Madonna of Syracuse

She marches along with the rest 
Cradling her belly
Swollen with child 
Her chin tilts to the sky and she SHOUTS
Black Lives Matter!
Hands Up!
Don't Shoot!
She's more sad than angry; less angry than sad
She's homeless; the child within is not
Yet
She marches to make the World
For the Other
For her Own
For her Child
- ShotByNess.

Madonna of Syracuse
Politics Series
ShotByNess.
© 2019 RiverHouse Group of Caughdenoy, new YorK, LLC

Intersection


“What keeps a poor child in Appalachia poor is not what keeps a poor child in Chicago poor – even if from a distance, the outcomes look the same. And what keeps an able-bodied black woman poor is not what keeps a disabled white man poor, even if the outcomes look the same.” 
― Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race

The only thing that matters is that they are all poor. And if they do not join together to address that situation, they will all remain poor while those who benefit from their poverty will remain rich. This is the truth of racism and sexism and homophobia and xenophobia and religious bigotry. The shared goal of all these evils is to maintain separation between those that have and those that don’t. This is usually accomplished by convincing some percentage of those that don’t that they may one day be a member of the those that have group. They won’t. Ever. But they fall for it. That percentage happens to be 30%.

It is the intersections of the oppressed which will provide the strength to set things right.

ShotByNess.

Intersection
Politics Series
ShotByNess.
© 2019 RiverHouse Group of Caughdenoy, new YorK, LLC

Jerry Rescue


On October 1, 1851, William Henry was arrested in Syracuse under the Fugitive Slave Law. Earlier in 1851, Secretary of State Daniel Webster had warned that the law would be enforced even “here in Syracuse in the midst of the next Anti-Slavery Convention.”[1] The arrest was considered a message that the locally unpopular law would be seriously enforced by federal authorities.[1]

Wikipedia, Jerry Rescue

Jerry Rescue
Politics Series
ShotByNess.
© 2019 RiverHouse Group of Caughdenoy, new YorK, LLC

New England Family


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! 
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

– Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

New England Family
Family Series
ShotByNess.
© 2019 RiverHouse Group of Caughdenoy, new YorK, LLC

The End is Nigh

They are the end. And they know it. I saw a picture of Donald Trump, Jr. (R-Nepotism) on a dove hunting trip with Steve King (R-IA). Politician grins plastered across their slightly off faces while they firmly grasp the double-barreled evidence of their manhood. Manhood which had recently been demonstrated on doves. Some of which, to the consternation of the Congressman and the young Mr. Trump, were white.

I wondered how they can be so tone deaf as not to see how pathetic they look in these pictures. Little men trying to be big men. Little men who remain little even with the backing of hundreds of millions of dollars. A hooker will lie to most men for a few hundred dollars but these men are so little that they can’t even buy the loyalty of those who are in the business of selling it.

Little men.

They do what little men always do. They take out their self-hate on those who aren’t little. They take out their envy and jealousy on everyone that they have influence over. The richer they are, the worse it is for the rest of us. Their influence is the only thing that isn’t little about them. Once they realize this – as the President has – they lash out. They spend all of their time trying to inflict pain on those that aren’t little. As much pain as possible. Pain to tear them down to the level of these little men. That is their goal.

Not realizing that there isn’t that much pain in the world. They know that their time is done. That the end is not only nigh, it is here. They are done and, in keeping with their vile heroes, they plan to salt the Earth. To keep human dignity from returning. If they can accomplish that, they will be “big men.” Perhaps. What they don’t realize is they cannot win. They can never be “big men” because the very act of trying to tear us down makes them ever….

smaller.

  • Eliot.

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Politics Series
ShotByNess.
© 2019 RiverHouse Group of Caughdenoy, new YorK, LLC