Black and White World

You know, as I read many comments on social media when something bad happens, I realize that people truly believe we live in a black and white world. Here’s why:

If there’s a shootout between blacks, no one says a word. If there’s a shootout between whites, no one says a word. If the races are mixed, the blacks are out shouting “Black Lives Matter” and trying to reinforce their slavery card. I can’t understand why it works that way or why these people actually believe that they are the only one’s suffering.

What people seem to forget these days is how much the Latino’s and the Native American’s have and are suffering and not due to any violent crimes either. You see, prior to the Mexican-American war, many Mexican’s built and lived in what is now the United States and they owned many of the states. When Columbus came over by mistake, he did not discover America, he discovered the people living on this land which at the time were not white people speaking English.

Everyone is all “Deport the illegals” but they have no idea that these people are not illegals. It’s sad that they worked so hard to build this country and now after being forced into a war torn zone that is now Mexico, everyone wants them out as if they own the place and it’s always white people. White’s genuinely believe that this country belongs to them, that it always has and they have a right to kick people out.  Latino’s have suffered incredibly since the Mexican-American war and continue to suffer at the hands of uneducated white’s. The entire “This is America speak English” thing proves such lack of education due to the fact that America is a continent and English came way after the Mexican’s and the Native American’s were living in the America’s and were then invaded by the true immigrants, white’s. 

To make matters worse, Native American’s have been forced onto reservations and told they will receive no help from anyone including the government. Many of them are solely dependent on whatever animals they can catch, the water flowing through their land and their own people. It’s a shame to see how both the Mexican’s and the Native Americans are being treated in this so called “Land of the free” country. Both races truly are the victims of violence and unfairness. I hope that you will all become educated on these matters and pass it along so we can finally stop all of the ignorant memes, being passed around. 

Luke, I don’t care

The title may have you wondering. It actually comes from the Grumpy Cat meme who is dressed as Darth Vader and he says “Luke, I don’t care” instead of the “Luke, I am your father”. Now that, that’s out of the way, let’s get to the blog. 

I have become seriously annoyed with people. I’m not talking about my followers, I think you guys are fantastic. I’m just venting at this point about society and people in general. I look around and I see everything for exactly what it is. If shit is going down all around the world, I’ll be the first to point it out. Now, I know what you’re thinking and I’ll tell you how to stop thinking it – read my blog “I am a realist”. Moving on, I watch the world around me crumbling. I see poverty, bullying, alienation, abuse, hate, racism rants, death and wars. 

Meanwhile, 3rd world countries are being destroyed, the people are starving, they are being killed and kidnapped and many countries women still have no rights. All of this happening while we as American’s are complaining about immigration, flags, weight, race, kids being “brats” and religion. There’s entirely too much ignorance going on in this country and I’m burned out! So I always get the “Well, why don’t you find a new country to call home” and my response is “Why don’t you just get your shit together, so that we can all live happy”. Why does anyone have to move? Why can’t people just be a productive member of society and stop being whiny, obnoxious brats? 

What have we as a country become? I’ll tell you. We have become a self-righteous, overbearing, uncaring, bitter society who will be our own demise. Stop bitching about immigrants, they were here hundreds of years before “Christopher Columbus discovered America” The truth is the Native American’s and the Mexican’s lived, worked and built the United States so stop being so self-righteous! Stop telling people to speak English. English was brought from Europe with the white’s who invaded the U.S. and kicked the real citizens out!

Stop fighting over flags and calling everything racist. The Confederate Flag has been around for a very long time and no one started complaining until now. The American flag was flown and used under slavery for 10 times longer than the Confederate flag. Those who fought in the Civil War deserve to have their graves undisturbed and that includes their flags atop their headstones and that includes the 100,000 plus black soldiers. This deal of “Everything is racist” is not only ignorant but, it’s also obnoxious. Black people don’t rule the world, White people don’t rule the world. Let it GO! Your slavery bit has reached the end. 

