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The Universe Between

For one more week, I’m part of a great deal!

The editor tried to pick fantasy novels that all live in the interstices of many different places, times, and viewpoints. As the liminal is one of my favorite places to explore, I’m thrilled to have been invited to this venture.

There are some great novels in here including some of my favorite writers – like Leslie Claire Walker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Annie Reed, and Dayle Dermatis – along with the short story anthology that set the stage for this Universe Between theme.

The editor, Dean Wesley Smith, writes: “All of the books have strong elements of “between” in them. But T. Thorn Coyle takes ‘between’ to new levels that even surprised me. Imagine the Black Panthers of the 1960s, only with magic in a stunningly well-written and detailed take of that turbulent time in history.”


This bundle benefits The AbleGamers Foundation which “helps people with disabilities enjoy the imaginary worlds of video games. The organization provides one-on-one assistance to help people with a variety of disabilities join the lively interactive world of gaming, easing the social isolation that being disabled can bring.”


Bundle ends on August 31st.

 

From Safer Shores…

From safer shores we watch the torch’s flame

And know my friends aren’t safe today, again. We see the demagogues, small mouthed and shrill Who grin and gloat, enacting Moloch’s will.

America, your grace was ever fraught. Founded on blood and genocide and greed. America, we’ve tried to shape this plot Toward equity, and love’s fulfilling need.

From shores of ice and fire we gaze dismayed As justice once again marches away. Chased down by jackboot men, so pale of face Believing they’re a hunted, master race.

America, the clock is ticking down. The cracks in the foundation can’t be shored. America, the God you love to see Is not the one you claim their face to be.

Where shall we safety find, this summer’s day? In anniversary month of shadow’s fall. The bombs and bullets that have long held sway Are being prepped once more to rule us all.

America, you crowned yourself again, As despot, oligarch, with white toothed smile. America, we’ve pulled the curtain back To gaze upon reality’s cursed mile…

And seen the furnace, stoked and at full glow. We’ll grasp the arms of friends and strike a blow Together, we will not to furnace go. We shall return, and help to take you down. We shall knock loose your scabrous, filthy crown.

America, America…your worship has forgot Moloch always –ever– eats his own.

T. Thorn Coyle

Writing from Iceland

August 16, 2017


I thank my beloved Patreon supporters for making this work possible.

 

Reparations Are Not Enough: Thoughts on Inequity and Justice


– Matt Bruenig

The need for reparations for African and Native Americans is real.

It is also not enough.

Reparations are a stop gap. A token of good faith and intention. A necessary step in the direction of a society that has a chance to rebuild itself toward equity and justice.

This topic is on my mind and heart a lot lately because of things I witness in my communities and in the lives of friends.

These things fill me with anger, as they should.

***

The need for reparations, and for truth, and perhaps eventually, a long time from now, for some sort of reconciliation, are tied to the history of oppression and dehumanization that infiltrates our society today.

The ramifications of racism, white supremacy, bigotry, wealth-hoarding, and entrenched systems of inequity mean that we cannot simply say “slavery ended a long time ago.”

We cannot simply say “Native Americans should just leave the reservation if they don’t like it.”

There is no “getting over it”, when one lives within systems of oppression, even when one lives a relatively happy and successful life.

***

Instead of Black, or Latinx, or First Nations people “getting over it,” how about white people increase our awareness of the oppressive systems at play, and do something to change our society’s values?

***

In the United States, wealth is measured by property, education, assets, and money.

1,400 Americans control most of the wealth in the US. These are the .01%.

The .01% own exponentially more assets than the top 1%.

The top 1% are predominantly white.

***

White people don’t control most of the wealth because they are smarter or work harder. White people control most of the wealth because of systematic oppression, white supremacy, and the continued impact of personal bias, and racist policies.

***

When systems are set up to disenfranchise whole sectors of a population – and keep them from educational opportunities, voting, internships, funding, housing, loans – there are almost no avenues available for wealth accrual.

And under capitalism, wealth and property accrual are the only things that seem to matter.

Out of 540 billionaires in the US, two are African American.

***

Accruing money and land does nothing to help the soul.

However, access to basic resources makes day to day life much easier and less stressful.

Stress causes health problems. Lack of resources also leads to extreme lack of time. Lack of time leads to difficulty in taking care of the most basic of life’s needs.

Astonishingly, even under crushing circumstances, creativity rises, a testament to spirit.

***

A Black woman’s son was murdered by white supremacists in 2016. She now struggles to care for her remaining son in the aftermath of this horror. Her hours at work keep getting cut. Her son needs medicine and food.

Where does she turn? Where is the safety net for unexpected murder from a hate crime?

***

Genocide was committed against the First Nations of the Americas.

***

In 1921, white people rioted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, smashing Black-owned businesses and setting fire to the district known as “Black Wall Street.”

