"Fast Car" discourse

I didn't have a big reaction initially to Luke Combs doing a cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car". 

I mean, I understand he was respectful and asked, and that is important, but I am really not a country fan; it was not likely that I was going to hear it.

Then there was the Grammy win. Apparently it is a Grammy first to have a Black woman with the sole writing credit on a country Grammy, and then she performed. I really like Chapman and had not heard much from her lately, so great.

It also means that people have been expressing opinions a lot. That doesn't have to be terrible, but now we have discourse, and now I have something to write about.

There are tweets about how the emotion of the song is enhanced by the extended wait to get to the chorus. I never thought about that, but it seems valid.

There are tweets about the difference between working class songs and the songs about trying to even get into the working class. I appreciate those now more than I would have a few years ago.

Then there is this one tweet, which is the real reason I am writing:

https://twitter.com/heavyredaction/status/1754671190701154815

"Fast Car” was always a sad song, but in 1988 when it released, you arguably *could* run away with your partner and make a life on the salary of a grocery-store checker. 35 years on it reads as much sadder"

That triggered some reaction, to which the author responded by posting comparisons of minimum wage and rents for then and now, clearly with a sense of superiority to those people getting "mad" about the tweet. It was all very white academic, removed from the subject matter, which of course makes it easier to feel clever.

The most obvious sign of missing the point is that on the salary of a grocery-store checker, they are still living in the shelter. That is not a good sign of being able to make it. It is also clear from the last verse that history is repeating itself. She may run -- and run more than once -- but she will not get anywhere.

It is easy to feel scorn about someone missing the point of a song (especially an academic), but it may be more important why the point is being missed. 

Remember I said a "white" academic? Structural racism has an economic component. 

Yes, if someone can afford to be an associate professor in San Francisco now, they probably come from money anyway, so thinking about escaping poverty is going to be more of an intellectual exercise anyway; what an interesting set of variables!

However, if that grocery store checker was white, and from a family that truly was working class (instead of actually poor), they would probably be earning more, with more housing options, and have a better footing for holding their ground. 

It's actually less hopeful now. Economic inequality has spread more, with more wealth consolidation at the top and a harder time scrambling for crumbs at the bottom. Since about the start of the 21st century, we have children doing worse than their parents, with less chance of keeping afloat.

The reason I feel compelled to write about it is that it happened because of racism. When people were deciding that domestic and agricultural workers did not need Social Security, and that wait staff did not need to make a true minimum wage because of tips... well, even if there were times when it was not specifically racism (though that happened a lot), it was still deciding that other people don't need or deserve this level of stability. 

It will just make them lazy. (Which they already are, or they wouldn't even need those jobs, am I right?)

As it is, the people at the top will never have enough. They don't have a way of comprehending what enough is because they are so far past it that they can only think "More!"

They will keep extracting more, and more people will not have any chance of escaping the trap.

There may be times when they are young and excited by a new relationship and they get this hope. That can feel exhilarating, but it is not nearly as effective as a fair and equitable society can be. 

That will take working together, abandoning all illusions of superiority to others.

If you can do that before the decline reaches you, you can do really good things, and escape a lot of bitterness.

Or, you can say things that you think show you are smart and help no one.

Decisions, decisions.