And if you push me some bullshit about "getting tough on crime," I will verbally slap you upside the head so hard, you won't remember your fucking name.
A benumbing sound that plays in the background of life. It's been there always. I hid it in the floorboards, suffocated it with insulation and alcohol just to cope with the insanity of growing up in and stubbornly refusing to abandon this war zone, my childhood home.
Cops won't fix this situation. Only community will fix this situation, and they've been destroying our communities in Chicago for generations, especially the African-American communities.
I'm sorry. It's all so fucking stupid.
If the powers-that-be can find some way to destroy your community, they will. DON'T LET THEM. They will sell you a lemon and call it a favor. Counter-offer with a kick in the teeth; that's how it is here.
I've barbecued while they were carting off bodies, and when asked why, I replied, "Now is not a good time to stop living."
They were shot while we were barbecuing.
Ever barbecue in the radiostatic disco flash of cop car lights while you know two gunshot victims are being carted off to hospital no more than 100 feet away from you? It's surreal.
@royalpratt When they closed the bars in our neighborhood, it destroyed the economy. I believe this happened in the late seventies and early eighties, around the time I was born.
@royalpratt That, in combination with systemic racism in a commodified housing market and disinvestment from the city, forced Brighton Park into a devastating economic quagmire that it struggles with to this day.
@royalpratt If @LoriLightfoot is making it more difficult for mom and pop liquor shops to survive, it's because she wants to replace them with Binny's, or nothing at all.
@Thom_Hartmann@FrankLuntz is outnumbered. It's patently obvious the riches and power of a manipulative, narcissistic and callous set of families is ill-gotten and illegitimate. Capitalism has a clear history that's intertwined with human captivity, genocide and widespread deceit.
@Thom_Hartmann@FrankLuntz Roughly a third of Americans, @FrankLuntz, identify as Capitalists, and also, roughly a third of Americans believe COVID is a hoax, Trump is still @POTUS, and the January 6th coup attempt was an elaborate walking tour of the Capitol.
@Thom_Hartmann@FrankLuntz@POTUS However, @FrankLuntz, roughly two-thirds of Americans believe you're full of shit, and we're pissed. You're not going to smooth that over with clever wordplay. You could coordinate to kill us all, but that would make you a fascist, and besides: you're outnumbered.