Last night, Rachel Maddow did someting amazing on her show. She found, from the NBC Archives, footage from a 1979 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Amazingly, the owners and operators of that rig were TransOcean, the same owners of the rig that recently exploded and sunk in the sea. Amazingly, the company used the same techniques that are currently being used now. Unamazingly, most of those techniques failed, and oil spewed into the Gulf for more than nine months until two relief wells were drilled and put in operation. Please go to www.msnbc.com and find Rachel's show for the entire segment. It is amazing. Also amazingly, the well that exploded over 30 years ago was at a much shallower depth. The TransOcean well that exploded a little over a month ago is more than one mile down. It is at a depth that no human can reach.
The safety precautions for an accident with deep-sea drilling has not been updated since the 1970s. In fact, even the very lax precautions that the United States government imposes upon the most profitable business in human history, the oil companies, were ignored.
Superpose the oil spill with the financial sector meltdown. Okay, superpose those two things with the fact that Black hair care is a nine billion dollar business and only five percent Black-owned. Okay, superpose that with the fact that most Red states continue to build prisons while simultaneously cutting education budgets. Classrooms may go empty while prison cells are awaiting inhabitants.
None of this makes sense, does it? Here's how I see the world....some things are priceless. Having sense enough to stay informed through world news from reputable a source (NPR, CNN, FOX, MSNBC,...it doesn't matter) and picking up a history book -though not easily, quantifiable, is priceless. As Americans, the oil spill and financial sector meltdown has taugh me that we have learned how to turn greed into cold, hard cash. In America, the horrible cliche is true, "greed is good." But at what cost? Oil companies are the most profitable businesses in the world, but oil spills DO happen. One would think that 30 years after one of the most horrible oil spills in the history of man occurred, oil companies would spend at least a miniscule amount of their profits, maybe $1 billion out of the almost $500 billion profits they posted each year for the past few years, would have been dedicated to precautionary measures and increased safety technologies. Instead, profits were put over people and our ecology. People have died, and so has parts of the multi-billion dollar fishing industry and the livelihoods of countless small businessmen along the Gulf Coast. The loved ones who died cannot be replaced, and sadly (though I hope this may not be true), part of our marsh they may be destroyed by oil and/or dispersants.
Second, Black people fought and died for us to be able to sit at a Woolworth's counter. I appreciate that. Love them for it. But 40 years later, we have not been trained to own and patronize our own businesses. As a result, we own almost nothing. We do not even control the things and chemicals that go on our head. It is a nine billion dollar a year business, and we own less than five percent of it. That's pitiful. When I hear that people in the 'hood do not have access to fresh produce and good meat, I wonder why it has never dawned on any Black person to open a grocery chain that can service lower-income neighborhoods with fresh produce and decent cuts of meat? Why is it that Black beauticians are the only race in the world who do not learn how to style their own, natural hair first?
As far as prisons are concerned, does anybody know the impact of putting prisons on the stock market alongside vacation resorts and hotels? No one builds a hotel without expecting occupants. Same with prisons. Whereas hotel owners use the economy and the amount of money people have for leisure spending to predict how many rooms and the amenities they will offer, those who build prisons use elementary school reading test scores. Sadly, Black boys often lag behind their white/latino counterparts in reading test scores. Draw your own conclusions here.
I want to leave my readers with a high note. My friend, Tamieka Pippins, is a child therapist for the state of Mississippi. With two Master's Degrees, she earns less than $40,000/year, but she has dedicated her life to helping children with behavioral problems -children that most teachers, administrators, and even parents have written off and cast aside. About 90% of her clients are young, Black boys of elementary school age. For some of them,even their parents have given up on them. Tamieka refuses to give up on these children. She works with them. She nurtures them. She makes them believe that they are somebody and that their futures are priceless. She gives them rewards and trophies when they do well, and punishes them when they do not. But she's sincere, and the children feel that and respect her for it. On May 20, she held a graduation for some of the children in her group, which she bank-rolled from her own pockets. Her graduates were all Black males. She gave all of the children either huge trophies, gold medals, and/or certificates. There were many mothers, and a good amount of fathers, present to see their children read scripture, perform master of ceremony duty, sing, and receive rewards. The children were so proud that they even sung Tameika a song, and presented her with a dozen roses that they'd put together and bought from their own little piggy banks.
Many of Tameika's graduates go on to middle and high school with no behavior problems. Some of them ask her to attend their various extracurricula activities. Normally she tries to make their activities, and it inspires the children to strive toward a future that does not end in a new jail cell.
And that, my dear reader, is priceless.
