I went to bed with this message ringing in my head last night:
I suspect this person didn't care for my piece on where I stood with drug dealers.
This message amuses me because it was a rather big deal for me to take the public stand I did in that post. I told these drug dealers I'd call the police for brutalizing the weak. And I did. In fact, we had to hide a person because he was terrified they would think it was him that called the police.
And of course there's the government. They are the biggest bullies of them all. They sniff around all our properties. They know full well they could close any of them at any time if they so choose. A missing downspout is a house condemning offense.
People in high up positions whisper to me that they support what we're doing with the homeless. But then in the next breath they tell me they can't support me publicly because... you know... there's too much at risk.
Look motherfuckers: I'm risking everything out here. My property. My safety. My freedom. Everything. And I'm not going to stop.
I am not going to be pushed around by people that try to intimidate me or threaten me.
And do you know why? Because THE ENTIRE WORLD pushes around and bullies people that have no power, no recourse, nothing. THE ENTIRE WORLD bullies the poor and the homeless. They have been stripped of everything... including their courage and backbone and dignity.
A new Akron police officer in our area has been coming around recently helping us with the issue of drug dealers trying to scare us and intimidate us. He recently told us that we don't need to be afraid of 2 or 3 bullies when there are 15 or 20 of us. No matter how big the bully is he can't stand up to 15 people. There is power in numbers.
And here's the thing: If one person stands up... another person will stand up. I've seen it happen. It just takes one person to have a little courage and then courage spreads like wild fire. It's the most powerful thing I've ever seen in my life.
The American lions that we once were have now become cowering rabbits. We are afraid of everything. We listen to the 24 hour news cycle of our choice and become more and more afraid.
Our kids can't go outside. They are going to be beat up or sold into sex slavery.
Our women can't go anywhere alone. They are going to be raped in the nearest abandoned property.
We can't drive through "that" neighborhood.
We can't roll our window down for the panhandler begging for money. He'll surely attack us.
And most importantly: we don't DARE stand up to anyone that might ever pay us a dollar.
We can never let our morals and integrity get in the way of the all mighty dollar.
This was a recent headline in Akron Ohio:
"A local asphalt company is suing Akron for not saving taxpayers $3 million on its bid to resurface Romig Road."
That local asphalt company was Kenmore Construction.
Kenmore bid $9.7 million. But the city picked The Ruhlin Co. out of Medina County, which is charging $12.9 million for concrete.
The article goes on to say:
"Kenmore was the only company that came in under budget on the project, which city engineers priced at $11.1 million with asphalt or $11.4 million with concrete."
So, Kenmore sued the city. And do you know what happened? Kenmore lifted the lawsuit 2 weeks later. They clearly came to their senses. Standing up for what is right is bad for business.
It doesn't matter if the company that won wasn't an Akron company or didn't adhere to the budget of the proposal. The people with the money get to call all the shots and do whatever the hell they want.
I got to go on vacation to Boston this summer. (Incidentally, Boston is probably the biggest secret tourist town in the U.S. There is a TON to do there. You should go sometime if you can.)
They have the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.
The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.
This lead to the American Revolution.
A small group of people stood up for what they believed was right and it lead to where we stand today. We are now the United States of America because the Sons of Liberty stood up.
In Akron, we have the John Brown House.
John Brown lead a raid on Harpers Ferry to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern states by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
It has been called the dress rehearsal for the Civil War.
One person stands up and it has the potential effect of causing a chain reaction where other people will stand up.
Do you understand: Me just saying these words is dangerous. Words are dangerous. And that's why people don't say them. They risk losing juicy contracts or worse.
But somebody has to stand up. Somebody has to do it.
A lot of people give me courage. But I often think of tank man:
Internationally, it is considered one of the most iconic images of all time. This man that no one knows stood in front of these tanks leaving Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, the morning after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests by force. The tanks would try to get around and he would move to stop them again.
It just takes one person.
You aren't going to hear this message on your 24 hour news channel. You know why? Because it's bad for business. How can you be afraid and buy the stupid shit they are trying to sell you if you are standing up for your rights and the rights of the oppressed.
The revolution surely would be televised. But, in America, television killed the revolution. Television turned us into cowards.
And we do nothing. We just watch it happen.
What have we become? What does it mean to be an American anymore?
Well... I haven't forgotten what being an American means.
Being an American means standing up for your values.
Being an American means not being afraid of the British military that is going to certainly come and stomp your ass for throwing some tea in the harbor.
Being an American means being willing to die for slaves that you yourself never were but refuse to allow to go on any longer.
Being an American means NOT BEING AFRAID.
We have forgotten what being an American truly means.
Today we measure how "American" someone is by the size of their bank account not the content of their character. We worship the billionaires.
Wake up Americans: They are selling all of us down the river and we are gladly lining up to let them do so.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis