the system is not broken, it's working exactly as designed

estefaaano_writes 

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to keep some people up and some people down. to protect wealth and punish poverty. to give power to the few and tell the many they should be grateful for scraps. it's not broken. it's doing exactly what it was built to do.

the system is not broken when the same communities get flooded, poisoned, neglected.

when their water is undrinkable. when schools are underfunded. when neighborhoods are hyper-patrolled and underserved. when people are told to pull themselves up while boots press down on their necks. nope, it's not a malfunction, but the design.

The system is not broken when the same names keep appearing on the lists of the dead.

shot by police during routine stops. killed in their homes. killed in their beds. killed for existing. killed for running. killed for complying. killed and then blamed for their own deaths. killed and then criminalized in the media. killed and then mourned by communities while the killers walk free. this is not broken. this is intentional.

the system is not broken when prisons are profitable.

when corporations make money from caging human beings. when judges get kickbacks for longer sentences. when people are locked up for poverty, for addiction, for mental illness, for things that should be treated, not punished. when slavery was abolished except as punishment for crime and then crime was redefined to target specific people. 

the system is not broken when voting is made difficult for the people who need change most.

when vote-buying is rampant. when gerrymandering ensures some voices count more than others. when the game is rigged and we call it democracy. this is control.

the system is not broken when women's bodies are legislated.

when reproductive rights are stripped away. when healthcare is criminalized. when rape is tolerated and abortion is banned. when women are paid less, believed less, valued less. when violence against women is so common it's background noise. when misogyny is policy dressed up as morality.

the system is not broken when queer and trans people are erased.

when laws are passed to deny existence. when healthcare is denied. when bathrooms become battlegrounds. when love is criminalized. when identity is debated by people. when violence is justified by bigotry disguised as concern.

the system is not broken when disabled people are invisible.

when access is an afterthought. when accommodation is treated as generosity. when people are institutionalized, isolated, left to die because care is expensive and lives are deemed not worth the cost. when worth is measured by productivity and some people are declared worthless.

the system is not broken when we're told to be patient.

to wait for change. to work within the system. to vote and hope and believe that progress is inevitable. while people are dying. while communities are being destroyed. while the planet is burning. while the oppression continues day after day, year after year, generation after generation. patience is a luxury afforded to those who are not being crushed.

the system is not broken. it is doing exactly what it was designed to do. 

concentrate power. maintain hierarchy. protect the status quo. punish resistance. reward compliance. extract from the many. enrich the few.

and when we say the system is broken, we let it off the hook.

we suggest it was once good and now needs fixing. we suggest tweaks and reforms will solve it. we suggest it can be saved. when the truth is, it was never good. it was built on stolen land by stolen labor. it was built to exploit. it was built to exclude. it was built to oppress.

the system is not broken, and that is the problem.

because you cannot fix what is working as intended. you cannot reform what was designed to harm. you cannot repair what needs to be dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up with justice, with equity, with the radical belief that all people deserve dignity, safety, freedom, life.

the system is not broken. but we are breaking under it.

and one day, we will break it back.