Tying together Public Library Cuts and Police Killing; Some thoughts on the future

At the start of February, Wall Street was celebrating, patting themselves on the back, lighting up cigars and eating big fat steaks as the Market climbed above 14 thousands points. Clear indicators of profitable time in New York. But for who?

March has become the cruelist of months showing why this city is, to paraphrase Woody Guthrie, "not made for you and me." On March 8th the presidents of the NYC's public libraries spoke against the proposed $106.7 million dollar budget cuts on the table by the Bloomberg Administration.This at a time when library usage has soared during this recession.

And in the conquest of destroying public education and privatizing it, the city is proposing yet again  to shut down more schools.


Last Saturday, Kimani Gray, a 16 year young was gunned down by cops who proclaimed he had a gun. They shot him 11 times and an autopsy revealed that three of the bullets hit him in the back. The neighborhood, East Flatbush, experience some of the most angry rebellions the city has seen since the deaths of Amadou Diallo or Patrick Dorismond. Every single year another young man, especially if he is black, is shot down by cops. When will it end?

 

The New York City that I grew up with I knew wasn't perfect by all means. I remember the devastated South Bronx or the Lower East Side. The drugs that permeated the streets and the viles that filled the gutters. But that city had opportunities to escape the madness that existed. They could excel in schools when given the chance and seek shelter of quiet spaces of libraries. There were clubs or art galleries were one could see live music or art on the cheap. 

All of these issues are tied together. There not separate and should not be treated that way. Thousands of working class children are being left behind in the great race to make more money by Wall Street and corporations. In the past when there was a strong real Left presence in the United States and in New York,workers and students would demand justice, fight for economic equality and better education. The harrassment of youth in the poorest of neighborhoods is a way for these forces to keep people down and not fight back and now they don't even want them to have an escape hatch.

The time has been for some time now to take action that unifies movements and fights for the one percent.


Or will all of NYC be the area of "No Tresspassing"

"As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?"
                                           - Woody Guthrie