This dealt a significant blow to the attempts at the process of reconstruction after the close of the American Civil War, setting back the ability of African Americans to accrue any sort of financial stability.

It also ensured that Black Americans would continue to live under the constant threat of violence.

Black Americans are expected to toe the line. Simply being Black in America puts one’s life at risk.

***

African American women are now the most highly educated group in the United States.

This still doesn’t shift the balance of power.

Not enough.

***

A Black woman took on student loan debt in order to garner the advanced degree that would enable her to serve her community. She and her partner work hard, only just making enough money – her at the career that required this degree, him also working with underserved populations – to pay student loans, feed their children, and pay the rent.

There is no saving money. There is no accrual of assets. The children will not inherit anything other than keen minds, creativity, and a parent’s love. 

***

Black girls’ school suspension rate is double that of white girls, and not because they misbehave more often.

***

No formerly enslaved person ever got the promised “forty acres and a mule” that would have enabled them to scratch out a living and enjoy the benefits of property afforded white Americans.

There was nothing to pass on to children other than hard labor.

***

Education was segregated and often not available at all.

***

Native American children were taken from their families and were beaten, and forced into schools that stripped them of both culture and community.

***

Native women are murdered and disappeared with little outcry in alarming numbers.

***

Banks would not lend money to Black citizens. There was no way to buy property.

When money was finally lent, it was at extortionist rates, and homes or businesses could only be purchased in certain “redlined” neighborhoods.

Once those neighborhoods became homes to Black communities, they were often either torn down, or slated for “urban renewal.”

When urban renewal occurred, the very families who built those neighborhoods were shoved out, fracturing communities and undermining their abilities to accrue equity.

***

As rents rise, displacing more and more people, Black and Latinx neighborhoods become increasingly white.

***

The United States government stole more than 1.5 billion acres of land from First Nations tribes.

Treaties were written and broken.

***

Black and Native families have forever being forced to start from scratch, whereas even working-poor white families tend to have more access to resources and education or even modest wealth, such as having a car passed down, or getting help with rent in times of extreme need.

***

The Voting Rights Act, which was fought for with blood and ink, has been gutted. Voter disenfranchisement, redistricting, poll taxes, and capricious Voter ID laws ensure that Black families are often locked out of the very processes that govern their lives.

***

Black Americans are incarcerated at an alarmingly high rate, which is the direct result of “color-blind” racist judicial systems. The War on Drugs, Stop and Frisk, and Broken Windows policing all contribute to the inequitable treatment of Black, Latinx, and Native Americans, and further disenfranchisement.

***

1,091 people were killed by police in the US in 2016. Black men and boys aged 15-34 were killed at 4 times the rate of white men.

Black women and girls are killed and raped by police at alarming rates.

***

The week that I write this, in St. Louis Missouri, prisoners are suffocating from heat, going into seizures, at risk of dying from heatstroke. Most of them are in the hellscape of prison not because they have been charged, but because they await trial and simply lack bail funds in a system that requires a certain class of person to pay for their freedom. For want of money to set themselves free until trial, these people forfeit jobs, their children, and sometimes, their lives.

***

Angry yet? Or are you arguing with me in your head?

***

Reparations are necessary, but they are not enough.

Those of us less affected by these realities need to become angry.

Then we need to agitate for real, systemic, society-altering change.

***

By 2023, every Black and Native adult should receive a basic minimum income of at least $1000 each month (adjustments will need to be made for cost of living increases between now and then).

Every Black and Native person in the US should receive free education and health care.

We can start with these populations, and then move on to others.

***

As for the personal level?

As a stop gap, white people can look at what we can do to make reparations of our own: Pay off school lunch debts. Fund Black run organizations. Volunteer. Use the Reparations Facebook page to offer direct aid for those in need. Educate yourself and your friends via such means as the Safety Pin Box, which directly funds Black women’s work. Work to change local voting and housing policies. Work on police, court, and prison reform or – my preference – abolition.

***

We must work diligently to change every interlocking oppressive system at play.

We must work diligently to undermine white supremacy.

We must offer more than lip service to equity, justice, and love.

We must grow angry enough, and feel enough fierce love, to say “enough” and then organize to topple these systems that terrorize far too many, and leave too many others behind.

Then we build something better. We build a world where basic needs are met, and caring takes precedence over greed.

Before commenting, I’d appreciate it if you read some of the following ancillary articles. I suggest you make time to read them all, and look at the resources near the bottom.

Articles:

Resources

Some Black/African/Native led organizations:

This is reader funded writing. I thank all of my Patreon supporters for making it possible for me to provide one free essay and short story every month. They all rock.

Want to join my Patreon crew? You get advance copies of essays and stories before they hit the web, plus a chance for free books once or so a year. 

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