My Political Stance

If you live your life thinking politics has nothing to do with you, it’s unfortunate to say that you’re wrong.

Wherever you stand in your ideology, income bracket, geographic location, workplace, consumerism, insurance, residence, recreation – there is some ground that is affected by politics.

And what you politically believe is usually rooted in who you are. Social status, ethnicity, nationality, gender.

Therefore anyone who exists in a free society with political workers, should exercise their right to weigh in on politics that affect them.

Even Jelly Roll is speaking to the government about what matters to him. 

So I’m diving into how I’m affected by politics to give you an idea on why you should be political.

I’m black on my mom’s side. I’ve traced my line in America to Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemmings through her grandfather. I know what it means to be mixed black & white for generations. I’ve been here since before it was called the “United States”.

My great grandfather lived on the reservation in California. As a kid I went to powwows a few times a year and danced by the fire and in the dirt with bells on my ankles over my moccasins. I know what it means to be an Indian, or Native American, and the deep scars caused by trying to eliminate a culture. Stealing children. Banning language, and tradition, and broken treaties, and lying American politicians and business men. I’ve sat with the elders and listened to their stories.

My dad came from Guadalajara and married my mom. I know what it means to be here as an immigrant and to live here with a green card. He had 3 jobs and took care of my mom and her three kids from another marriage.

All my blood relatives on my mom’s side who are male, have been incarcerated. Some have lived more years inside than out. I know the atrocities of imprisonment and who really benefits from slave labor penitentiaries.

Drugs have separated my nuclear family. Gang violence raged across the street from where I grew up. (“Why are Mexicans & blacks fighting? Why do they hate each other? I’m both.”: 3-10 year old me). Military men liked to intimidate & scare me when I was under 7 years old (and shy of 2 to 3 feet tall [everyone thought I would be a dwarf]).

I was raised Christian. Took Jesus into my heart. Told Jesus saves and love thy neighbor. Then told my best friend was going to hell because he liked boys (we 14 years old in high school). I’d already witnessed years of hypocrisy by Christians. And, shaking uncontrollably, because something was wrong with conditional love, dripping in blood from holy wars, and by a fatherly being that deems it necessary to give his children a choice (“free will”) and then condemn them for making the wrong choice – as judged by him; by a father demanding praise & worship from his children, whilst allowing eternal suffering. So I denounced my faith that week, thinking that I had condemned myself to hell and eternal damnation because I loved my friend, and I couldn’t find anything wrong with loving another and wanting to be loved, regardless of gender.

I grew up in theater since 6 years old. I didn’t understand what was the problem with cross dressing and why people were angry if you continued to do it off stage. Guys wear kilts, kaftans, daishikis, and the garments of Indians and Muslims (Jesus wore a dress…?)

I didn’t comprehend those misgendered until closer to graduating high school. But I didn’t see why it mattered so much to people.

I am a dye-hearted, glitter gun, confetti, rainbow loving LGBTQA+ now outed pansexual (boy, girl, trans? I fall in love with souls…)

My mother had a severe mental illness and my brother had a severe physical illness. I understand people living with disabilities that they cannot help, that they did not choose, but that fully affected every aspect of their lives.

My grandmother (in her 60s) raised me, and I was a Ward of the Court. We relied on Medi-Cal, Social Security checks, and welfare. I could go to school and get free to $0.75 lunches. I frequented the library at school and in the community and loved taking books home to read. Those with illness and all of us kids got food and medical care as needed to make sure we stayed as healthy as we could. Living below the poverty line is a life of scrapping by and the services provided for the community are absolutely essential.

I believe EVERYONE – NO MATTER WHAT – should receive all of the essential services they need to live – from cradle to grave. A place to live with 4 walls, a roof, and a place to lay their head. Fresh water, food, clean air, a right to education, a right to basic medical services for physical/dental/mental health, assistance with transportation and a basic living wage – whether they are able to work, or not.

I’m talking about bare essentials here, not luxury. A one room studio with kitchenette & bath; not a mansion over the ocean or a penthouse apartment. A gas card, a metro card, not an Audi. Enough money to cover rent, utilities, food every week, basic clothes & shoes, so a person never has to worry about that and people don’t have to litter our communities setting up camp, because they have no where else to go.

I don’t see why people have to be humiliated for needing basic essentials. If you want more out of life, then you have to work for it. That’s what I believe anyway.

All of these seem incredibly personal and one would think that they should have nothing to do with politics.

And that’s where we seem to miss the point.

Politics have affected EVERY SINGLE aspect of my life.

The air quality. The water quality. What I eat. What safe materials are allowed in my home. The medicines I take. Energy costs. Taxes. Affordable housing. Passport. Birth certificate. Social Security. Plane rides. Traffic regulations. Pot holes.

You can’t go through life NOT affected by politics in the modern world. (well maybe you could until you have to cross international waters or something.

But we don’t seem to really get how integral it all is.

My people have been enslaved, restricted, oppressed, stolen, beaten, raped, harassed, tormented, forcefully evicted, tyrannized, sentenced to death, generationally traumatized.

My people have been law breakers simply because laws were made to outcast them until resistance overthrew the old regimes and overturned the old laws.

And on a system built on “by the People, for the People”, We the People seem to have taken a stance quite distanced from what’s really going on in the world of politics – and who is benefiting.

This is a response I left online when one too many people seemed to be feeling depressed, bleak & hopeless:

I’ve been sick for 15 years
Now I choose to thrive.
I mean laws have in the past been cruel, lethal, lies, or not upheld for certain members on this land & in human history.
So my people have been regular law breakers.
I knew when he ran for office the news 📰 would be a low tune volume for me.
I focus on my health & wellbeing foremost
My home & household upkeep & well being
My family’s (blood, but mostly chosen, because some of the blood relatives are as “Chernobyl” as the current president) & friend’s well being
And that of my local community
Death is imminent for anything alive. I choose to cherish my time.
I’m aware of the travesties. Not an ostrich lifestyle.
But let’s be honest. It isn’t one guy. He’s being enabled by millions.
And it’s a stain on human history that it’s not the first time. We just anticipated & hoped for evolution by now.

As sorrowful as it is, for me, I choose instead to revel in the glory of my light & the lights of others.

My activism is not AOC style, so I find the groups that are, that resonate with me & fund them.

My activism is stepping into my power & being the Being I was meant to be. Living in my purpose.

I can’t afford to be sick by govt actions. We get ebbs & flows, but it’s never really changed. And round & round we go.

I create my stability.

I hope you can find footing to gain yours. It’s tough. I rely on 100s of years of ancestors struggles.
But honestly, it just seems to be humanity’s struggles.

Best thing to do is find ways to strengthen yourself, find allies who bring you community so you don’t feel oppressed & alone, find ways to express so you aren’t pent up with bubbling over emotions, find exercises to regulate a disregulated nervous system, & find spaces to rest & recharge.

It’s my whole mission to help people do this.

Best of luck, one & all.