Mississippi God Damn

The ongoing water crisis in capital city Jackson is torturous for those folks living there, and plenty hurtful to the rest of us who are paying attention.

It was a combination of a century of neglect, bad government and heavy rains.

The neglect stems for Mississippi being the racist, often hateful and corrupt state that it. Nina Simone said it best in her 1960s classic song. Jackson Mississippi is about 150,000 citizens, about a quarter of which live in the government’s definition of poverty. And it’s 82% black.

Their water system has been utterly neglected. They were already operating on backup pumps because of disrepair. Don’t drink the water warnings were regular, with so many pipes over a century old. And then a climate chaos fueled storm. So much neglect. And a state government who has fostered that neglect for a generation. A state government of white men.

As Natalia Marques points out… ““In order to fully repair the system the city needs more than a billion dollars in funding. On the state and federal level, the state has not received nearly that much.” “Meanwhile, the war on Ukraine has been bankrolled over the last 6 months to the tune of $54 billion. Biden’s newly announced ‘Safer America’ plan is giving $37 billion to bankroll 100,000 police officers. It is obvious what the United States values more than basic necessities for Jackson’s people: war abroad and policing at home.” Ouch.

So now is where I’m supposed to tell you about their woeful state government, but it could be any state, blue or red, yet especially in red states, the corruption is even more rampant and sickening. No doubt because of the added ideology of the religious right. But it’s everywhere. Pick a state. Pick a story.

So we need new stories. New stories that reflect our lives together here in Life. Stories about who will lead in our governments, because government needs to be the Great Balancer between commerce and community, and The Corporation has completely ruined that balance in our time. We need legislators of integrity.

The need for revolution is upon us, for transformation in how we live, work and play. How we choose to live and how we inevitably die. Will we choose to live grounded here in Life with everyone and everything, or succumb to old world goals of wealth, fame and power? One cannot be and do both. Will we die with grace or in terror of the unknown world that exists beyond and before biological life?

Now is when I’m supposed to recommend strategies and tactics that will actually impact and dismantle the old broke down, corrupt culture. That’s a tough one, but I know where it starts. UBU. Disengage from supporting war or any politician who supports it. Stop filling your brain with doom scrolling and distracting bull. Focus on a healthy mind and body. Focus on local issues and finding local solutions. Folks of integrity and authenticity are how we remake this ugly culture.

As the founder of World 5.0 I see a clearer way forward. It’s presented well enough on the site, world5.org. We currently have only a couple of thousand folks as subscribers, but one can imagine what we will be capable of if we have a couple of hundred thousand. And so we invite you to join us.

As we grow, and rise, we will indeed reshape our Earth to a home of health and happiness for us all.

Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.

Welcome to America, circa end of 2020.

The COVID is full steam ahead, the country is in shambles, there are so many hungry and homeless, the President won’t leave, the climate is in chaos, ecosystems are collapsing, pollution of every sort everywhere, and of course these are just the catastrophic symptoms.In our communities of whatever sort, we find brokeness. In our families conflict and way too much pain in our personal lives.

Land of the free, home of the brave? Not so much. We seemed to have left that behind with so many other illusions we’ve held over these long years.

At least we have avoided the greatest immediate threat, that Trump would succeed in his attempted coup. Yet our supposed solace is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Less than inspiring. Were the system not so rigged Bernie Sanders could well be president, and we would be far better served for it. Yet the system is so rigged.

There is no going back. There never is, as this moment continues to separate future from past. Just as it always does. Even in a more stable and less corrupt moment, we can’t truly go back. Joe Biden’s ‘build back better’ is complete bullshit. Not in these times. Not with our problems. We need historic transformation.

Indeed, America was ever truly ‘Land of the Free, Home of the Brave’ (a slogan termed by Francis Scott Key) unless you were a white man of means. But I know with certainty, and not me alone, that today America is Land of The Corporation.

The system is crystal clear now for those with eyes to see. The corporations control the government, which sets the standards for a healthy culture. And with their demonic need for profits at any cost, they will always inherently stand in the way of a healthy culture. Partnerships, coops, small businesses and individuals can harness the capitalism needed to provide goods and services. And they come with balanced priorities, and a far greater likelihood of being invested in their communities.

