessment of Latin
America:
“Latin America is the region of
open veins. Everything from the discovery until our times has always been
transmuted into European--or later--United States-- capital, and as such has
accumulated on distant centers of power. Everything: the soil, its fruits, and
its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume,
natural resources and human resources.” ― Eduardo Hughes Galeano, Open
Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
The Illusion of Freedom within an Empire of Illusion
To obtain absolute
freedom, we must acknowledge that both the political apparatus and the
socio-economic system we are currently in must be eradicated. Those in power
will tell you and me that we live in the greatest country on earth and that
freedom is guaranteed. Marketing
Strategists, Advertisers, and Public Relations agencies use their talent
non-stop on selling you that we have "Freedom" in our political and
economic paradigm. With the constant 24-hours, 7 days of the week of propaganda
on mainstream media, its no wonder US Citizens are so confused. These same individuals will continue to say
that we must continue to vote and to trust these fat cat oligarchs that
continue to profit off other people's misfortunes and even deaths. Many
politicians today will lie in our face and say that these multimillionaires,
banks, corporations, and the military-industrial complex are here to protect
our freedom. This is only a façade and the capitalist system has been exposed
to the American public of not being democratic and not allowing freedom of
speech, freedom of expression and freedom of beliefs that question those in
power.
For African American people, unfortunately, freedom is
limited to them and their voices have been suppressed for decades now. These
mechanisms like voter suppression laws, mass incarceration, job discrimination
is just some of the components that make African-Americans discourage and tries
to break down their spirits, but it won't work, it never did and never will.
This past week I attended the BAAFSSO (Black Alumni,
Administrators, Faculty, Students and Staff Organization) meeting where many
issues were being addressed to the current NJCU President, Sue Henderson. And I
thought I felt inspired by many of my classmates voicing their concerns so
passionately, I still felt a sense of hopelessness as I know that those in
power will not take any actions to improve these conditions. Students and
Faculty members should have the freedom to address their grievances without the
fear of retribution from their peers or higher ranks within the executive
board. The question becomes the following; are we truly living in a free
society?
We can no longer continue in this fantasy world where we are
sleepwalking towards oblivion. Our freedom is slowly being taken away and many
of us have fallen asleep behind the wheel. I cannot sit back and see our black
brothers and sisters continued being gunned down in every major city in this
nation. I cannot just turn a blind eye while police are being militarized and
are granted immunity for the slaughter of black youths. Again, I must ask the
question, the word “freedom” …what does it signify in the United States of
America for Blacks, Latinos, and people of color?
My Encounter with The Central Park Five
Mass incarceration of black
people in the United States is staggering and shocking. Far too long black youth and men had their
freedom taken away from a racist judicial court system. Two cases come in my
mind, one was the injustice arrest and jail sentencing of five youths from New
York City. They were known as the Central Park Five which was arrested for
allegedly raping a white woman in the middle of the night at Central Park in
1989. A few years back I met with two of The Central Park Five, now The
Exonerated Five, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam at John Jay College where I
was preparing a speech on political prisoners. As I sat down with both Raymond
and Yusef, they both described their horrible experience on how they were
coerced during an exhausting police integration tactic. This quasi evidence of
a confession from them is what helped the prosecutors sentence all innocent
young youths to jail. They explain how quickly one’s freedom can be taken away
so easily just because of their socio-economic status and the color of their
skin.
We Want Freedom
The second case that comes to my mind is a prolific writer
and probably the world’s most famous Long Distant Revolutionary political
prisoner still being held in the United States’ prison said the following:
“Conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane
to resist this, the mightiest of empires, but what history really shows is that
today's empire is tomorrow's ashes; that nothing lasts forever, and that to not
resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression. The greatest form of sanity that
anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress,
and fight down the human spirit.”
― Mumia Abu-Jamal
The time to fight for freedom is now! Freedom for All!
