WFTH #1: Big Brother is Watching

I remember reading George Orwell’s infamous novel “1984” in the 7th grade. The words “Big Brother is watching you” are very vivid in my memory. Of course, my 12-year-old brain didn’t really take the time to process the message the book was actually conveying. But once I got older and began realizing just how deeply this country invests in things like Surveillance, it finally dawned on me who “Big Brother” might actually be. Flock Cameras, Speed Cameras, Ring Cameras, National Guard, Curfews.

Everywhere I turn, more cameras appear, more eyes watching.

Take a trip through Southeast, and you’ll see lots of new, shiny cameras parked on the sides of the road. Usually right next to an abandoned library or middle school. In D.C., it seems like spying on Black people is more important than building new spaces for the community.

People are taking down Flock cameras all over the country every day. Those who get caught often face longer sentences than anyone named in the Epstein Files. A group of protestors at an ICE facility received over 100 years combined in sentences. That’s more time than any leader connected to Israel and its actions against people in Palestine and Lebanon.

This country. This wealthy country. It could spend three-quarters of its riches to ensure every family has food, clothing, and water. It could build schools, community centers, parks, shelters, and so much more. Even with millions left over, the choice is always to pour wealth into weapons of mass destruction, into cameras and machines.

Yet still, the cameras multiply. The watching never stops.

But who actually needs to be watched? Is it us? The people who get up and walk the streets every day? Going to work, grabbing groceries, meeting up with friends. Or maybe, maybe it's the officers who roam around out of boredom. The ones who follow and harass Black teenagers on the subway. The ones that stare at large crowds of Black people with their hands on their guns. White masked men flooded my city’s streets the other day. Where was all the fancy surveillance technology then?

Or do the cameras only work when they see Black skin?

When will this city put the cameras down and actually aid its people?

Homeless people are suffering in the heat. Schools are losing funding as the new year approaches. Teens are tackled by officers. There’s a job crisis and a housing crisis, and the problems keep coming.

And yet, nothing changes.

There are always more cameras. Always more watching.