Documentary,, The THROWAWAY'S by IRA McKINLEY

Last week on the radio show I do every Tues called Organic News on http://awakeradio.us/ I had as guests, Ira McKinley, homeless filmmaker who created the Doc. The Throwaways, join member of Revolution Communists Party Carl Dix.
 Ira McKinley has an incredibly inspiring story. He's an ex con, a term that's been quite over used these days so you have to make you're own determinations about that. Ira was imprisoned for drugs for which he had gotten addicted. Ira was homeless and living in someone's backyard throughout cold winters of the northeast. He managed to find his way to North Hampton Community television in Massachusetts where he took a production class and learned filming and editing for free so he was able to put together The Throwaways which has received many Film Awards. Ira was living in a tent in a backyard of some people he knew at the time. He was throw out of a homeless shelter for not stopping his Homeless Art Project.
 After doing time in jail Ira tried to turn his life around but, was unable to find meaningful employment. Ira explains that once you have a criminal record it makes finding a job impossible.  "Once you have that Felony you're marked". Says Ira in his film the Throwaways. Even though he was trying to improve his life he was always ending up in homeless shelters. "I tried to get jobs but, Society wouldn't let me". "I ended up going from one homeless shelter to another, until I got dam sick & tired of doing that". Ira was continuously being harassed by Police and rearrested for trivial offenses in his neighborhood in Albany, NY. that had become deserted due to people being shot and killed or people being put in jail. Many of the houses in the neighborhood are empty and boarded up.
 In the film Ira expresses, "My resume is deep, and they look at you like, I don't give a F". "Why do I have to go back into the system? Why do I have to continuously be a Throwaway? Cause you want us to be in your control?""They expect you to fail". "I was told not to do this, I was told, They're gonna kill you and all this other stuff." " I was like, What else do I have, What do I have to lose right now?" "I'm homeless, I ain't got no job, I'm cold, I'm hungry. What do I have to lose by speaking out, they're killing me already by not speaking out?" "When I got out of jail a vowed to never go back". I started reading, I read the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander".
 Its not people like Ira that are the problem. Clearly, it Is the system. The system CLEARLY doesn't care about people and would just assume let you live in a homeless shelter or a for profit prison then give people the opportunity to lift themselves up. The system is not set up to help you up only to keep you in it going in a vicious cycle.
 In the film, SICKO, a health insurance investigator said, "you're not slipping through the cracks, the system is making those cracks and sweeping you right towards it!"
 I'd say it's the same for All agencies and Institutions. Its ALL about $ and it's becoming more and more blatant. Am I the only one that is truly sickened by it?
  I wanted to write about Ira McKinley and his film the Throwaways because of the title. In this illegitimate and rigged system man wants people to be garbage. That's what this system does. That's why I constantly try to write and talk about nature and how in Nature, there is NO Garbage! Nature makes NO garbage because it's efficient and Healthy and utilizes everything and everyone. It's those at the Top who want YOU to be garbage who are the REAL garbage and need to be Thrown away! They want to see others as garbage and keep them down, not having any processes in place for a person to lift themselves up. The system wants you to be grinded up in it. This should make people very angry! Even if it's not happening to you personally. The fact that some people are trapped and the system is just looking for ways to control or criminalize people should enrage anyone! If they system doesn't want you to lift yourself up that doesn't necessarily mean just people like Ira. That means everyone. Even if you're not in a homeless shelter or in jail and you're just trying to be creative by becoming a film maker or actor or what ever, you might find it unusually difficult to achieve any amount of success and end up thinking that it's you when you don't realize there are unseen forces keeping you from progressing.
 This is why it's important for everyone to be outraged about what happens to people like Ira. When you care about others it helps you. It might not be as noticeable with certain members of the population as it is with the Ira McKinley's of the world. But, in his case it might be more of a blessing that it's that noticeable because then, there's no mistaking it. That's why I feel, at times, grateful, that I grew up in an obviously abusive environment because, in my gut I knew what it was because it was unmistakable. My gut knew and responded but, the messed up thing is that, that wasn't even enough. People STILL DENY it, Still Minimize it! Still call it something other than what it is. Like Ira, even though it's clear how the system works, the evidence is everywhere, those working for it won't call it what it is. They will deny the truth and the facts of what's happening to keep people confused and enslaved.