Up until just recently, I've lived in a decent area. Single-family homes interspersed with ugly block apartment buildings. People walking their dogs, talking to each other, riding bicycles, tending their yards, if they have yards. Very friendly. None of that has changed. But now we've got an overlay of crime.
As with most urban areas in this country, of course, there have been homeless guys in the alley, looking for cans, sometimes drinking, sometimes smoking cigs or pot. But now there have been guys smoking crack, which adds a whole 'nuther layer of seediness. Also, a few cars have been riffled through for cash or cell phones, bicycles have been cut from their locks and stolen off people's porches, and someone was robbed at gunpoint.
The overall feeling of the neighborhood has not changed. People are still friendly. I still walk my dog alone at night. The flowers and plants are just as pretty. The craftsman-style houses are still cute. It's just that the crime from the alley or from outside the area makes me think of the film "Blue Velvet." Starring Dennis Hopper, the film is unsettling. It takes place in picture-perfect suburbia during the 1960s. A land of beautiful stay-at-home moms; handsome, strong dads; cute dogs; healthy, obedient kids; and white picket fences. Then the camera angle focuses on the ground level, where ants are crawling about. Next we're in a seedy part of town, ruled over by psychopath Dennis Hopper. Like the movie, my neighborhood is just fine until it's not.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Another Activist Pulls Back
In 2005 and 2006, my mail arrived opened or previously opened and taped shut. Also, letters I left for the letter carrier never arrived at their destination. I complained to the post office by phone and by letter. Eventually, after four or five months, this tampering stopped. Since the landlord and I were the only ones who had my mail key, and since I could see no reason why he would want to read my mail--he was pretty hands-off--the post office or agencies of the USG working with the p.o. were the culprits.
During this time and continuing for years after that, I would hear clicks on my phone during conversations. My brother said that he had been hearing those clicks for years too. Realizing that current technology must allow for silent wire taps--how else could an effective program against drug dealers or other suspected criminals be carried out--I knew that the USG must want me to know they were listening.
Though I have continued to speak out, call and write my representatives, write of injustices and government lies, and attend peace marches, I know that I am on some list. Even before the mail tampering and eavesdropping, I was aware of being watched. When I crossed the border four times during the summer of 2005, for example, I was detained for questioning and my van was thoroughly searched at each crossing.
Lately, however, with the militarization of local police forces and their funding and direction from the Department of Homeland Security, with the rapid erosion of constitutional protections, with the legalization of torture, imprisonment without charge and without trial, with hundreds of incidents of the federal government's boot on the face of anyone who steps just slightly out of line, I have begun to rethink my activism.
Do I really want to risk being jailed without charge, food, water, or access to my meds for days, as has happened to some activists? This would be a death sentence for a Type 1 diabetic-heart patient-kidney transplant recipient. And so when I have been asked to participate in recent protests at FBI headquarters, I have declined. Unlike in the past, I am now concerned for my personal safety.
Such is the case of an acquaintance, Leonard, who has been very vocal and active in the Long Beach peace group. His mail is now being opened prior to delivery, and he hears clicks on his phone line.
As my friend Helma, who lived through Nazi Germany, said after Bush II was "elected," "This is how it starts," with thumbing your nose at the law here and there and then more and more. I recently asked her what she thought of Obama, she scoffed, "He is no different than the Bush." Exactly what I've always said.
So for those of you in other countries or in this country too who still believe that Obama is the savior of the free world, think again. He is continuing the work of his predecessor, only with nicer words, a calmer demeanor, and a more polished look. But fascism is fascism whether it's delivered up by Hitler, Bush, or a biracial man.
During this time and continuing for years after that, I would hear clicks on my phone during conversations. My brother said that he had been hearing those clicks for years too. Realizing that current technology must allow for silent wire taps--how else could an effective program against drug dealers or other suspected criminals be carried out--I knew that the USG must want me to know they were listening.
Though I have continued to speak out, call and write my representatives, write of injustices and government lies, and attend peace marches, I know that I am on some list. Even before the mail tampering and eavesdropping, I was aware of being watched. When I crossed the border four times during the summer of 2005, for example, I was detained for questioning and my van was thoroughly searched at each crossing.
Lately, however, with the militarization of local police forces and their funding and direction from the Department of Homeland Security, with the rapid erosion of constitutional protections, with the legalization of torture, imprisonment without charge and without trial, with hundreds of incidents of the federal government's boot on the face of anyone who steps just slightly out of line, I have begun to rethink my activism.
Do I really want to risk being jailed without charge, food, water, or access to my meds for days, as has happened to some activists? This would be a death sentence for a Type 1 diabetic-heart patient-kidney transplant recipient. And so when I have been asked to participate in recent protests at FBI headquarters, I have declined. Unlike in the past, I am now concerned for my personal safety.
Such is the case of an acquaintance, Leonard, who has been very vocal and active in the Long Beach peace group. His mail is now being opened prior to delivery, and he hears clicks on his phone line.
As my friend Helma, who lived through Nazi Germany, said after Bush II was "elected," "This is how it starts," with thumbing your nose at the law here and there and then more and more. I recently asked her what she thought of Obama, she scoffed, "He is no different than the Bush." Exactly what I've always said.
So for those of you in other countries or in this country too who still believe that Obama is the savior of the free world, think again. He is continuing the work of his predecessor, only with nicer words, a calmer demeanor, and a more polished look. But fascism is fascism whether it's delivered up by Hitler, Bush, or a biracial man.
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