1. “We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin… the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at New York City’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967).
2. Wealth is extremely concentrated in this country. A report from the British humanitarian group, Oxfam International, shows that the top 1% American elite has received 95% of wealth created since 2009, after the financial crisis, while the bottom 90% of Americans have become poorer. Dr. G. William Domhoff, a researcher at the University of California, has found that the lower half of the top 1% has far less than those in the top half. Therefore, wealth and income are superconcentrated in the top 0,1%, which is just one in a thousand. At a global level, Oxfam’s report shows that the world’s richest 85 people now have the same amount of wealth ($1.7 trillion) as the bottom half the world’s population combined (that’s 3.5 billion people). The world’s wealthiest 1% have $110 trillion, 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world. As Oscar Wilde put it: “There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.”
3.NBC-Latino shut down quietly at the 4th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The site was around for two years and had just seven journalists on staff. “NBC Latino probably needed to be better appreciated and taken more seriously inside the building, and inside a great American news organization”, wrote BuzzFeed’s Adrián Carrasquillo who worked for the site between 2011 and 2013. But NBC News is talking about integration not disintegration. They say that redirecting NBCLatino.com to NBCNews.com “will allow its content to reach a much larger audience.” We must wait and see. The future of Latino media does not look bright under the umbrella of large Anglo corporations. Will the Messiah be a committed billionare who understands the power of intangibles good Latino journalism brings to the American fabric?
4. Why has the President of Change and Hope dissapointed you? Because you have looked for change and hope outside of yourself. Any revolution must be personal to be worth it. Do not expect from a political leader to give you what you cannot deliver for yourself in your daily life. Whether you believe that “sí se puede” or “no se puede,” you are 100% right! Believe in yourself and contemplate your political environment. No anger. No judgement. Remember Aristotle: “Contemplation is the highest form of activity.”
Avendaño is editor of el tiempo latino
alberto@eltiempolatino.com
