For Those Who Say I'm a Pessimist...

As I'm aware that much of what I write here is not exactly positive (although positive things come of pointing out the need to change negative things), today I bring you two stories I ran into that made me grin from ear to ear.

First, at the "anti-Davos" World Social Forum being staged parallel to the World Economic Forum, hungry Kenyan children stormed a hotel and ate the expensive foods being provided for those attending the WSF. USA Today reports:

"...at the anti-Davos World Social Forum when hungry street children swept into a tent at a posh hotel and ate plates of food for sale to forum participants, the BBC reports. Some participants complained that the food was too expensive. The meals were being sold for $7; per-capita income in Kenya is $2."

It's about time that the starving and dying people in the world stopped begging and started taking what they need, especially from those who claim to be working in their interests while flaunting their wealth in front of starving children. While I have nothing against the goals of the WSF, and think it is important to provide alternative ideas to those represented at the WEF, I think this kind of commonsense lawlessness is just what the world needs. Maybe this will act as a wakeup call for those who content themselves with empty Marxist rhetoric and endless blather about "solidarity" -- a wakeup call that the only way to make life better for the oppressed is for the oppressed to take matters into their own hands.

The second item that brought a smile to my face was in Mississippi, where 71 year old former sheriff's deputy, Klansman and all-around disgusting pig James Seale was finally indicted for his role in the kidnapping and murder of two black teenagers in 1964. Seale had flaunted the law, and "scoffed at the notion he'd ever be arrested." It's about time someone taught this piece of trash a lesson, and we can be glad that might finally happen.

The piece also notes that Seale is the 28th person arrested in the past 20 years for civil-rights era crimes. While this is certainly an improvement, there are doubtless many others who were never held accountable for their horrific crimes in the profoundly racist atmosphere of the civil rights era South. We can continue to push for justice for all those who fell victim to hatred and ignorance.

The lack of justice in this case up until now is reminiscent of the murder of Malcolm X's father, Earl Little, a Baptist preacher, who was struck repeatedly in the head with a blunt object and then run over by a train, The racist government ruled that the death had been a suicide, never explaining how a man could bludgeon himself nearly to death and then throw himself in front of an oncoming train.

Sadly, there are countless other similar atrocities against America's black population stretching from before the birth of the nation. These killings continue to this day, although in somewhat different form: the most recent such killing was the murder by several NYPD officers (who fired almost 100 shots at the unarmed man) of Sean Bell in New York City the night before his wedding. Other recent cases include Amadou Diallo, Ousmane Zongo, Brian Allen, and many others.

Ok, well I guess all this wasn't totally positive, but there were some good parts. I'll work on the whole optimism thing, although the world and the news make it hard sometimes. For now, and until more starving children storm expensive hotels, I remain a realist.