I'm a Guyanese chick at heart and in my soul, but I live in America. New Jersey, America to be specific. So just to enlighten a few of you who want to know more about where and how I live, here's the best and worst of it.
First, the worst:
--I live in one of the richest states in America (if not still the richest), and I ain't rich. And worse, we're in a recession and there's plenty of unemployed, homeless people around. In my neighborhood (on the better side of a struggling urban city), the for-sale signs on houses tell a sad tale of the city, but here in this Garden State, lots of folk still have plenty money and love to flaunt it.
--I live in one of the most politically corrupt states in America. A few weeks ago the FBI rounded up a long list of top public officials, put them in bracelets, and marched them out into the daylight. They were so many they filled up a bus. And while some of them covered their faces in shame, others of those bastards walked head-held-high into the bus. One presumptuous fucker, once he was released from booking, declared he was competent to continue serving his jurisdiction with honor.
--The public school system in this wealthy state still sucks, especially urban public schools. Here in my city, parents who can ill afford it hustle their kids off to private school as soon as they're out of preschool. I still have faith in the public school system because I respect the job the teachers are doing despite poor funding and general neglect from the state. But as I prepare to send my eldest off to the first grade in a week or so, I'm keeping my options open.
Now for the best:
--If you don't like something about the school your child attends, you can complain loudly to the Board of Ed until they either fix it or help you get your child into another school.
--Remember the presumptuous fucker I mentioned above? Well, the people in his jurisdiction promptly picketed and protested until he had to do another walk of shame out of office. They were right. When the FBI come for you, slap on bracelets, and haul yuh apparently dishonest rass off to be booked, you should at least take time off to answer to the charges and prepare yuh defense. Sort out yuhself before you come back to serve the public. If they want you back, that is.
--Whether we West Indians, Caribbean folk....by the way, what we choose to call ourselves in relation to where we're from only matters to us, not a soul else cares. To most Americas--black and white Americans--we're people of color and foreign.
Whether we foreign people of color live well, or whether we live from paycheck to paycheck, we still find time to meet up with each other and feed each other til we burst, drink the good stuff (or the not-so-good stuff), and make each other laugh til we cry. We find the time to trick each other into thinking we don't miss home. I ain't gon lie; the tricking is lots of fun...and almost believable too.
