January | 2026 | Super/Human

I write this in honor of Michael Parenti – working class hero!

His book, Blackshirts and Reds is one that I recommend to everyone looking to do self-study.

Amid everything that’s going on – it’s been a time of such raw emotion. But what finally broke through the numbness for me was this:

I saw this in my local newsfeed and I couldn’t hold in the tears any longer. It’s from a local news report – presumably placed by “law enforcement” – that lists a bunch of petty infractions (basically, the crime of being too poor to renew your license, get your car inspected, or pay a speeding ticket). What I cropped out of this screenshot is that the news published these peoples’ names. Their NAMES. Their counties. And their “crimes”. Essentially enlisting the help of the public to “hunt them down”.

I started riffing some words that come to mind when I think about the condition of our class. Hunted. Disparaged. Slandered. Criminalized. Caged. Ripped apart. Humiliated. Demeaned. Hidden. Disregarded. Exploited. Forgotten. Attacked. Killed. Denied. Oppressed. What comes to mind for you? What are you seeing and experiencing in your community and in your family?

ICE killings are murder out loud. One of the most visible expressions of state violence in this time.

We have to join the outrage about the loud murder with a deeper agitation and understanding of the quiet murder.

Rugged individualism is embedded in everything we do – even “social justice”.

We get trained in individualism:

Individual stories
Individual impacts
Individuals matter and move people

We don’t get taught to see patterns or the interconnection between things. We get trained neither to zoom out to the big picture, nor to dig deep and understand the root of the problem. We just see what is right in front of us.

We generally aren’t moved by the mass struggle of life and death for our class. Not yet.

Developing class consciousness means understanding that these different tentacles of the fundamental problem are not separate from each other.

It means facing and feeling the quiet murder of letting pandemic protections expire in the Great Medicaid Purge of 2023 when 27 million people were kicked off of Medicaid leading to at least 15,000 additional deaths.

It means facing and feeling the 73% decline in wildlife populations; and 42 million people killed by sanctions – both since 1970.

It means facing and feeling the 25-30 year reduction in the life expectancy for people who are unhoused, while 20-30 homes sit vacant for every person who doesn’t have a place to stay.

It means facing and feeling the reality that nursing homes controlled by private equity have led to an increase of 10-15% in mortality rates, or 22,000 additional deaths over the course of 12 years.

It means facing and feeling that poverty kills 800 people every day, or 292,000 people every year in the United States.

It means facing and feeling the reality that there are 48,000 suicides yearly, many linked to the chronic stress of living in this society. Alcohol and drug related deaths – coping behaviors – lead to 100,000 deaths yearly. The police killings of 1,000 humans and 10,000 dogs on average each year. The microplastics and forever chemicals in our bodies linked to heart disease deaths – and much more.

All the centers of profit-making and the forces of capital are arrayed against our very lives and existence.

These are systemic crimes, but the perpetrators of these crimes don’t get put on blast in the newspaper, they own the newspaper. And social media. And the private equity firms. And the stock market. And Silicon Valley. And our political system is the committee for managing their affairs.

It is the millions suffering from quiet murder that will make history. Our task is to build the necessary unity, organization and understanding to assist in that process.

Some sources: