A little slavery never hurt anyone.
Sometime in the mid-80’s I got sent home one day from a public K-8 to change my shirt. It wasn’t torn or soiled with ketchup. No swastikas or rainbows; no cannabis flowers. It was my favorite t-shirt, tan in color, with the atomic symbol on the front, and a caption: “A little nukie never hurt anyone.” Still too young to know the lewd meaning of “nukie,” I was only aware of it’s use as a slur for my dad’s job at a nuclear power plant. Even today I’m in the dark about which meaning got me sent home. See, many people in our remote suburb disliked nukies, and nukie’s kids. I wouldn’t say we were shunned, or even hazed; it was all very hush-hush. But these were the days of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Some of our neighbors looked down their noses at us. There was a serious lack of understanding, fear, misinformation surrounding that industry, causing for many a sense of unease or discomfort knowing a plant was nearby. For others, they didn’t appreciate all those workers with no discernable skills elevating them above a common coal miner, earning obscene amounts of money, simply because they worked in a hazardous environment. I wonder if the prison industry, and their families, experience a similar sort of ostracism. If they do, I imagine it’s also all very hush-hush. Are there neighbors who look down their noses? Maybe a lack of understanding, fear, misinformation causes a sense of unease or discomfort knowing a prison is nearby. Then there’s all those workers, earning obscene amounts of money because they work in a hazardous environment …
Earlier this year, as I watched US Senator Alex Padilla being manhandled to the ground and cuffed, his liberty spit on, my nukie t-shirt came to mind, and a state school stomping all over free speech. I pictured another t-shirt, black in color, with an image on the front — an officer of the “peace” in uniform, Cool Hand Luke mirrored sunglasses, a shotgun in one hand, bullwhip in the other, the caption: “My daddy’s a slaver, but it’s all good. We the People’s Constitution says so.” In today’s climate, do you think a kid would get sent home to change shirts? When federal agents detained Padilla against his will, that was the day a sitting US senator got a tiny taste of being the legal property of another, forced to obey them. I had a small sample at a very young age. I must believe the families of the criminal justice industry are picking up faint whiffs of it. The news kept playing the clip again and again; I was getting frustrated and angry, disgusted at the police state this republic is morphing into. But then a part of me was glad, knowing that many others were watching too. Oregon is now a non-slave state. People are waking up, small steps. Could this very public oppression of Senator Padilla be the boot on the neck seen ‘round the world? Spoiler alert: It’s up to you. | SKD
Brilliant connection between the stigma of "nukie" families and the prison-industrial complex. The parallel about workers earning money in hazardous environments while neighbors look down really exposes the hypocrisy. That moment where Senator Padilla felt what incarcerated people feel daily was a rare glimpse into systemic oppression for someone with actuall power.
"Spoiler alert: It’s up to you." YES!