Have I mentioned, I belong to a book club, that meets regularly, once a month. Our mandate is to choose books of social relevancy in paperback. This month, one of our members, chose THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, by Carson McCullers published in 1940. The novel takes place in a poor southern town just before war breaks out in Europe. Every race has it’s place. The people mingle with each other and love each other . Though there is an acknowledgement of race , the enemy is not the people , it’s society. The external pressures on the people are inequality, the lack of upward mobility and the Police brutality. The total and absolute control of the police over black citizens primarily.
The Police incite hatred and fear in their actions. If you are Black you have no rights. Amongst the people their main concern is to become educated and leave the town. Every year the local black Dr. gives a $5.00 prize to a young black high school student for the best essay on black society at the time. This year the winner discusses the oppression of Blacks in Society and advises rebellion rather then slavery. I’ve read pages 192 and 193 in the book relating to this “prize” and the People’s desire to be free to live their lives without oppression.
The book continues to pursue this theme through heated discussion between the protagonists, the Black Dr and his new white friend , Jake, who he calls ” the White fiend”. I will read several paragraphs from the book to you. They contain powerful words no less relevant today then they were 70 yrs ago. The wheel has come full circle once again. But being man, suffering under the yoke of man made oppression we can over come and move forward. Then like now, there was a bond between the races . This book need not be restricted to the slavery of the mind and soul for one or two races, it’s a universal theme , representing the slavery of the mind and body of all people who are oppressed.
That’s the beauty of writing, there are universal truths, concepts that apply to all mankind though we may write from a local perspective. The forces of evil, of inequality have always been among us, trying to suppress human thought and will. Our goal, as the humans oppressed , is to understand what’s happening and rebel any way we can . Always mindful, that the State has weapons and we don’t want death, destruction or a power vacuum. Now is the time to consider spreading the word and listen to each other. We, the poor and the Middle Class have a choice, as we gain knowledge of our Status in life and understand Society’s constraints. It behooves us to pass on that information to as many people as possible. Spread the word , share your knowledge of egregious Societal behavior and we can over come man’s tyranny over man.
The road to recovery, is through good paying jobs. We get there by enacting laws that regulate our monetary policy and start using the money to redevelop our great nation . It can be done and laws with the People’s backing can be created quickly. Most Laws, like Glass STEAGALL for the 21 st Century exist . A “minor” regulation making Derivatives more transparent was proposed by David Vitter and Sherrod Brown. None of these Laws and others proposed to curtail the influence of money in our government have been implemented. Once we create the Society we want, rather then accepting the one we have, we’ll increase our chances for prosperity. When we repeal Citizens United and take massive infusions of Corporate and other less transparent money out of the elections, one man one vote will be reinstated. It’s a beginning.
If you read my archival Blog posts, I’ve detailed the causes of this recession, the oppression that we feel and the solutions to be implemented to create jobs for the multitudes. Thank you for following me . I welcome your comments. All the best. Joyce