Racism is not about hate, it’s about power. One may choose to hate those they wish to subordinate, but it is not necessary to maintain power over them. The nature of discrimination is that it posits a belief of superiority over others and develops policies to support those beliefs.

If you can believe that racism is a power construct for superiority, you may be inspired to explore its origins and what continues to uphold it.

Who created the concept of racism?
Who benefits from racist concepts and policy?
Who is oppressed and subordinated by them?

Racism is a power construct that divides people according to skin color. It is designed to benefit the White race and it is supported by racist policies in American institutions. The fear and apathy of middle class, White America provides the foundation for racism to persist. …

Time to Make Some Big Commitments

Is this the kind of nation we want to be part of?

MLK gave his speech at Lincoln Memorial 53 years ago. Yesterday it was occupied by the National Guard confronting peaceful protestors standing up to the same racial constructs King spoke of that day.

Is this the home of the free and the brave? Or something entirely different?

Racism has to be a national priority for as long as it takes to break its stronghold on America. We have to become united, for the first time.

We must focus our attention, for as long as it takes.

If you were driving through a desert with your family or friends and the car broke down, you would quickly deduce that the magnitude of the problem deserves all of your attention if you’re going to rectify it. …

With great power comes great responsibility…

Racial discrimination and oppression was originally developed to support a desire for cheap labor in Europe. That tradition was deepened in the newly formed United States, which is where we have the first historical counts of the breed of racism we see woven throughout American culture today.

Racism is essentially a system for one race to have an advantage over another. If you’re the one with the advantage, it’s up to you to do whatever it takes to even the playing field. How could it not be?

American capitalism was designed to support that agenda from its inception. It remains largely the same today. Our education, banking, and healthcare systems also support that agenda. As do our housing development programs, voting districts, elections, and all the other services promised to all Americans in “the pursuit of happiness”. …

A Way of Being in the Time of COVID-19

Humans were created for interdependence, touch, and community. These experiences are fundamental to our vitality. It’s difficult to live a healthy life in their absence, yet the current environment causes us to embrace physical distancing as the most logical response.

This is a time to pause and reflect on who we are and who we want to be.

A pandemic squeezes a society and exposes what’s inside. Right now, we’re seeing what it looks like when our government is pushed beyond its limitations. …

An Open Letter to Tennessee Legislators

Rep. Glen Casada / @GlenCasada
Sen. Jack Johnson / @SenJohnson

As your constituent,

I am writing to ask you to please support SB 256/HB 235, seeking to amend criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

It’s time legislators ask more critical questions about the current legislation, such as:

Is this the best we can do?
1) Does it effectively reduce drug abuse?
2) Does it effectively reduce violent drug offenses and trafficking?

We now have decades of data that clearly informs us that this legislation has done very little to curb these issues, and may possibly be contributing to their perpetuation. …

Posted by Jared Angaza on Aug 27, 2016 in Activism, Lifestyle, Philanthropy | No Comments

Photo by Adam Dyson (one of my favorite muses) AdamDyson.com

I’ve been a philanthropist and activist my whole life. It’s part of my identity. It derives from my profound love and reverence for our human existence and the gift of the magnificent cosmos in which we dwell. Over the last four years or so, my perspective on activism has evolved considerably. I wrote about that shift here.

About a month ago, I realized I had allowed myself to become consumed with the deliberately orchestrated charade of the 2016 Elections in the United States. I know better, but alas, I was seduced by the farce of American democracy and the (momentary) delusion that my effort to expose the lies was anything more than a direct contribution to the systems and perspectives I’d set out to defy and rectify. …

Our friend Jonathan Olinger at HUMAN recently wrote and directed the latest Alicia Keys video, Let Me In.

The film is a tribute to the refugee crisis around the world. There are more refugees today than at any other time in history. Half of them are children.

Despite all our technical advances, the exponential growth of these types of crisis makes me wonder if we’re actually evolving as a society, or going in the wrong direction.

What does this say about our global society? What priorities does it reflect?

I’ve been a philanthropist and activist my whole life. I’m painfully familiar with the constant need for humanitarians around the world to try and get the masses to understand that “those Africans” or “those Syrians” or “those Iraqis” are not other people. They are us. Humans. …

The country of Bhutan protects 51% of it’s land for conservation, ensures that 60% of the land is covered in forests and is one of the top ten most bio diverse countries on the planet.

What does Bhutan value?

Costa Rica’s national slogan is “pura vida”, meaning “pure life”. 25% of their land is protected as national parks. In 1948, President Jose Figueres delivered an epic speech about demilitarizing the country, where he notoriously bashed a large hole in the stone wall of the nations military headquarters, and completely demilitarized the country.

What does Costa Rica value?

Genghis Khan amassed the largest empire of wealth and control of any other single ruler in history. …