September 28, 2016

There has bing a big kerfuffle about a recent counter-protest to Kaepernick taking a knee during America's national anthem. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s jersey was taped to the floor of Krossroads Rock and Country Bar, rendering it as a welcome door mat. There has been a lot of debate about whether or not that was a legitimate protest, and would a person of color defend it. So I decided to.

I recognize that the jersey-as-doormat is also a legitimate political protest, and the people doing it are completely free to do so. I was lucky enough to only have to freeze my ass off on the German border to call myself a veteran, many of today's soldiers have to go through hell to gain that right. I support them in their protest and swore I would fight to the death to protect their right to do so.

Having said that, the ability to protest does not remove one from the ramifications of society. Just as people wail about the poor jersey-doormat protesters are being treated shabbily, remember Kaepernick is also being treated very poorly with false "armchair patriots" demonstrating irony so well half the world's English grammar average has improved as a result. The backlash these J-D-Protesters are getting pales in comparison to the backlash protesters of color get on a daily basis for just opening their mouth and asserting their humanity.

One must also look at what the protest is about, and not just what the protest is as an action. To do the latter is the hight of deliberate ignorance, as protest does not exist without injustice; the real issue is to determine whether or not the injustice is legitimate. So looking at the two protests, Kaepernick's and the Jersey-doormat-protesters, both legitimate, both legal, and both defended by law.

Now let's look at the motivations behind the protests. Kaepernick is protesting a serious chain of unexplained deaths among the black community, deaths that if they happened in such numbers from any other cause we would have already imposed a state of emergency and committed federal dollars to its extermination. I don't even have to go into the details at all; people of color are dying in huge unexplainable numbers and Kaepernick is protesting to bring attention to it because Kaepernick feels that institutional racism is at the heart of it.

Again, I do not even need to give details beyond that; from Pica to worker safety, people of color have gotten the short end of the stick by demonstrated institutional racism, so pointing out any specific facet is actually ludicrous under the circumstances. The fact that poor whites suffer from these policies is a desired but undirected collateral damage of our society; the rich need poor people, and suppressing people of color with onerous laws that punish those without resources also conveniently keep the lower class in check as well; add to that a justice system that results in the largest colored prison population on the planet, and it really doesn't matter at which leaf in the Kudzu you point at.

In the case of the legitimate, legal, and defended by law protest by the jersey-doormat-protesters (JDP), they are also entitled to protest. SO let's look at what they are protesting. Let's assume they are smart enough to know that protesting Kaepernick's right to protest is patently stupid, and are protesting Kaepernick's message. Are they protesting that people of color aren't dying in huge numbers inexplicably? Are they protesting Kaepernick's position that institutional racism is a factor? Are they protesting that Kaepernick's position that society must re-evaluate its relationship with people of color? In each of these cases, it appears they are protesting that Kaepernick is protesting, regardless of the method used. That is the real discussion.

Previously

Why would you write if you don't want anyone to read what you've written? I've been thinking about why I write, it's a compulsion, something I do, a habit, a passion, a hobby, entertainment, a way to release emotions, I write to get things out of my head. Even if nobody ever read what I've written I would still write, I write for me. Today was pretty good all things considered. I really love two of the women I work with, they are just awesome. I'm going to Vegas and I don't want to be going. I'm in a relationship with someone who is extremely busy, lives in another state, and doesn't call me. My aunt thinks he is selfish and I should find someone who lives closer to me that I can go out and do things with, I think she's right, I'm hanging onto to someone who isn't committing much. I really like him, but is it time to part ways? 

I went to the DMV to reinstate my license and registration privileges. I can't explain how helpless I feel when I interact with my ex. I have the power, my therapist is always reminding me of this. But it doesn't seem as if I have the power when he tries to manipulate me. There's a guy at work I could ask out, he's quite a bit younger than I am, maybe we wouldn't be the best couple, perhaps he wouldn't even go out with me, I'm curious. I want to be held, I want to hold hands and kiss someone else, I would like to go for walks, sit next to them at a meal, hang out with them on the couch, hear about their day, give them a hug when they're feeling down, and I would really like to get laid again, but that's far from my main problem.

My place is a mess, it's not a terrible mess, it wouldn't take long to tidy, but I don't want to get rid of some of the things I'm hanging onto so I'm leaving it the way that it is for now. Tomorrow is another day at work, it was crazy today. We had to put up sale signs which takes hours because our system is ancient and the company can get by with paying people very low wages because we are replacable. I need to slow down when I'm at work. My mind races, I forget things, I rush, and then I don't do the job that I could and should. Perhaps people would understand how intense the job can be if they could be there for a day, see what needs to be done, and realize the manpower it would take to accomplish everything. 

The person in charge of marketing fired off a snotty email after our department requested a sign. There are people who work hard and others who avoid work. Sometimes I stand and stare at shelves, when I do this I'm taking a snapshot of what's there, cutting pieces off, and mentally rearranging what's there to see if we can come up with a smarter, better, more profitable way to display items. The other day I came in and saw a note with two rows of toothpaste. Someone else had left a job that they could have done for me to do. My boss ended up rearranging the shelves that this person didn't. Things like that make me angry. My boss works amazingly hard, she needs breaks she doesn't get and that's not fair, but she does it to herself at times.

My friend and I worked very hard to get the protein powders out, priced correctly, and we were able to reposition things so more inventory was displayed on the sales floor. Maybe it looked like we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we were because we didn't know that we were heading into a pricing problem. Every day we find mistakes that hurt our bottom line. The effort we put into things isn't always tied to money. But when I leave I have the good feeling that my hard work accomplished something. I have good ideas and I'm able to do my own thing for the most part. When we were doing returns we put a lot of things up in the break room for people to grab.

By the time I left there was one product sitting there. People grab whatever they want without thinking of others. They swoop down like vultures. It's a good reminder of what I don't want to be. Free stuff is an interesting phenomenon at work. Few realize the impact to our bottom line. They want to help themselves first, they can't see the broader picture. Sometimes I get caught up in this trap as well. Update - I picked a few things up and put them away. I made a pile of my bills, set up my aromatherapy diffusers, and reminded myself that I have many things to be thankful for like the fact that the DMV employee I was working with was able to push my requests through even though the computers were not processing other requests. I miss taking baths and having chlorine free water, but I'm happy to be here. It's starting to feel like home.

Praying this finds you well,

J

P.S. Read through the shampoo writeups we have here. Thinking of writing up some of the products I use and enjoy. Also, how is DMV still a nodeshell?