Financially, my family was at the bottom of the white "middle class", barely able to uphold the image.

There were times my parents barely managed to afford food for all of us. We went through some tough times.

You know what my middle-class ass did not have to deal with, despite that? Being dehumanized as a target for state violence. We weren't always considered the "right" kind of people, but we were firmly in the group: "people the police still speak to with a small amount of 'respect'".

That's the kind of fucking privilege that keeps you docile & asleep.

It's a fucking police state out there already, motherfuckers. They were just hoping you wouldn't notice.

No matter how class conscious we might try to be, how forward-thinking, how interested in eliminating poverty, those of us starting from this point of privilege rarely fucking think about what the real fucking danger of poverty is: becoming an underclass with no way to appeal or escape your unjust treatment.

Every time I start to write like this, I start to worry about somehow "overstating" things or being "alarmist", but fuck no.

I have never been as clear or unequivocal about this as I should be, because the fictionalized "America" in my head still sometimes overwrites the actual United States I see with my eyes, hear reports & witness accounts from, & can look at the data about.

Some voice in my head still tells me it's hyperbolic to speak this way, but that's because I'm fucking propagandized.

A lot of us middle class folks first wake up to the idea that we are being exploited, & if we are empathetic & have some self-awareness, we will get from there to understanding that some people are *more exploited* than we are & we know that we should care about this.

So because we are empathetic & aware, we start demanding things that ought to help all of us, & especially lift up those most struggling.

It's a good start.

It's not a sufficient understanding of the true circumstances however.

Poverty isn't just "can't pay the bills."

Poverty is also "can do nothing about harassment by cops or the legal system."

Poverty is "everything you could do to help yourself or your community breaks some laws or regulations or is functionally impossible."

Poverty is "the State has extreme power over you, because you can't survive without the tiny pittance that is your disability check."

Poverty is "your kids have no future because the State keeps your schools bankrupt."

The reason we can't legislate ourselves out of this nightmare is that our laws exist to *create* this nightmare.

At some point I think we have to admit that what the system *does* is what it is intended to do.

Our "legal" system makes the poor—especially the racialized poor—slaves & prisoners. People often wait months, even years, in jail before they ever face trial, losing everything & being cut off from friends & family despite being convicted of no crime.

At what point is the injustice too much to bear?

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas?" Oh if only a single tortured child were enough for us to reject this defunct capitalist nightmare "utopia"!

How many children have to be torn from their parents because of petty crimes, unpaid fines, or simply FALSE ACCUSATIONS before it really disrupts our peace of mind?

How many years of human misery behind bars in torturous conditions are too many?