{"id":1027,"date":"2016-07-12T17:21:23","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T22:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2016-07-12T17:21:23","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T22:21:23","slug":"the-revolution-will-mantain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=1027","title":{"rendered":"The revolution will mantain"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I ran<\/a>, and it was tough today. Air Quality sucked! The sun was very difficult to deal with, I ended up walking a lot. It’s strange because I’ve seen a lot of talk about Yale University. People sharing the story of the worker who broke out the window of Calhoun College, the panel where they showed slaves picking cotton. I think that’s totally fair. Frankly, the school should check for that stuff and remove that sort of stuff. Put it in a museum, dedicated to how shitty people throughout history have been treated. Why don’t we have memorials to slave revolts, people who fought for freedom, for an end to slavery? Why are all the monuments named for people who kept slavery as a thing?
\nWhich brings me to my first point today. A. Barlett Giamatti, not born in New Haven, but he’s buried here. He was a Medieval\/Renaissance Literature professor for many years at Yale. He was President of Yale, Commissioner of the National League and Commissioner of Major League Baseball. While he wasn’t great for organized labor, he was good for the game, and he was good for New Haven. His children were born in New Haven, at least one went to Yale, and is a world-class actor. Giamatti advocated for the hiring of more “minority” managers in Major League Baseball, and he handled the Pete Rose situation the best he could. So my vote is for Giamatti College at Yale University. Goodbye John C. Calhoun, you prick.
\nThen I thought about a way for people to expose the racism inherent in our country, and what I thought of was a hashtag like #IWasLedToBelieve. So have things like #IWasLedToBelieve you can tell something about someone based on their skin color. And people could share things they’ve been told, they believed, or they heard someone else say about people who are different than they are. They could have heard it from a parent, friend, relative, loved one, teacher, professor, coworker, the media. Like one from the media, the infamous Jimmy The Greek line coul dbe used. #IWasLedToBelieve “black people are better athletes because they have more fast-twitch muscle fiber”. Or #IWasLedToBelieve black-on-black crime is somehow worse or different than other intra-racial crime. Things that are prima facie absurd, yet we keep hearing all the time anyway. And some people really believe this stuff. But maybe if we put it out there in their face, they will see how stupid it all sounds, and maybe that will start to get people to change their attitudes and ideas.
\nI also saw a few homeless people on the street. I’ve talked about this before. I try to wave and smile and say hi to everyone I pass, it was difficult today. But that includes the homeless, they are people too. Even if you don’t want to\/can’t give them money, at least remember they are human beings and should be treated as such. As I always say, we are all brothers and sisters. Does not matter what your judgments are! So be kind.
\nBut mostly I thought about Bernie. I know I’ve talked about this before. But listen, yes, I don’t really like the choices, even though one is good enough for the system we have now. I get it, I am disappointed, I am saddened. I don’t want the system we have now. But Bernie wasn’t the end of it no matter what happened, he is just the beginning. Bernie was there to get people excited, and he’s even said exactly what needs to happen now no matter what happens the rest of the way with this election. We have to get involved. All politics are local. That being said here’s what needs to happen. You get your friends and like-thinkers in your area together. Go to your most agreeable political party’s events, and get yourselves nominated for positions. Get your friends to the primaries, win them, get out there knock door to door, make phone calls and get people to the polls on election day, and take office! If we all did that, we’d always have someone we wanted to vote for! When you build the movement at the local level (which is the most important for all our daily lives) then you can build it up nationally. Make the party into what you want to see, or maybe break off and make your own party. I’m using plural you here. No one person can do all this. But it takes an organization, it takes people standing together. But change can happen, if you stand together. And you’re not always going to agree with everyone, but you work with them, you work it out and you figure out the best way forward for everyone. It’s not about the best way forward for you, it’s about everyone. As long as you have everyone’s interest in mind, you can’t go wrong.
\nSo go out and move this thing forward. What was great while thinking about all this, a song from a band celebrating their 30th year came on. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years, but it was the perfect song to have come on. This is an old song from them as well. It pretty much hits on most of the issues facing modern society.
\n