© 1st Version - I Can't Believe He Said the Word "Capitalism" Out Loud
Written - January 5th, 2017
I have a memory of standing in the kitchen and telling my mother that I couldn't believe that my teacher, Mr. Felton Perry said the word Capitalism out loud. He said Communism which o was fine with and agreed with. Because in my house, Communism was an ideal to attain because it's about meeting everyone's needs. And since Capitalism oppresses everyone, and relates to people's safety and working conditions, Capitalism was like a cuss word. It was like the word fuck. It started in my 7th grade occupation exploration class. During that time, this class gave students a chance to explore skills that might be useful for jobs in the future. I understand that there are different versions of this class. But in this case, we had about 3 main themes that we'd explore for about 6 weeks each. There was home economics, leather and woodworking and 1 or 2 others. It started when Mr. Perry gave us a writing assignment. He said that he wants us to write about communism, Capitalism, and socialism, reflect on it, and explain or clarify which system we liked best and why. I ended up saying that no system was perfect, but given different factors, I felt like socialism was more conducive to being flexible to meet people's needs, since Capitalism and Communism felt more extreme to me. I really didn't think about it that much over the years if at all. But, decades later, I started wondering, what had inspired that assignment. On the one hand, it seemed to relate to the class at the time. But I wondered if November 3rd had anything to do with that assignment. Was there a connection? If not, what else was Mr. Perry thinking? Had he given that assignment before and/or since? Was it related to just Mr. Perry, the FBI? Did it come from Mr. Perry's thoughts wondering about November 3rd and the work that people around me were doing? Did Mr. Perry feel threatened or possibly threatened in in any way? Were the FBI, CIA and/or other law enforcement involved in getting Mr. Perry to give that assignment to get a read on me? And what seemed natural and somewhat innocent at the time, started me wondering, did others, like Kwame have similar experiences? That's to say we can experience something in school ourselves and might not think about it much. But we might see other patterns, experiences relayed connections when we talk to others and explore our experiences and perspectives in a certain context. I haven't talked to Kwame, Philip and others my age yet, and I don't know if I will or what information can be explored. But, I think that they're conversations that are needed and I appreciate them. And regardless of our conversations and understanding, I think that a lot of understanding is needed and can be beneficial.
© 2nd Version - I Can't Believe He Said the Word, "Capitalism" Out Loud
Edited - 4/05/17 – about 5:50 pm to 5:15 pm
When I was in the seventh grade several months after November 3rd, my Occupations Explorations teacher gave us an assignment to write about capitalism, communism, and socialism. He wanted us to reflect on those systems and explain which ones we agreed with and why. I went home to my mother in shock and told her, “I can't believe my teacher actually said the word “capitalism” out loud. Because in our house, communism was good and capitalism was bad. Capitalism was like a curse word in my mind like fuck because of the oppressive dynamics. Communism was seen as a thoughtful way of living because everyone thinks about everyone’s well being and acts accordingly in thoughtful ways.
I think that basically, I summarized that no system is perfect, but at the time, I advocated for socialism. Because in my mind, that was the most humane way of living.