Joe Biden and the new administration won’t do much to end this longstanding corporate scourge. They’re in the broken system. No universal healthcare, no Green New Deal, no serious rethinking of our white supremacy laced police departments and wildly overblown military. Wall street? Big Ag? Pharma? Hell no, not the bottom up, systemic rebuild that is required.

Our constitution is 240 years old, the world’s oldest. It was written by wealthy white men tired of paying taxes to Great Britain across the sea. No doubt there was some bold thinking about a better system of governance than that of a king, but this nation started, as it has fostered ever since, as a nation that’s all about the money.

In the Trump administration and McConnell dynasty, so many norms have been broken that we need serious legal remedy, Recall McConnell obstructed Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court and so much potentially useful law which he would not bring to the floor. Trump has thrown all norms to the wind in his megalomaniacal PTSD stupor.

So, two new ideas that need to be in the public sphere…

A new constitution, let’s call it Constitution 2.0. Built on the best of the original, and the vast knowledge available today combined with what’s working in other counties, and we could generate an outstanding document that brings in a new era.

And as part and parcel of this constitution, we dismantle the corporate engine that has caused so much corruption and so many wasted lives. We end the legal status of corporations. In the meanwhile we do our best to so weaken them so much that we can flush them down the toilet.

Land of the free? Home of the brave? I don’t think so. How about land of the free. Home of the Truth. If we get the second part right, we have a chance at the first.

Black lives Matter

For some of us, the idea that Black Lives Matter is kind of a duh. Of course they do. Human life is a rare gift and should be held sacred, not disposed of as an inconvenience or act of hate acted out. George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer has been the straw that broke the camel’s back, the camel being the corrupt culture of police and police unions. They are now so busted.

And we know it’s not just criminal justice that needs reform. Our political system, monetary system, food system, etc. etc. etc. all need reformation. Literally – re-form anew. It may be time for the world to wake up to World 5.0, the name I’ve given to our new o/s.

It has principles – five of them – Peace, Love, Integrity, Justice and Balance. All honorable ideals. And Integrity demands and ethical stance. We cannot speak of integrity without ethics.

More importantly, World 5.0 describes the truth of who and where we are. Who: biological, self-aware beings. Where: together Here in Life. There is no other place. Now is all there is, and the sooner we recognize our Hereness together, the better we can deal with the craziness of being human in these times.

World5 acknowledges the power of our intent, which the elites controlling our world do not want you to appreciate. We have the power to choose between Love and fear, right now, and no one can take that power from you. There is a third truth as well – Only Love Makes Us Happy.

So if I title an article ‘Black Lives Matter’, what the help am I doing pimping World 5.0?

We don’t need another ‘analysis’ of why this is happening, or another stat about protests. But I will add one from Cincinnati this very day [6/7/2020], where we had over 10,000 peaceful protesters demanding accountability from our police. It’s inspiring.

10 years ago I made a little video about the new world we seek. It’s called ‘The Declaration of World 5.0’. It encompasses much that we need to change to create the world we want. You can view it here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hU3gOuQgHw

I’m more hopeful than ever that we’re, as a species, ready to take this on. We can use our combined intent to do amazing things to heal ourselves, our communities and our world.

peace and love,
Jim

Community Policing 101

Older folks will remember the Andy Griffith Show, where the Mayberry law enforcement team of Andy Griffith and Barney Fife maintained security through community policing. Okay it was TV, with a context of generally happy, middle class white folk living in small town America. But the idea was good.

It’s still good. And it’s an idea much needed at this time. We don’t really need to review the symptoms. Folks, especially of color, are being gunned down left and right. We need to find answers. We need systemic change.

There are elements within policing agencies and government at large that are ripe with corruption and ideology, neither of which contribute to a healthy community. The coding of empire is deepest within the law enforcement and military culture, the brainwashing most complete. And so it is here where we must focus to create peace.

Most of our police folk are good people, and most of us know a few police officers. But this element of racism and hate is killing us. We need and deserve a better way forward. It’s the only reasonable alternative. No one’s going to do it for us.

We have to see into the heart of the problem. Here’s what writer Simon Balto had to say last year: “As someone who has spent years researching a book on the CPD’s relationship to black Chicago, I can attest that the police department’s stultifying opacity on officer misconduct cases would be an almost impressive feat of obfuscation, were it not so maddening and socially harmful.“

The Chicago situation is not unique. An impressive amount of obfuscation is the rule when it comes to police wrong doing. The culture of never speaking out against another cop, regardless of his/her bad behavior, is a culture of bullshit. The culture that believes their uniform and guns give them power over others and above the law is bullshit. The culture that allows black folks to be killed wantonly by police is beyond despicable. Horrible.

