You may lose, but you've still got privilege
My neighbors and I had worked hard to keep our neighborhood safe. We had driven out drug dealers but they'd been replaced by tougher drug dealers. I'd lived in my house for 12 years, and I sold it with a profound feeling of loss and defeat.
I needed a fresh beginning.
So, I took classes on teaching English as a second language from the Minnesota Literacy Council, used the internet to find a job teaching English in China and bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong.
It was that easy to skip out to another country to start a new life. That easy to find a job that provided housing and a living wage in a country I'd never been to and in which I didn't speak the language.
That kind of easy is called privilege.
It's not exclusively American. It's about English being the international language for business and science. It's about America being the superpower of the 20th century and Britain being the empire of the 19th century. It's about being a citizen of a developed country.
It's about having a government that does a good enough job for enough of its people to not get booted out. It's about stability. It's about the right constitution.
It sure ain't about perfect justice. I shouldn't have had to leave to feel safe. And what about the people who couldn't leave? And what about the drug dealers? How long can you expect a person to live for a dream deferred? Don't you think it's the person who thinks he has nothing to lose who will risk imprisonment?
I needed a fresh beginning.
So, I took classes on teaching English as a second language from the Minnesota Literacy Council, used the internet to find a job teaching English in China and bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong.
It was that easy to skip out to another country to start a new life. That easy to find a job that provided housing and a living wage in a country I'd never been to and in which I didn't speak the language.
That kind of easy is called privilege.
It's not exclusively American. It's about English being the international language for business and science. It's about America being the superpower of the 20th century and Britain being the empire of the 19th century. It's about being a citizen of a developed country.
It's about having a government that does a good enough job for enough of its people to not get booted out. It's about stability. It's about the right constitution.
It sure ain't about perfect justice. I shouldn't have had to leave to feel safe. And what about the people who couldn't leave? And what about the drug dealers? How long can you expect a person to live for a dream deferred? Don't you think it's the person who thinks he has nothing to lose who will risk imprisonment?
Dear Reva,
'Really loved the questions with which you ended this last blog. Great!
I look forward to the next installation!
Sherry
As you know, it is so hard to sum up a situation. Blogging my story is a way to examine it and understand it; your responses push my thinking. Just another pilgrim trying to understand life.
Reva
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Dear Reva,
I really like the idea that you are helping me to remember the poor, the desperate that live in both the cities and suburbs of America. Instead of making references to the drug dealers I would feel more connected to your story if you also spoke about the people most affected by the dealers-the addicted. It is such a huge American problem. Not only in cities but in rural areas also.
I like hearing about the neighborhood you left, you paint a clear picture. Keep encouraging the readers to follow you to China. It's a fascinating story!
Shelley
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What most people do not realize is that there is a much higher drug usage among white folks than among blacks. The blacks just get caught more easily. The whites take their bliss back home and do whatever they do with it in privacy. They have more money, too. Someone was telling me last night about the number of kids in his upscale high school who used drugs--just incredible I guess. (Check out SPA.)
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