Days of Destruction

There are places in the United States where, in the words of Bernie Sanders, the race to the bottom is displayed naked for all who dare to look. In reality, not many people do dare to look. Chris Hedges calls these places "sacrifice zones," and he describes four of them in his book: Pine Ridges, South Dakota; Camden, New Jersey; Welch, West Virginia; Immokalee, Florida. These places are the carcasses that unfettered capitalism leaves behind when jobs are shipped oversees, inhabited by the people who make up the reserve pool labor (those who many of us, especially those in power, choose to forget about). These are places where nearly all measures well-being match those of third world countries, places where the scars of history - slavery, genocide, discrimination, and manifest destiny - are still visible. These are places inhabited by people whom the law is meant to control and subordinate, not empower or protect. Here, the police beat you when you step out of line, and schools discipline you if you raise your voice. Here, corporations pillage the land with impunity, and feed those lucky enough to have a job starvation-level wages. These are the places that ought to make those of us with power and privilege ashamed. Make no mistake, these sacrifice zones are not abnormalities in the system of capitalism that dominates the country and births corporations that line the pockets of politicians with dollar bills. The system is not broken. It works to make a very few more wealthy than the mind can grasp and the soul can accept, and slowly disposes of the rest.

Watch Hedges discuss his book with Bill Moyers in 2012