Sunday, July 14, 2013

The Verdict

Once again the absence of Black Americans in venues where our interests are in play and in peril has been lethal. The  Travon Martin courtroom where justice did not appear included a white judge, white prosecutors, and a jury without Black Americans. A dead Black boy was present but his currency and worth was already discounted and then documented with a horrific outcome of freedom for his killer.

Lessons to learn include:  The reality that our presence must exist in every venue of life in America from courtrooms to boardrooms to rooms with a view.

The other lesson was personal I have failed my son by not disarming the contempt society has for his being...I have been unable to alter the ethos of inhumanity and depravity towards his essence...Now others have the license under the 'color of law' to discount his personhood. My failure has altered the arc of his presence in our country. My son now has to deal with another fucking generation of contempt for his essence....This raw truth stings me today!

America circa 2013

Friday, July 12, 2013

Regime Change in Detroit

There were no loud explosions nor chaos in the streets,troops did not flood the avenues and enclaves of the city. A manifesto was not distributed by air drop nor was there a state of martial law issued. A coup took place in Motown a ' regime change' in the post industrial rust belt has been installed.

In the post industrial era of America political, cultural, and economic realities are unlike anything our country has experienced. The very fabric of life in this era is altered by the forces of technology and the global marketplace. Traditional platforms of interaction with elected officials has been fundamentally altered. The State has now replaced the local elected legislatures ( city councils)  and the core of power. The micro polices of local governance have been structurally altered with the micro intervention of the State into the daily operational management of the local public sector.

Into this new platform of political metrics the role of governance has been forever fundamentally altered. The ruling class in partnership with centralized State government has designed and modeled a form of governance which removes local  representatives from their  local oversight and control of the daily public sector and public services ( to include Educational districts)  and replaced them with a new direct State centered paradigm for governance.

The new global marketplace of goods and services  require a new type of governance structure which is efficient and measured. This new model is driven not by consensus and policy concerns of the community  but by mandates and financial objectives of the marketplace as defined by the central state government and the interests which influence state policy on the local cities.

Policy is no longer driven by the will of the people. What underwrites the role of political systems now is administrative platform designed and shaped by the State and those who influence the state’s decision makers. Local themes and interests no longer have standing nor social or cultural currency.

Civic principles which historically  have focused on the community are now factored as economic metrics rather than civic goals. What is more  important is not the percentage of voters who cast a vote but the percentage of voters that are in compliance with State driven administrative  budgets and fiscal policies.The notions of democracy and the will of the people no longer have any currency in the 'regime change' model  being played out in Detroit.

The mandates of the central State gvernment which are created  and orchestrated by the ruling class interests have more priority than any civil objectives. The Viceroy(Emergency Manager) is tasked with defined administrative objectives none which have the people's agenda in play.  The 'regime change' in Detroit has made moot concerns and  notions regarding voters rights and home rule. The state has now remove the layer of local rule and replaced it with direct rule from the central governor’s office under the auspices of a Viceroy.

Into this new era of governance the city of Detroit and the nation have just experienced and witnessed a calibrated 'regime change' in the City of Detroit. A coup has taken place without a revolution by the people or intervention by the military. The State has inserted a Viceroy under the directives of the centralized governor to disenfranchise voting rights and  ban home rule. The Viceroy with absoulte authority granted by the State now conducts  and controls all municipal business and public services contracts and affairs.

Detroit is no longer a place where public policy is underwritten by elected representatives of the people. The 'regime changes' in Detroit have been accomplished a coup  has transpired without a body count, political prisoners or blood in the streets. Residents live under a surreal state of martial law,staged elections with state influenced operatives as candidates for administrative public officials.

Detroit is the template of  the post industrial era in America where the global market is the policy driver and not the will of the people.