Stop fighting over whether kids aren’t being controlled by their parents. You don’t know them and you don’t know their situation. 

Stop fighting people who believe in God. Leave them alone, let them be and don’t worry about what they believe! If you don’t want your kids knowing about God and are worried they might be exposed to it in school, keep them at home! No one is bothering your rights, no one cares that you’re obsessed with “In God We Trust” being on our money, if you hate it don’t look at it! Stop bothering people, it’s insanity! 

I just can’t understand this. I look all around and I see all of these stupid arguments and battles over nothing! It doesn’t affect you and at some point this has to stop! The only reason I’m even writing this blog is because it’s not only affecting my life, it’s affecting my mental health. Constant migraines and stress from reading and hearing all of this non sense, listening to people in public and hearing my obnoxious neighbors. I know I’m not the only one who sick of hearing all of this bullshit going on every single day. At some point, we as a society have to stop coping out and take full responsibility for us and us only! I mean that as YOU and YOUR KIDS and that’s it! 

RANT OVER! 

The Welfare Stigma

I believe it’s important to address the stigma of those on Welfare, Food Stamps and any other form of help for needy families. I’ve seen too many discussions, arguments, memes and they were all negative and clearly had the wrong views. Let me set it straight for you. 

Medicaid – The insurance that’s required for those who either don’t have work or can’t afford insurance on their own. It’s critical for families who are struggling because, medicaid provides necessary healthcare of children and adults alike including medications which couldn’t otherwise be afforded. 

Food Stamps – Given to those who are under the poverty line at around 130% below the line. These food stamps are not just given to anyone, they are given to people who not only meet the poverty guideline but, they are also given to people who do work and aren’t making enough money. Everything is included when being eligible for food stamps including the amount of rent and utilities you pay, allowances for phone, child support and many other expenses

Cash Assistance – A set amount of money based on how much you make and some of the expenses you have to pay out but only, rent and utilities. Nothing else is included in that when it comes to your requirements. It’s not a large amount of money like most people think. 

The main reason that we’re talking about this today is because there’s so many people out there who receive a bad stigma for being on welfare of any kind and they are often bashed for it. Not everyone who’s on assistance is on drugs or selling their food stamps. Not everyone who’s on assistance doesn’t pay their taxes or hasn’t ever paid taxes, not everyone can find work even with previous experience or an education. Not much of your tax dollars go to funding these programs, as a matter of fact more of your tax dollars go to funding the military expenses, like creating robots to fight in senseless wars. 

You see, people are quick to say “Why don’t you go get a job and pay taxes like everyone else”. That being said, you’re assuming that they aren’t working now and that they have never paid taxes and you’re also not doing your research on how little of tax dollars actually go to the programs. You automatically assume that you’re supporting someone else’s family who you claim is on drugs, lazy and looking for handouts. Do you realize the number of people who can only find part time work, were let go from their jobs so the jobs could be shipped overseas, went through a horrible divorce and were left with nothing, became disabled and are waiting in the 2-3 year waiting list to receive disability benefits? No, you’re not considering any of those things or you wouldn’t post ignorant comments and memes talking about people you know nothing about! 

So I’ll say this, unless you know the person personally, unless you’re willing to get them a job or give them a job, unless you’re willing to hear them out and hear their I’m sure heartbreaking story, STOP JUDGING THEM! 

THIS MEME IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE JUDGING SOMEONE ON FOOD STAMPS. HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE IPHONE WASN’T A GIFT FROM SOMEONE THAT APPLIES TO MULTIPLE YEARS IN A ROW, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THEIR TATTOOS WEREN’T DONE BY A FRIEND OR THAT THEY WEREN’T DONE BEFORE THEY LOST EVERYTHING? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE MANI-PEDI WASN’T SOMETHING SOMEONE ELSE DID FOR THEM OR THEY DONE THEIR SELVES AT HOME? BELIEVE IT OR NOT THERE ARE STICK ON NAIL THINGS THAT LOOK PROFESSIONAL. 

