Livin’ and Dion: Fall River a Perfect Backdrop for Kennedy Response [to Trump’s State of the Union]
ANGLO AMERICA, 5 Feb 2018
Marc Munroe Dion - The Herald News
27 Jan 2018 – We are the struggle.
Fall River is one of those left-behind places, one of those forgotten, unfashionable places, one of those American places that is neither New York City nor some quiet little suburb, nor some farm town. We are not igniting any national trends. We are, at best, the subject of occasional news stories which remind us either that we are a “former mill town,” or that we are at the “epicenter of the opioid crisis.” Neither term is meant as a compliment, just a surface reminder that we are defined by the worst of our problems.
History doesn’t visit us too often. We get by on our own.
We are a working class place, a poor place, the exact kind of place that should have plumped for President Donald Trump.
Perhaps because of this, when U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III offers the Democrats’ rebuttal to Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday [30 Jan], he will speak from Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School.
You don’t get much more working America than a vocational school in a poor city, a school that knows the struggle of its students, who are immigrants, the children of immigrants, the children of the poor, the children of men and women who’ve been laid off five or six times in their lives, the children and grandchildren of people who’ve come to work only to find a padlock on the factory door.
No group of people in America knows better the limitations of capitalism, the cruelty of the free market. They tell you you’re a valued employee and a member of the team until the day the boss disappears, and you go home to tell your husband the job is gone. We live surrounded by old, often disintegrating mills, a sign of capitalism’s limits.
Trump is supposed to speak for that America, but Fall River wouldn’t take the bait. We know his kind. They fire us, they lay us off.
No matter who writes the damn thing, Trump’s State of the Union address will be at least partially incomprehensible, loaded with cheap barroom bragging, an insult to the voices of Lincoln, of Roosevelt, of Jack Kennedy, a stunning rebuke to the idea of soaring phrases and ringing words. There will be no “Ask not what your country can do for you” moment.
We will be told that the stock market is boiling over. No matter. Fall River is not a stock market kind of place. We will be told to gratefully pick up the nickels our corporate masters drop when they’re running away with billions. We will be told we can keep our guns and our bibles, but everything else belongs to the rich.
We will be told all that constitutes “winning.”
It is significant that Kennedy chooses to speak, not from one of Fall River’s worst neighborhoods, but from a school that thrives on work and hope, a school where tax money isn’t “wasted,” where the much-reviled “political correctness” puts wrenches in the hands of girls, where immigrant parents get the chance to see their kids climb above menial work.
Trump will stand behind the podium. Kennedy will stand in the fire, among the children of working people, among the children of immigrants, among the children of the poor, in a government-run school that gives out education without thought to wealth, or social class, or color.
This, we have been told, is “entitlement.” This, we have been told, is “government indoctrination” and lazy unionized teachers. This, we have been told, should be swept away, and you should be left with a privatized education that is only as good as your parents can buy. The poor, who have nothing, must give up still more, we are told.
It’s the perfect place in the perfect town at the perfect moment to stand in the fire.
The made-up culture wars are raging over prayers and flags and Confederate statues and Christmas, and all that overshadows some kid learning to fix air conditioners, or learning to cook.
Fall River will lend Joe Kennedy this stage, this place to stand.
Roar, young lion, roar.
_________________________________________
Marc Munroe Dion – Herald News Staff Reporter
Go to Original – heraldnews.com
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.