Go Beyond the Pale Face, Pa’lante!

Time to takeover your hospital, city, country, and especially your mind…

Photo by Ruben Valenzuela on Unsplash

I’m most of the way through the book, The Young Lords, A Radical History, and just watched the short documentary on the Lincoln Hospital takeover in July 1970 South Bronx, NY. Very inspiring and instructive on White supremacy and its anchors in American healthcare, which are obvious to this day. Americans are an up and down social-conscience culture, and I mean White Americans for the most part. Not necessarily because we are the only ones who become complacent, but because too many of us never go much further than complacent.

By the way, pa’lante can mean go “forward”, or move “straight ahead”. It is a combination of two words, and what some may call slang.

Anyway, my beef is not with any word or its meaning, but the fact that moving forward is not White America’s strong suit when it comes to social change, and therefore improving our social policies, and any associated laws. Technology and clothing styles are changed, maybe even improved, but Whites have barely improved how we treat the other, which is defined as someone other than a healthy, fully physically functioning, wealthy enough, White, straight, male.

Of course, White men who are wealthy, and not as healthy still prop up the others, and vice versa. And many White women follow along in their shadows as well. We also know of people of color who follow in their lack of footsteps in social change, even gays and people of all genders. Whoever believes they will get the most from doing nothing as to social change. Some people will ride the coattails of anyone to keep their piece of the pie safe, even if their pie may not grow as much as who they are hanging onto.

That said, White America is still the majority, and its bad precedents, whether legally overwritten or not, will continue to infect socio-economic policy. White peoples’ political and money power, will not quickly evaporate from a demographic shift to a majority of people of color. Similar to how the (White) Woman’s right to vote has not yet equalized (White) patriarchy over its 100+ year run.

The problem with social upheaval and radical change, like which occurred generally from 1963 to 1973, at least its most disruptive and violent, is it must peter…