Video Game Crusader-Chapter 16

16
"Haakumph. Your name?"
"Raul Lopez. My friends call me Ra."
"Are you with this unit."
"Yeah. I'm a Lance Corporal in second squad."
"Whats that flak on your-your vest?"
"This is the flag of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation."
"Is that a- some sort of group."
"Its a group at war with the government in Chiapas."
"What country?"
"Chiapas is in Mexico."
"Its like the poorest part of mexico. Its the state where my parents were from."
"Huh."
"My mom crossed the border to have me and my sister. That makes us anchor babies, if your one of those right wing mother fuckers."
"..."
"What the Zapatistas believe, is that basically, people should have their own control of where they live. The area, I mean. The rich shouldnt be able to exploit the poor. Women should have the same rights as men. Its the sort of basic Anarchistic Socialism that goes back to Mayan times.
"Sounds like Karl Marx."
"Its not fascist communism. Its almost the opposite of communism, where you have the government, one leader, telling everyone in a country what the fuck to do. Here you have the people deciding what to do, for each other."
"..."
"So, my dad and my mom, were undocumented, right? 'illegal' or whatever, like being a person can make you illegal. And my dad was the one that had the idea that we should go to the US. He believed in the land of the free, opprotunity, all that shit. So he busts his ass on the lowest of the low, construction, landscaping. All the shit that white people dont want to do, but they bitch about one of us doing it. And thats the freedom America gave him, the freedom to work at the bottom forever. It was either that, or the freedom to starve."
"But you could say that he worked for a better life, for you and your sister."
"What better life? We went to a shitty school. My sister got caught up with these idiots, and had this fucking drug dealers baby. He's in jail and out of the picture. She's on the county and just has a GED."
"hakuumph! On the county?"
"Its an expression. It means on welfare."
"Ah."
"My dad gets lung cancer from smoking all his goddamn life. My mom has to watch these white peoples kids, these rich white people, while they treat her like shit."
"So you think this- this Zapata stuff- Hakuumph!"
"Look, man. I'm a realist. I know the people with the power and the money, arent going to give that shit up. Its not like their going to admit one day, 'okay, yeah, were fucktards.' They get points for calling me an anchor baby and my mom and dad parasites, while making them wage slaves. Its the way of the world. But if you call things what they are, I mean, call a spade a spade, you can make that much right."
"Haakumph!"
"I mean, look at the Marines. I run fast and do a lot of pull ups. I shoot a rifle pretty well and do what I'm told. The military likes that and says I'm doing a good job. It doesnt take anything else into account. Thats how things should be! Thats how the world should work. We recognize people for their ability, and what they contribute. Not for where their from. But it wont happen."
"How do you feel about Iraq?"
"Hey, man...their just the ones getting fucked, right now. After this, like, for five or ten years, America's going to take a break, and make movies, and build statues. Then after its all forgotten, were going to strap on that big green dildo, and fuck another country in the ass."
"Why is the dildo green?"
"Sorry. Its a Marine expression, the green dildo, or green weenie."
"Huh."
"But anyway, Iraq is totally arbitrary. It could be anywhere in the world."