Embrace Foundation is a non-profit, educational foundation set up to create better understanding between people of different religions, cultures, traditions and world philosophies.
Embrace Foundation works to bring leaders and scholars of world-wide religions, cultures and philosophies together by sponsoring forums, seminars, lectures and developing an international exchange program. Embrace Foundation is particularly concerned with reaching the world public through the media.
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Embrace Foundation is an all volunteer organization. All donations go directly to programs.
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Travel As An Interfaith Act
Embrace encourages all who can do so, to learn about other traditions and cultures by traveling as “Grassroots Diplomats.” We hope that people every where become life long students of our world-wide humanity.
“ In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.” R.W.Emerson
THE DECONSTRUCTING OF AMERICA (& IT’S POSSIBLE RECONSTRUCTION)
OF NOTE: Embrace is neither Democratic nor Republican. We also are not capitalists, communists or socialists. We opt for common sense, pragmatism and ethical responsibility. THE SITUATION Currently, in America, there is an almost complete corruption of both political parties and of the majority of senators and members of congress. This has just about entirely destroyed the United States. America has: A corrupt Supreme Court, (as well as, many corrupt state courts) Corrupt politicians (National to Local) giving themselves unwarranted pay raises while increasing taxes on everything without consulting their constituents, politicians easily bribed or blackmailed. (What other country has had a President that turned the Presidential Office into a brothel and Presidential vacations into sleeping with exploited children through entrapment and blackmail?) It has a corrupt Pentagon, A totally bureaucratic and useless intelligence community filled with individuals from around the world hostile to their own people and governments and lobbying to get the United States to drop bombs on them, A corrupt “casino atmosphere” of financial markets and a treasury based on pyramid schemes without any shred of common-sense or of moral responsibility - and lastly, A corrupt institutional media. THE INSTITUTIONAL MEDIA In America the most important news and events occurring are not being reported on the “Institutional Media.” Inter-active board of directors, owners of stock and special interests influence and control America’s institutional media. There is no division between the media owners (including major stock holders) their boards of directors; and defense contractors, oil companies, arms dealers, the zionist lobby, major pharmaceutical firms and most of the major Wall Street firms. In addition, front page contributing writers of the New York Times and Washington Post when writing on foreign affairs or pushing for a war in the Middle East have often been authored by people placed on their staff (knowingly) by the CIA and Mossad. (This has gone on for decades.) These papers,the ultimate in hypocrisy, change sides whenever public opinion goes against them and then contrive to make the public believe that they were always on “the morally correct” side of any public debate. Generally, their strategy has been to put some lesser known writer with a smaller article on a back pages of their paper criticizing their endorsed proponent for war and exploitation on the front pages. When public opinion turns against the “institutional point of view” in months or years, they trot out the article of the back page writer as evidence of always being on the side of the American public or refer articles written long after the issue has passed. SO, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN AMERICA? After 2008 and up until the introduction of COVID, the United States homeless population was approximately 42 million. This included, in large numbers, formerly tax-paying middle income families. People who basically had done all the right and moral things one is expected to do as an American. People of all ethnic and religious backgrounds have ended up homeless. Many of those who were grossly exploited and cheated out of their home mortgages and retirement funds went on the streets while the most corrupt, incompetent investment bankers ended up with billions of dollars for themselves and were not prosecuted. (Lehman Brothers, being the first to collapse -and justly so.) The newspapers such as the New York Times did not go after any of these criminals because NYT had been financially bailed out numerous times (usually by Goldman Sachs) during periods when the paper and its’ lack of readership should have caused it to go under years ago. Perhaps those familiar with the paper can understand why they have written glowingly about Goldman Sachs for decades and through hundreds of articles have given Goldman Sachs entirely unmerited and hyped PR. During this time, there were two voices speaking up for the beleaguered American people. One, was Elizabeth Warren, the other voice that was consistently critical and tough on the bankers was Michael Bloomberg with his financial news outlets. (We are not endorsing Bloomberg’s support of an elitist Jewish state. One of the more backward ideas of the 20th century. Embrace is categorically against religious or cultural biased states, regardless of whether they are: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic or Jewish. Nor do we endorse from a decency point of view, Bloomberg sitting on 34 billion dollars and doing very little to help the country he lives in.) Now with the American COVID pandemic and absolutely no support for the American people. Americans who have been forced out of their businesses and jobs through no fault of their own, are heading for the streets. These are often families with children. (Americans are living in a re-creation of Dickens time.) It is estimated that approximately another 70+ million are currently being added to the homeless population in America. The politicians line their pockets with billions in bribes and kickbacks and the Democrats & Republicans still refuse to collaborate to pass a bill to aid and protect innocent American citizens. They think of their political party as some sort of participant in a blood sport and the elections as a fight to the death, which they have to win at all costs -even to their dignity (to keep the bribes and kick-backs coming in.) Barely one American politician cares for either their country or the citizens of the country. America does not seem to have one noble, dignified, states-person in all of Washington D.C. They are shameless and they are an embarrassment. POVERTY, VIOLENCE, RACIAL DISRESPECT America has had two groups of seriously disadvantaged poor since the time of the American Civil War. (We are not going to speak of the poor Hispanic or First American communities, because they are currently not in conflict situations tied-in to the present political situation.)
