As a naturally born American with geneaological ties to both Eastern & Western Europe as well as the "Middle Eastern" region I've come to realize that we as a nation have lost touch with what used to be most important... Family. Ask grandma and grandpa for instance how they coexisted with other communities in their time. Their answer would probably sound something like "give and take." And I think that answer would have depended on the circumstances or instances in average everyday life. I think European Americans and African Americans have more in common than they actually realize. I myself am not that old of an American... By true American standards I'm just a baby only 3rd generation. But... In moving from France and Italy primarily my family has lost touch with it's Euro side through the years which I can imagine is only worse for older generational Americans.
The truth is, just about every American white or black, can attach that X to their name being that the extended family in Europe has been almost entirely displaced from the American side though shoddy diplomacy and war.
I think the biggest problem we face as Americans from the white side of the spectrum to the black side and everything in between, is our inability to communicate and rebuild our industries with one another instead of squabbling over vice peanuts e.g. tobacco, alcohol, marijuana etc. I believe these things destroy us most and with recent legalizations of marijuana in Washington, Oregon, California, & New Jersey I can envision serious complications about agricultural control. Being that vice is what is holding us up by that very thin strand economically, the majorities in this country will vie for either an equal share or absolute control of the industry. To avoid full conflict we have to ask ourselves, Is a vice worth killing each other over? We see what happened in the urban areas with crack and heroin, does this mean that vice war is going to spill into agricultural areas? Marijuana I believe is a relatively harmless drug in and by itself but, when you mix it with corporate control this can be a serious problem and could ignite serious conflict if not handled with the utmost attention to the parties with stakes in marijuana farming. I know that in Maine, you can get killed just for touching a lobsterman's buoy. Imagine if someone came by your farm or acreage and wanted to take your property right out from under you. This is contention at it's worst, serious compromise between all parties must be contemplated and agreed upon before we go any further.
This isn't the 1930s where we have white prominency. White folks and black folks in this country have serious healing to do, I think a co-op in the marijuana industry i.e. agriculture; development; and sales can tell us a lot about how well we can work with each other if for anything just that. Black people, White people and all peoples in between no matter how much you do not want to accept it are Americans also, and to cut a group of people out of the pie could have serious implications revolving around this particular new aspect of our economy. Personally, I would like to see a restructuring of small business as most of the corporate entities have left the US to acquire cheaper labor, we have the ability without them, to research and develop new technologies or, technologies that have either been left behind, open, or just plain old ignored. In my eyes marijuana is just another vice to slow down a national decay, it does nothing for a true economy except to numb the pain of poverty.
Like I said our family issues correlate directly to racial and political issues in this country and if we can't work through them we are going to end up killing one another again.
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