Set the 1% on fire

Not literally of course, but figuratively. As I think about the issues I resonate with, they all come from experience. My passion for educational justice comes from the under resourced high school I attended and seeing my homies not getting to the next level in life. (John Muir High School Pasadena, CA) Coming to college I envied those who had former HS classmates at neighboring schools such as SF State, San Jose State, East Bay and Stanford. In a very selfish way I was angry that my friendships that I built in HS did not matriculate along with me to college.

In the midst of this anger that I have been pondering throughout my first year of college and through a conversation with a beautiful young lady I figured it out, we need to set the 1% on fire. It is a bit of a jump in topics but bear with me One Day It’ll All Make Sense like Common said.

If someone told me that they were literally on fire, and I have never experienced the burning sensation of fire on my body, I would not care nor understand what that individual was going through.As I was saying, I was speaking to this beautiful young lady and I asked her, what do you want to change in the world? And as a lot of people do unconsciously when I ask this question is they revert to their major. She began to say, “with my political science degree I plan to” then I stopped her before she can finish. Then I gave more context to the question, and said to think of the question without referring to your major. Then she simply said, “poverty”. Then she went in to saying how she hates how people have so much and others have so little. After she said that the 1% and the occupy movement came flying into my head, but I didn’t mention it in conversation. Then I asked the golden question “how do we make people who have so much want to give money to those who have so little?”. She began speaking about how rich people like to keep money with in their families and she said people can learn through experience. Then a light bulb shot into my head!

 I can read about fire, even see fire.  But there is some type of psychological affect that forces humans to empathize when that shit is burning on your skin. Then and only then will I want to help someone who is screaming that they are on fire. I’ll come running to the rescue. My solution, set the 1% on fire for a week and we’ll see change real soon. All the other shit didn’t work (protests, emails, and lobbying); the 1% needs more real life experience. More than that “corporate experience” that is on their resumes. Set the 1% on fire.

“Put politicians on minimum wage & watch how fast things change” -unknown

My Recent Musical Downloads:

J. Hurt (Pasadena, CA) - http://www.datpiff.com/JHurt-Elephant-In-The-Room-Presents-The-Clarity-mixtape.374367.html

Jetpack Jones (Lakewood, CA) - http://www.datpiff.com/mixtapes-detail.php?id=378464

Joey Bada$$ (Brooklyn, NY) - http://www.datpiff.com/Joey-Bada-1999-mixtape.361792.html