America???

Asking you as readers... is this the America that you imagined you'd live in? Did you think that during your lifetime America would be repeating parts of history? You know that part that we should have buried in the past...

America the land of the free... mixed cultures, races, education, and economical classes, but one where we all lived under the words... Liberty and Justice for all. How did we get where we are now if this principle is true? Land of the free, home of the brave... boom!

History taught us...or what they taught many of us... was a coated lie. Throughout history, America has stolen cultures, separated languages, and races, miseducated, eliminated freedoms, liberties, and justice. Through political agendas, the diagnosis, and disease of prejudice and racism, privileges, and injustice has prevailed. Centuries ago it was determined that there would be those who would be considered less than, not worthy of. Their labor would be exploited for the good of others. There was no plausible reason for them to seek much more than was provided by their master or today...the government.

The restrictions then were the chains, the plantation, the ownership. Burnings, lynching, murders, and lack of education prevailed. The ridicule, the threats to their homes and family, the territory restrictions and employment rejections made to immigrants that followed the possibility of the American Dream. America??? Has it changed or have we now reached a point where the lie can't be ignored or covered with a reminder that the forefathers sanctioned this America...land of the free, with liberty and justice for all.

Now when we're reminded we see similarities to what we now can speak up and fight against. We see that this dream is and has been a nightmare to many. Our eyes through the lens of cameras, today's technology, and equipment have been opened to the truth of more than just today's horror. We can fill the chapters that were deliberately missing from the history taught across this free land. The gaps, questions, and memories passed on can be answered and dispelled as we now know... America???

It has always been about money and power. "He who has the money has the power." If it interferes with the money or the making of money something must be done. However, those considered to be able to make the money or control the money are a select few. To become selected you must play by America's rules...there are many who either don't know or understand the rules, and there are those who will never play by the rules. This is the America we are now faced with.

During the time of slavery and through the years that followed riches were afforded to the privileged. Others were allowed to fit in if the rules applied. Slaves and other immigrants had no rights to the privileges or the riches received by what was then considered those of proper standards. They took what was given and were glad to have it. After all, what was the alternative?

America??? We still live under the thumb of many who believe we shouldn't have. Education and living expenses exceed the cost that many can afford yet with the government handing out a few pennies....ah we have learned we can gain an education and possibly that job. One that can give us a piece of the American Dream. The house, that mortgage; the car, that loan; the employment, benefits for our family, and that pension, SSI, etc... the dream! Only to lose it all with any violation deemed by the government rule.

e have learned, witnessed, and uncovered the cheat...how they won all these years. They cheated. They paid to play, they avoided the punishments, they cut through the red tape of politics because ... they have been given a pass throughout history to do so. We have been stirred over the years but the nightmare which has been pieced together tells the horrendous story of America... the land of the free.

So I ask, how's your freedom? How does injustice live in your world? How is that American Dream fulfilling your vision of what America has done for you? Do you lay awake, or stare at the news broadcasting on your television when you see America's game played... no longer in history books but in living color? Do you cry for those who no longer have the tears to shed? Do you realize this game is someone's reality? Do you now see that the revolution has been and will continue to be televised? We all have been dealt a hand...given the pieces to move around on this gameboard called America. Do you have the right pieces? What board are you playing on?

I'm on the board where I have to know how to move, where to move, how to adjust. I have to be aware of my tone, monitor my thoughts so that one doesn't interpret me as being angry. I have to explain my actions when violated, I have to give an excuse for where I'm going, or why I've arrived. I have to tell my son how to handle any interactions with the police although I am a retired Sergeant. I have to acknowledge the actions of others may be less than expected but although others disrespect them I can not! I have to understand that a single mother's struggle was once my struggle although I was never on public assistance. You see the only reason I am different is... I play the game America plays. I move the pieces in my life as the game is to be played, by the rules of their government. I learn each time they change the rule where I and mine fit in... and if we don't I find out how to get the understand of that new rule.

America??? It never was about being free and equal. It was about being able to be in power. And when they can't have the power they remember the history. They remember how they beat the rules into the slaves, how the blacks couldn't understand unless they were tortured and beat. They remember taking from the natives of this land. They remember keeping immigrants out unless they work and build for them... how we the underprivileged, those who don't follow these changing rules, can't follow the rules... so they keep new rules. Violation of such can afford you to lose the American Dream... their dream... our government that now wants to block you from parenting in your home, block you from working with your cultural hair-dos and garb, block you from educating your children by raising the cost of education, block you from driving, walking or questioning when confronted by the police, block you from voting. America???

How's that American Dream?!