The title for this post was taken from an interview I watched of Sonia Sanchez on Uprising with Sonali on May 26, 2015. Sanchez was describing one of the motivations for the BAM, the Black Arts Movement, and it captured the intention underlying the book I am now writing. I want to articulate what it means to be living in America today, as an underemployed college graduate with little to no power to effect change in a country that acts more immoral and inhumane as the days go by. With a scant review of today's headlines, there's an argument going on in Congress about whether the EPA should be able to regulate pesticide use in particular water areas. As the NYTimes reports, the bill's most vocal opponents are “property developers, fertilizer and pesticide makers, oil and gas producers and a national association of golf course owners.” Are these the voices we should be listening to when they are the ones who will profit from the expanded use of pesticides, and surely lose from curtailing its use? Does anyone see a conflict of interest in this scenario?
Such mind-numbing arguments as this one confront the concerned American citizen daily. When the first idea about this particular book came to me, I wanted to write a book that would make the wealthy and powerful aware of the effects of their profit-driven ideologies on the environment, specifically, but actually affecting every other aspect of our daily lives as well. Then I thought, they probably already know about the destruction and just don't care.Therefore, maybe the book needs to develop ways that make people care about the consequences of their actions. Today, I'm just mired in pessimism that anything can be done to fight the environmental, political, educational, social, judicial, etc., etc., etc., corruption and devastation present in America today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a brighter day!
Copyright@Eileen M. Sembrot 2020
Such mind-numbing arguments as this one confront the concerned American citizen daily. When the first idea about this particular book came to me, I wanted to write a book that would make the wealthy and powerful aware of the effects of their profit-driven ideologies on the environment, specifically, but actually affecting every other aspect of our daily lives as well. Then I thought, they probably already know about the destruction and just don't care.Therefore, maybe the book needs to develop ways that make people care about the consequences of their actions. Today, I'm just mired in pessimism that anything can be done to fight the environmental, political, educational, social, judicial, etc., etc., etc., corruption and devastation present in America today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a brighter day!
Copyright@Eileen M. Sembrot 2020
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