Racism

Once upon a time, we had water fountains. At first, in the US, water fountains were separated by which “race” could use them. With Civil Rights movement, that nonsense went away.

About 20-30 years later, bottled water became a thing. And water fountains have disappeared. Capitalists make more money and racists don’t have to share drinking fountains. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Once upon a time, we had slavery in this country. After the Civil War, new petty laws and newly formed police forces started locking up citizens, often more of one race than another. To this day, prisoners provide free labor to many corporations. Prisons themselves are more and more overwhelmingly private companies. Capitalists win, and a sizable portion of one race provides free labor the rest of us don’t have to think about.

Once upon a time, we had public swimming pools in many cities and towns, again separated by race. But we have far fewer today. Somehow public pools became less of a civic priority since the 1970s.

Our nation started and built a magnificent public education system. Unlike other nations that could show “better scores” by teaching only certain parts of their society, the USA educated everyone no matter socioeconomic level or disability. This was a fantastic achievement.

Since the 1970s, private education and home schooling have grown. More options are good, of course! Except when coupled with efforts to undermine and ruin the public education for all. We shall see how the closing of the Department of Education pans out over the next four years, and who benefits and who loses.