A Shithole Is
By William C. Anderson
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation that refuses to provide healthcare for all people.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation that refuses to guarantee access to clean drinking water and heating for schools in the winter.
A shithole is a nation that has enough wealth to end poverty, but allows that money to be hoarded by a small few.
A shithole is a nation where school massacres aren’t surprising and neither are mass shootings, because of politics and profit.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation where college education isn’t free or guaranteed, but debt for pursuing higher education is.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation where the military budget is enough to fix crumbling infrastructure, but it’s used to murder people abroad instead.
A shithole is a nation that pollutes the earth so badly that it’s causing the climate to change, putting everyone at risk, but the nation refuses to change because of politics and profit.
A shithole is a nation that pretends capitalism is fair and equitable.
A shithole is a nation that institutionalizes white supremacy and then blames those who aren’t white for the barriers they face trying to live under a racist system.
A shithole is a nation that goes around the world destabilizing other countries, killing and ruining lives so its corporations can exploit resources.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation with plenty of space that refuses to accept migrants, immigrants and refugees from the countries it destabilizes with its foreign policy.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation where the rate of mortality among women giving birth is increasing as it decreases elsewhere, even in the so-called developing world.
A shithole is a nation that doesn’t guarantee the human rights of women, LGBTQI, gender-nonconforming people and more, but goes around the world demanding other nations do so.
A shithole is an astronomically wealthy nation that regularly abandons its own people during natural disasters and leaves communities to fend for themselves.
A shithole is a nation that elects Donald Trump president.
A shithole is a nation that regularly attacks the human rights of disabled people.
A shithole is a nation that continues its genocidal legacy of broken treaties, disregard for sovereignty, and harmful policies that threaten Native people.
A shithole is the United States of America.
William C. Anderson is a freelance writer. His work has been published by The Guardian, MTV and Pitchfork among others.
Many of his writings can be found at Truthout or at the Praxis Center for Kalamazoo College, where he is a contributing editor covering race, class and immigration.
He’s co-author of the forthcoming book As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). Read more about the book and order it here.
Photo courtesy of the author.