An open letter to my many friends:

Recently I have been noticing an increasing social trend. People modifying their language to say "Frands.**" I have heard four people who are close to me say it in three days now. Maybe this has gone on to this level for a long time, and I haven't noticed it. If so I am sorry to all for my lack of attention.

To my brothers, sisters, and siblings, I have many friends who actually say "frands" because that is how they actually speak, so it hurts my heart any time you all use that term to be "funny." I love you all, but making fun of people's speech, even if with good intention, is not a productive way for us to conduct ourselves. Bring class and educational statuses into our language to try and be "hip" or "cool" is not okay. I love you all very much, but it hurts me when you do that. It feels as if you are making fun of my other friends. Friends who grew up in cash poor neighborhoods, where the communities had less access to educational privilege, and thus they naturally speak with dialects such as "frands." They do not do this because they aren't smart. Some of my friends who says "frands" naturally are some of the most intelligent people I know. So it hurts my heart to see my friends trying to imitate them as some kind of fun activity.

I bring this up, this discussion of class, language, and educational privilege, this privilege check, because I love you all. And because I love you all, it hurts me to see this happening. And it hurts me to see someones natural dialect be considered some version of entertainment or comedy.

Out of love I make this plea. Can my friends who do not use the term because it is a part of your actual dialect please end their use of the term "frands."

Much love, peace, and solidarity.



** "Frands" means "Friends."

Rebuilding Institutions is Building the Revolution!

Create your own levies! Build your own coops, communal businesses and community based living wage jobs! Grow your own communal food! Construct your own energy systems! Coordinate your own Credit Unions, CDFI's, and communal financial institutions! Organize your own blocks! Craft your own educational institutions! Form your own health facilities!

Keep YOUR OWN money in YOUR OWN communities!

Refuse to participate by organizing your own! Fund and Create the change through community organizing and rebuilding institutions from the ground, and the grassroots, up. Look to your left, see your brother, your sister, and your siblings as just that. Then ask them if you may join with them to divest your joint monies away from the big banks, and into your own. Fund the cooperative revolution through organizing credit unions! Work with existing coops who successfully created additional money to fund hiring organizers. Then organize to push the system to pass living wage bills! Look towards organizing neighborhood voter blocks to stop the systems progress. Demand the change! And use the new living wage jobs from the new living wage bills to fund building new communal institutions. Slowly but surely we can sap the money back to the people! They can't lobby if you keep your money out of their pockets. But you can't keep your money out of their pockets without organizing new communally based institutions to support you and your neighbor instead! Together we can do this!

El Pueblo, Unido, Jamas Sera Vencido! Yes We Can!

Live The Revolution!