English Only Society

I think it’s important to talk about many of the hypocritical American people concerning language. You’ll often find many cocky Caucasians who believe that the United States should only allow English speakers. They try to further justify this by stating “This is America”, “English is the official language”, “If we went to some other country, we would have to learn the language”. It’s amazing the pure ignorance surrounding America, The United States and Language. First let me help educate you concerning all of the things listed above.

#1 – English – A language primarily spoken in Europe brought to the America’s long after others were already settled here including the Native American’s and the Mexican’s. Europeans came over and claimed they discovered a land that people already lived on. They brought English with them meanwhile, the Mexican’s who were already in what is now the United States were not only living in many of the states the non-Hispanics claim, they were also speaking Spanish. The Native American’s had their own languages while they too shaped the United States. Europeans were the immigrants.

#2 – The United States does not have an official language. The main reason for this is that many people have migrated to the U.S. and brought with them whatever language they already speak. The reason why English only would not be beneficial to anyone is that it holds you back. People should be passionate about learning as many languages as they can, it’s a great thing for future generations that stem directly from you, you’ll also get a much higher paying job and you’ll be more intelligent.

#3 – If you went to some other country, you would have to speak their language

WRONG! Many countries speak English and do not mind foreigners who do not speak their language. They are more welcoming and more helpful than cocky American’s.

There are so many memes out there portraying this ridiculous notion that this should be an English only country. Ignoring the true Native’s of this country, who built this country, long before the Europeans “discovered” it, is senseless and ignorant. You have today so many people loosely using the words illegal immigration and it’s targeted primarily to Hispanic’s. Amazing, the Hispanic’s worked, built and cultivated many of the U.S. states long prior to the white’s coming to the U.S., during the Mexican-American war, many Hispanic’s were forced out of the land they worked so hard to build and are now considered “illegal”. Native American’s were forced onto reservations and blocked from any help from the new immigrants who came in and took over. Now, the land is being destroyed by cocky American’s who are determined now more than ever to fight the Native’s of this precious land. It’s a terrible injustice to those who worked incredibly hard to make this land what it is.

So in closing, before you share that meme, think twice about what you’re actually saying. You’re doing nothing more than spreading hate to those who made this country.

Homelessness

We have all seen homeless people at one point or another. Many people refer to them as “Trash”, “Druggies” and “Lazy”. However, what do we really know about these people who appear to be useless trash littering the streets? Well let’s start out with a few facts

1. NOT all homeless people use drugs

2. NOT all homeless people are lazy

3. NOT all homeless people have bad intentions

You might be thinking that I’m an advocate for the homeless and in a way I am. You see, there have been many times where I have given money to select homeless people and I’m not talking about your average coins. I’m fairly good at determining who will use the money for things they really need and who won’t. None of us who help the homeless know where our money goes after we hand it off.

America is supposed to be a land of opportunity but, we have found fairly fast that our current President (like many previous president’s) misuses a lot of the money printed. We’re all aware of the trillions of dollars being spent on useless wars, lavish trips for the President and his family and even state of the art rehab facilities for Sex Offenders. It’s no secret that money is not being spent on using abandoned buildings to create large shelters for the homeless in any state.

Though money would be well spent if the President had his head on straight and chose to help the citizens of the United States first, this will be very unlikely to happen in the near or far future. This is due to each new President trying to follow the lead of the previous president. As you all know, the last 3 president’s have spent countless American dollars on things that do not benefit America.

So, who will care for the homeless? Many people go about their daily life and ignore the homeless and some even make petitions to have them removed from their make shift homes. After all, no one wants to look at eye sores right? What we all fail to realize is, any one of us could become homeless at any time. No one is guaranteed their jobs will last and many people will have been laid off in order for those jobs to be transferred overseas or people will simply be replaced by new, fast technology like Robots and Drones.