The Urban African American Poor One, segment of American poor is the urban African-American community which has not had the educational opportunities, or means to move out of oppressed areas. They are often taken advantage of by people (non-African Americans) owning stores in exclusively poor black neighborhoods which carry the most basic of their necessities, including groceries. They usually have landlords (if not in government housing), that do not fix or repair hot water, stoves, showers and heat in the winter. They have a lack of a good academic education (or a technical one) that could move them economically forward. This is due to the fact that most cities put only limited financial resources into schools in poor neighborhoods and such schools are not protected from organized gang violence or drug dealers, although some schools have so many bars on their windows they look and feel like jails. Some children are “bused” to wealthier neighborhood schools and some new private (publicly funded) charter schools due to the fact they can reject any number of troublesome students, have made some in-roads into the problems. Discrimination by non-African Americans in hiring blacks who are not culturally assimilated into main-stream culture is very strong. For instance: Rough or angry language during a job interview is an indicator to most potential employers (including African-American employers) that some African American job candidates are not employable. Not wearing established business attire can get many job candidates disqualified as well. Being unable to get hired, brings drug-dealing, robberies, muggings and prostitution (crime) into poor African American neighborhoods. There have been many heart-breaking stories of kids in the toughest neighborhoods working hard and getting scholarships to a university, only to get caught in the cross-fire of a drug gang dispute and killed. On the other hand, America has a very substantial black middle class and a substantial black wealthy class. Obviously, if the issue in America was simply racism against all African Americans, Obama would not have been elected by the majority of Americans. America also would not have black governors, black congressmen (women), black mayors, black police commissioners, black CEO’s of corporations and so forth. The issue then can often be classified as one of class, which in America means education, language, dress and the ability to assimilate into the mainstream value system of speaking well, being polite and having (what is broadly accepted across America) as good manners. Police Violence Against African Americans However, when it comes to fear, which police officers are often steeped in (police officers of all races), young black men especially in a group are generally perceived as an immediate violent threat regardless of the situation or neighborhood. This has a lot to do with the easy accessibility to guns in poor Black neighborhoods. Such thinking is of course, illogical and results in murders of totally innocent men. However, there have been increasing murders of white and Hispanic homeless men, even a Black women in her middle class home, killed by police officers which has given rise to the idea that many on Americas’ police forces are taking inappropriate medication and/ or street drugs making them trigger-fingered and violent themselves. The problem with America’s police force is that they are not appropriately educated for the extremely responsible jobs they have. Clearly police officers need to get at least a two year degree consisting of courses in: sociology, behaviorism, American history (including the history of various immigrant groups) and ethical philosophy. Aside from that, it seems fairly obvious that police officers are going to have to get tested for inappropriate medication /drugs regularly. The police do a hard job and at times a frightening one. For all the publicity of “bad cops” the majority in the country are decent human beings. Furthermore, the Police Chief and/or Police Commissioner in many cities are Black. The Southern White Poor The other group of America’s consistently disadvantaged, are the poor whites in the Southern states. (Although the miners in West Virginia, have been exploited beyond belief.) These Americans have been abused and “kept in their place” by wealthy whites who control politics in the South. They have intentionally locked poor whites out of the best educational opportunities, (even adequate schools) and jobs with any sort of livable wage. (They have fought tooth and nail to keep all unions out of their areas of dominance) and have generally stereotyped whites without money, education or the chance for a satisfactory job as, “ignorant,” “living on the wrong side of the tracks,” “white trash” and similar degrading epitaphs. Historically, since the time of plantations, it has benefited privileged whites (and these most often are of the merchant class and local politicians) to set poor whites against blacks to their own advantage and this still goes on today. Due to the abysmal state of education and culture in the South there are very, very few notable inventors (or inventions), successful entrepreneurs, techies (or technical companies) etc. etc. Their emphasis on football, NASCAR, cheerleaders has reduced employment, creative thinking and initiative to a large extent, to working in a factory or joining the military where because they have no special skills, they are put on the front lines of most wars and sustain some of the highest mortality rates and injuries in the military. In addition, the South is mired in heavy-duty drug use, which is somewhat understandable, for it is one of the only venues of mental escape from their crushing debasement by the politicians and the more privileged in their states who should be helping them. Generally, the racial hostility towards African Americans is generated in the poor Southern communities by their politicians and elites and the degradation by stereotype of poor “ignorant” Southerners is latched onto and perpetuated by so-called Northern white liberals. A respite from such a lack of compassion is to see an old Johnny Cash television show. Johnny Cash’s family worked side by side blacks picking cotton, share-croppers. Johnny Cash had no racism although his family were among the most humble in the South. He and his wife really were true Christians inviting many (white and black) gospel groups to sing on their otherwise “hip” television show.