The FOP is a central force in maintaining these wrong-headed cop-culture dynamics. ‘Lie and Deny’, the classic response of the guilty, is their main strategy to dissipate outrage at the bad behavior of some cops. As Trevor Noah pointed out on The Daily Show, why is video evidence incontrovertible in every case unless police are involved? Then we have ‘the wrong angle’ or ‘Don’t believe your lying eyes’ or the cameras fell off or some other form of obfuscation.

The Dallas Sniper

On July 7th, 2016, a sniper in Dallas during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest killed five and wounded seven police officers. This sort of resistance to those sworn to ‘protect and serve’ isn’t surprising when the headlines from the two previous days were of black men murdered by police. Indeed, in 2016 there’s pretty much a murder of a black person every day.

We seem to be in this terrible nightmare where the veneer has come off, and haters – cops and whackos alike – are just going off on black folk. The current wave seems to have started with George Zimmerman killing teen Trayvon Martin back in 2012. How many murdered black folk since? Yeah. And how many before 2012? Countless.

Within this context, is it really that surprising the a former army soldier, Micah Xavier Johnson, would elect to start shooting cops? How much violence, trauma and pain can we expect our darker skinned sisters and brothers to take? How long do we imagine it will be until the wretched legacy of subjugation and slavery is truly a thing of the past?

What is certain is that Mr. Johnson’s actions have created a new dynamic. It’s an opportunity for police officers to think again, especially if they’ve been part of the problem. It’s a new form of pushback to a great injustice. And it’s potentially empowering for an ethnic group long disrespected and abused. It’s fighting back.

Does a World5 mindset condone this response? No. No more than we condone the murder of innocent black people. Our intent is always peace and love. Will we defend ourselves if attacked? That is for each of us to choose based on our inclinations and the situation. Our revolution is peace and love.

It’s Not a Matter of Time

There’s nothing implicit in the passage of time to suggest that these conditions will improve and that the police culture will change. “The arc of history may well be bending toward justice.” – Martin Luther King, but that’s one long arc, and we don’t have that kind of time. We need radical change, and we need it now. Funny how so many areas of our lives point to the need for revolution.

For police reform, let’s get back to the FOP. We need to transform the FOP from a bad cop protecting nightmare institution into a ‘how do we rebuild our communities’ leader. Because it’s never been subjected to union-busting like every other union, we sometimes forget it is a union – a place for folk to build stronger ties to each other and their communities.

What if the FOP had as it’s focus the strengthening and rebuilding of the communities they served? How much more engagement with their citizenry would there be? How many new initiatives might be generated? How many citizens, especially poor and dispossessed, would benefit? And finally, how much safer and richer would the lives of our police be under such FOP guidance.

Transforming the FOP, from within and without, will do much to restore the relationships between police and the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.

The Peace Revolution

Underneath the propaganda of mainstream media there’s actually a lot going on that points to a better day ahead. There are local community peace building programs cropping up in many cities. There are ‘interventions’ taking place in cities like Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD. Citizen action groups, like Black Lives Matter, have created more than 1,000 protest actions since April of 2014.

Deeper still, there is an awakening in many of our hearts, leading to greater understanding and empathy for our sisters and brothers. This wellspring of love has been ignored and abused as well, but it’s finding its way into our culture, bit by bit.

Finally, let’s not forget that these killings are happening within a wider culture of violence. American Empire has 800 based around the world, sells more armaments, conducts more drone and air strikes, and starts more wars than any other country on Earth. Our media is riddled with violence, from TV shows to news ‘shows’. Is it surprising that a culture of violence engenders violence?

Standing here as we are, our best strategy for resistance is walk away – to let go. Turn off the TV and take a walk in your neighborhood, making eye contact and saying hi to neighbors. If you know of someone who’s on the edge, talk to them or get help. If you’re part of a policing agency, grow some balls and bust the deranged fuckers who are killing us needlessly. And above all, hold to Life, God, Allah, Eternal Awareness – the name’s not important – and to the understanding that we are in the throes of epochal change. And yes it is messy, and no we don’t have to be afraid.