When talking about what are the options of the homeless, you must keep an open mind. In the first place, many homeless people have lost their jobs, their homes, their families and have very little left over. Finding a new job becomes harder when you have limited experience, you have no address or phone number to list on your application, you cannot arrive to an interview dirty, you have no resume to go along with your application, etc. It’s hard enough for people who are not homeless and who have degrees to get a job. At this point, most all jobs are impossible to get.

Another myth about the homeless is that they are all drug users or alcoholic’s. This is a poor assumption as some homeless, have never been addicted to either and even if they are, you must realize that being on the streets is the hardest thing you can imagine. It’s no life for anyone and those people suffer badly every single day.

Many homeless people become criminals over time as they become more desperate to survive and usually pocket change isn’t enough to sustain them. They also may commit crimes in order to have shelter and even though jail is hard, it’s still food and a place to sleep. This does not mean that all homeless people do these things but, who could blame them if they did?!

There are many abandoned buildings all across the United States and some have been recently closed. Some of these buildings such as old factories or even hospitals could be a great place for the homeless to live. In particular, a hospital that has been closed down would allow many homeless to occupy the floors and each one would have their own room and bathroom and sometimes even put two people to a room. Now, the funding part is a different story. When it comes to funding an operation like this, many people will need to pitch in and since we already pay taxes for things like overseas wars and lavish trips, the tax money would be better suited to pay for the homeless to survive in these already built buildings. It would also be possible if more people would chip in to help. It surprises me how many people complain about having to deal with the homeless but, won’t chip in for something that would get them off the streets and out of your hair.

I believe that if more people would take the time to actually talk with these people, you will realize fast that they are normal people who have been under bad circumstance for far too long. However, you cannot categorize all homeless people as belonging to one group like “Drug user” etc.. as a matter of fact, many of the homeless people I have talked to have stated that they were once married and had children but, they lost their jobs (due to no fault of their own) and they were unable to sustain their self or their families and ended up on the streets.

It has become a situation where, many of the homeless have no where to go at all. Some have families who abandoned them a long time ago and others cannot get into a shelter because, they are packed too full and no one else is allowed inside.  This is a terrible situation to be in and you must keep an open mind and decide what you would do in this position as it’s too easy for people to say “Get a job, bum”. Think about what you say before you say it. The fact is, you don’t know the person and you don’t know what they are going through and therefore, you cannot judge them. This is simply about having the respect for another human being who has been unable to get their head above water. They are no different than yourself other than, you’re privileged and they are not.

If everyone would take the time to pitch in by donating blankets to them, taking them old clothes you don’t need, make extra sandwiches and bring some water (feeding them), sitting down and talking with them, just being supportive can make all the difference for these folks. You don’t need a lot of money to help them, just sharing what you already have can go a long way. I want everyone to please consider what I have said and pass the message along. Thank you for reading my blog on homelessness.

Immigration Conflicts

It’s no surprise that America is struggling to accept immigrants. Every day we hear on the news about how “illegal immigrants” have made their way into the country. Even when they manage to stay long enough to have children, they are booted out of the country and their children are left to pick up the pieces alone. This is a terrible injustice especially to the Mexican’s.

The reason for this blog is to educate those who feel that all those who have come from Mexico should be shipped back to Mexico. First let me tell you a little about the Mexican-American war.

The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

On April 25, 1846, Mexican cavalry attacked a group of U.S. soldiers in the disputed zone under the command of General Zachary Taylor, killing about a dozen. They then laid siege to an American fort along the Rio Grande. Taylor called in reinforcements, and–with the help of superior rifles and artillery–was able to defeat the Mexicans at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

Following those battles, Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted, even before Mexico passed the boundary of the United States, invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon American soil.” Two days later, on May 13, Congress declared war, despite opposition from some northern lawmakers. No official declaration of war ever came from Mexico.

