Why not you and I?

Guest: Greg Perry, Vassar student and Editor of the “Chronicle,” Vassar’s hard hitting, political journal, talks about freedom of expression at an elite, liberal arts college.

Greg and I had a good talk about racism and American imperialism. Greg's journal is all about printing the opinions that liberals hate to hear, that we live in a pervasive racist society that few white liberals want to understand. Perhaps their privilege gets in the way. Perhaps if they realized that racism is an integral part of the system, they would have to do something about it. 

I found my self defending the system at times. Not because I think it is defensible, but because I don't want Greg's generation to be overwhelmed with the power and omnipotence of the empire. Yes, it is all one gargantuan system, but we can chew away at the wires and short circuit what we can. 

A little mouse got into the wires
At the central clearing house in Buenos Aires.
One little mouse short circuited the computers,
Says a press dispatch from Reuters.
Hooray for the little mouse
That fucked up the clearing house,
And threw the Stock Exchange in a spin
And made the bankers cry.
So much for the electronic brains,
That run the world of banks and aeroplanes,
And if one little mouse can set them all awry,
Why not you and I? - Malvina Reynolds 

So to Greg and the students at the Vassar Chronicle, I say, "Why not you and I?"