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: ABOUT OUR EMPHASIS ON EDUCATION In no way do we at Embrace discount or devalue the wisdom of many who do not have a formal education or were unable to get the education they would have wanted. There are many great souls who have contributed much to the world and to Embrace with little or no formal education. In recent times one of the most remarkable human beings on this planet is Amma, Amritandamayee of India who has worked tirelessly for the poor of the world (especially in India) and has raised tens of millions of dollars for victims of natural disasters, for hospitals, for schools and for the poor even in Africa. She and everyone associated with her, work as volunteers for free. Amma had the equivalent of a fourth grade education but has changed the world in a major way. In America, we have First American Elderswho do not always have much or any formal (Western) education but whose wisdom is abundantly clear in their ability to penetrate to the core of a problem and find a solution. They help many people who come to them, even those with advanced degrees. There have been times when Embrace has relied on the wisdom, insight and help given to them by Madzubs in Kashmir who were totally illiterate and yet were the only ones so in-tune with the “Divine” that they could see into the future and give advice. In addition, Embrace would have had much more of a difficulty funding the Great Visions television shows, and some other projects if it hadn’t been for a personal friend of the founders, a venture capitalist and head of a private investment bank who dropped out of school in the 8th grade but was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. We could go on. However, in this day and age and for the majority of the people on planet earth, an education whether technical or academic is generally necessary for a life free of debilitating poverty. Also, as jobs will be increasingly reduced due to robots and technology, America’s population and the entire worlds’ will have to be severely reduced by planned families, (this, of course, means additional adopted and foster children to enlarge families) more people becoming unmarried Priests, monks, nuns or the development of space station societies or colonizing new planets. If not, there will be terrible wars fought for humankind's’ basic necessities, most especially at present and soon - clean, potable water, next will be healthy, natural food.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? The question is: Can a Federally-based Democracy, remote and alienated from most of its’ citizens operate in an over-populated, highly multicultural and fragmented society? It is hardly surprising that many are comparing America to the degradation and downfall of Ancient Rome. Real Democracy is grassroots. It doesn’t operate from the top, it operates from the bottom. However, American politicians have so cut themselves off from their constituents that they no more represent the grassroots people in their districts than a ship represents the ocean it floats upon. Some people will point to India as an over-populated Democracy with a majority of people who are both materially poor and uneducated. However, it needs to be noted that the Indian system of democracy gives great freedom to the governing of individual states (which usually also have their own language), so that the federal government is largely involved with foreign affairs and only far-reaching national issues. In addition, for decades Indians regardless of religious affiliation have been largely devotional. Something that has been changing rapidly largely due to Bollywood and this will no doubt impact the Indian peoples acceptance of their democracy the way it is. THE BREAKING DOWN It appears that “Grassroots Democracy”, the kind of democracy most of the American population would feel engaged in, has to be based locally on a “grassroots level” with more power given to a regional aggregate of states based on shared interests (water rights), and state and local politicians with strong public oversight. The current political parties have to be eradicated and several new ones that see themselves as “servants of the public” set up. Professional lobbyists of all sorts even those for what generally all Americans consider “good causes” need to be made illegal on a federal, state and local level. All politicians have to make themselves available to their constituents and non-profit organizations (such as those working for the disabled) on a regular basis. There needs to be regular town hall meetings for the public, as well as, public referendums on critical issues. Hopefully, with politicians closer to their constituents, the American people can eradicate a large portion of the criminal activity of their representatives, lobbyists of nearly every stripe and unscrupulous Washington hangers-on including – American traitors who consistently blackmail, spy on, and bribe elected officials in an effort to lobby for a racist and Fascist Middle East government and last but not least, a group of multi-national corporations who are presently contriving to run a world government as a Board of Directors dictatorship.
Important: See: “The Deconstruction of America (& the Possible Reconstruction) in FOCUS NEW !TRAVELING IN AFRICA - 2020 - under CELEBRATE HUMANITY