That is just a small portion of what happened during that war. The point is that the land was divided and the Mexican’s were forced to go to what is now Mexico and completely forced out of the United States. Those who feel that illegal immigrants need to go back to their “homeland” do not realize they are in their homeland. The second problem we have with immigration is a myth that Mexican’s come to the United States and depend on welfare and tax payers. This is also untrue as Mexican’s are much harder workers than the average American and the majority of the food you have (including all veggie’s and fruits) come from Mexican’s picking them. They are some of the hardest working people on the planet and they do not live on Welfare.

Many Mexican’s made America what it is today and still continue to strive to make it better. The racist profiling against Mexican’s is not only unfair but ignorant. I also must tell you that if you research your family history, you will find that all of your families immigrated from somewhere else. America has not always been where it is today and was built by the same people you have racist thoughts towards.

The following languages are being used in the United States: English, Spanish, Italian, Polish and French among many others. Yes, English is the most widely used language in the United States NOW however, it was not the first language spoken when the America’s were being created and built. English is also NOT the official language. Many people have spoken out across Social Media concerning petty things such as having to press 1 for English and even stating “You’re in America, speak English or go home” this is very easy for anyone who has no idea about the history of America or your family history. America is based on the Freedom of Speech and Freedoms that other countries don’t have and part of that Freedom is to be able to speak in any language you choose. To disrespect someone simply because they speak a language that you cannot, makes you ignorant and outright racist.

Early Migrants and Settlers: Miners, Packers and Vaqueros

Some of the earliest Mexican migrants in the Columbia River Basin were mule packers, miners, and vaqueros (cowboys). Mexican mule packers were the descendants of generations of Spanish-Mexicans who learned their trade in Mexico, the Southwest, and California and moved supplies of all types from distribution points in northern California to areas as far north as the Illinois Valley in Oregon. In the mid-1850s, Mexican packers also supplied the Second Regiment Oregon Mounted Volunteers during the Rogue River War in Oregon, and in the 1870s brought supplies to the mining camps in Idaho. Mexican miners worked the placers in the hills near Idaho City, and in the late 1870s Manuel Fontez discovered rich quartz veins in the Salmon River Mountains between the middle and south forks.

The story of Mexican Americans in the Pacific Northwest in the twentieth century is closely related to the development of the railroads and irrigated agriculture. Revolution and the resulting chaotic economic conditions in Mexico caused hundreds of thousands of Mexicans to enter the United States in the years from 1917 to the outbreak of the Great Depression in1929. The expansion of sugar beet production in Idaho “pulled” Mexican migrants to the Columbia River Basin. As demand for labor increased, recruiters for the railroad companies and agriculture fanned out to the southwestern states and border cities in northern Mexico and enlisted many Mexicans eager to find work and a better life in the United States.

In the post-World War II years, agricultural work opportunities continued to attract Mexicans and Mexican Americans to Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. In Oregon Mexicans and Mexican Americans from California and Texas worked the crops in the Rogue River, the Willamette, Hood River, and the Treasure Valleys. In central Washington Mexicans and Mexican Americans concentrated in the Yakima Valley but also worked in the Wenatchee Valley and the Pasco and Walla Walla areas. In western Washington they worked as far north as the Mt. Vernon area in the Skagit Valley.Mexicans and Mexican Americans worked in the south central and southwestern parts of Idaho, including the Treasure Valley. Depending on the location these itinerant workers thinned sugar beets, topped onions, harvested hops and green beans, and picked potatoes, apples, asparagus and cherries. As early as the mid-1940s many Mexican American migrant workers began “settling out” of the migrant stream to seek year-round employment and to establish permanent roots in the areas where they worked. As new food processing plants provided jobs and as more of their children received an education, Mexican Americans were able to establish communities.

As you can see in the above examples, many Mexican’s did extremely hard labor that American’s today would complain about doing. They still continue to work in some of the most undesirable jobs available for very little pay and yet American’s (non-Hispanic) continue to make false accusations and assumptions that Mexican’s are lazy and destroying America. You should reconsider such views the next time you go to eat something that was grown and picked on a farm.