In New Jersey It's Cash and Carry

I am envious of those Cherokees. I was born in this state with no guarantee of any space. And what we “own” now costs us nearly a thousand dollars a month to hang on to when you add up the property taxes and HOA fees, in a state where none of us will ever be native. Twelve generations later, we are still considered invaders, and any person, cult, or corporation, can have their way with our place. Which is only ours as long as we can pay the fees and taxes.

But that still does not prevent overdevelopment or data centers from sucking up our water or jacking up our electric and raising our taxes. We are elders in a system that considers us useless eaters. Maybe we deserve this. Maybe not.

Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful for the good fortune and privilege of having been born white and healthy enough to serve the Anglo-American enterprise for enough years to be eligible for Medicare and Social Security. I know from personal experience how much of an advantage I was born with.

I also know what became of the natives that were disappeared from this place, as well as the continuing ethnic cleansing of darker skinned folks that has been going on here in New Jersey since the 1970s.

I am envious of these Cherokees because they can protect their places from greedy, ignorant, persons, cults, and corporations, and I cannot. I can only stand and watch as I have been, as these Pinelands get clear cut and paved into parking lots.

December in Manchester, New Jersey