The Duty of the American White Working Class

"I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all - you live in the heart of the beast". - Ernesto "Che" Guevara

This article is dedicated to Renee Nicole Good, self-described poet, mother, and wife.

She was described as pure sunshine and pure love. A fundraiser for her wife and son can be found here:

Support Renee's wife and son

Early this morning, Renee Good was murdered by an ICE agent in her car with her wife at her side. She has immediately become a martyr.

Across the nation people are marching, protesting, and holding vigils in her name.

The brazen cruelty and subsequent outright lying by all mainstream media, as seen on screens across the country by millions has likely, hopefully, been a radicalizing moment for many Americans (specifically white Americans), who have now realized that they are verifiably no longer guaranteed safety.

While Renee is not the first person to be killed by an ICE agent, her identity as a white woman is undeniably linked to how widespread and immediate the reaction has been after her passing- especially by many people on social media who I have witnessed completely ignore the plight of people across the globe but who are now calling this the ‘final straw.’

To that point, I want to talk to the American white working class.

As a member of the American white working class I find myself facing increasingly large emotions towards other white people over the past several years but especially in this past year.

Day after day, week after week, year after year, the American white working class has come up with excuse after excuse as to why they cannot organize. Why they cannot “fight back”.

The repetitive list is as follows:

“We can’t organize like the rest of the world!”

“The US is huge! Power is too decentralized!”

“I literally live on the opposite side of the country from the capital!”

“I’ll lose my job.”

“I can’t boycott because of xyz/ boycotting does nothing (false and ridiculous).

“I might be shot by the police.”

etc. etc.

Thinking of the sentiments above, my brain immediately goes to the people of Vietnam. I think of a people who were able to free themselves of French rule. Who had agent orange rained down across their land. Who during the Vietnam War, suffered millions of casualties.

And yet, they prevailed. They freed their country. Crushed and poisoned by the empire I call home. They rebuilt their land. How? Largely because of collectivism, and because of revolutionary optimism.

Excuses are irrelevant when one understands that their people and their survival is at risk. African Americans, Vietnamese, Palestinian, Venezuelan, and so many others under the boot of the American empire understand this to be evident by their collective experiences.

The video below was a large inspiration for this article- I encourage you to watch it.

No Nation is Safe: The Fascist Blueprint for the Future

I am not one who usually favors shame as a tactic to move people to organize, but on this day that is what I feel expressing.

If a foreign leader is kidnapped in front of you, if your government is disappearing people off the street, if people are brazenly murdered in front of you, you should feel something.

The fact that you feel numbed or apathetic is purposeful.

But your humanity requires that you tap back into that part of you.

NONE of the events described above are occurring for the first time under this administration. But if you’re just now tuning in, the sentiment remains the same.

If your first reaction to people telling you to boycott/ to get organized/ to stop idolizing celebrities/ to divest from the imperial machine/ to read/ to separate yourself from bigots/ etc, is defensiveness, or some form of it, then yes, you are the problem.

But you can also be the solution.

You are a citizen of the world’s most powerful empire. That is an undeniable fact.

Perhaps until this point you have held inside yourself the belief that truly, there is nothing you can do. Perhaps you believe the lie that your government has told you, that you do not have power.

But I have a secret to tell you. A freeing secret, that I hope genuinely moves you to action in a way you’ve not been moved previously.

As a citizen of this empire, you have more power and influence over the future of this planet than arguably any other civilian on this planet.

That is not an exaggeration. That is not a hyperbole.

That is a true honest statement.

A statement meant as a call to action.

I’ll leave you with this comment, which I get some variation of several times a week.

The people of the world don’t have much hope for us.

But many understand that until the American empire is properly confronted by its own people - none of the rest of the world will be safe.

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