Oppression

“Freedom is never given voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” -MLK

The origin of oppression has always eluded me… why does the oppressor oppress? Why does the oppressed accept the circumstances enforced by the oppressor?

As opposed to a condition of nature – for animals do not share in unoriented oppression beyond survival – I feel as if oppression (the deliberate and willful use of power to deject the progress of an individual or group of persons) is a common condition of human folly. A compensatory action of fearful emotions. The oppressors fear the image of their own perceived inadequacy – and to reinstate to themselves a perception of strength, they choose already disadvantaged victims to afflict upon, reinforcing an illusionary form of power. This process is not only fallacious for the oppressor, it is just as so for the oppressed.

When oppression is prevalent, it is so because the oppressed subscribe to a fallacy. That fallacy is one that promotes a dominance held by one over another. This allows the oppressed to accept what they believe to be a matter of fate rather than one of self determination. Forfeiture of will, the core of the human spirit immobilizes the oppressed and empowers the oppressor… oppression germinates in fear and thrives in despair.

In the past it took the form of physical slavery. Now, it has a more subtle body. Distrust in political processes, or a form of systemic slavery. The oppressed today in America are the dejected men and women who disregard political activism as a means of bettering the state and quality of their lives. The oppressor will not willingly give up even a grand figment of power for a minuet reality of powerlessness. It goes against the very nature that breeds it. But the oppressed have a choice… a choice to grab hold of self-determination and free themselves from the illusion of powerlessness.

But this is a CHOICE, unprovoked by the oppressor, that must be decided for one’s self…

– Quadaire Patterson, VADOC #1392272, From Virginia Beach, VA

Revolution

“You can jail the revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution.” – Huey P. Newton

It’s a scientific fact that energy cannot be destroyed. It only transfers or transforms… Pertaining to the quote above, the body of a revolutionary can be contained, but the spirit of the revolution can not be bound.

Today, the spirit of the revolution is as pervasive as ever. While countless bodies are confined to prisons, the spirit of freedom is leading the movement against mass incarceration in the land of the free. In this sense, the flames of the revolution are only stoked as more bodies of men and women find themselves on the darker side of social disparity.

The revolutionary of ‘then’ are the freedom fighters of now. Prevalent and pervasive the spirit of the revolution is uncaged. Now, more of the American people are imbued with this spirit, and the revolution has taken on a form better fit for a nation centered on the virtue of freedom. Long live the revolution… long live freedom.

– Quadaire Patterson, VADOC #1392272, From Virginia Beach, VA

Justice.

“An injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King was respected for his holistic outlook on human and race relationship. He sought to integrate black and white Americans into a better reflection of the virtue, equality.

Today, it is easy to get wrapped in a personal justice, that we disregard the general good and how they are so related. A personal justice now could become a great injustice for the generations to come. For example, the law enabled the inhumane practice of slavery to flourish. A subjective form of justice gave one man rights over another. The generations following the countless battles to reckon the flatter form of justice, now leaves a deep rooted animosity set to threaten any truer expression of justice from taken hold in a near future…

Justice is a vast principle. Ranging over billions of perspectives, yet has a common thread that resonates throughout the human spirit. The ideal justice may not have been realized. But the wounds of injustice steady healing. Just as the tides of injustice are greatly momentous, so too are the tides of true justice. For its arrival, there must be great faith and a practice to match. Because if an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… undoubtedly, a justice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere…

– Quadaire Patterson, VADOC #1392272, From Virginia Beach, VA