The Two Faces of America

Leonard C. Garrett Sr. was born May 17, 1930 to parents sharecropping a 40 acres slave plot given his mother's parents when they were freed from slavery. Forced from the farm by the Ku Klux Klan, his parents fled to Tampa, Florida. An avid reader, He learned that outside the southern states, for those with Hope, America offered Opportunity, and through Shared Sacrifice, a better America for the Generation that follows. He quit high school and joined the air force, moved his parents out of the projects, and set out to achieve his American dream. Retiring from the air force he joined a major bank as a junior executive and at age fifty-four, had achieved an American dream never believed possible. The Election of 1980 had Unleashed the Wealthy, Greedy, Corrupt, and the politically Powerful from the "Bonds of Shared Sacrifice" and; empowered conservative ideology driven southern states to roll-back Supreme Court decisions and Laws guaranteeing civil rights of black and Latino Americans. He was harvested, convicted, and sentenced to prison for crimes "fabricated" by the US attorney, covered up by a "Fraudulent Judgment" on appeal, "denied access" to the Court to seek redress, and was held falsely imprisoned for 10 years all; "covered-up" by a corrupt conservative criminal justice system. Today at age 81, Garrett is among the millions of Americans driving past "gated communities" into cities with closed factories, boarded-up homes, and neighborhoods of unemployed, elderly, and less-advantaged Americans suffering the question, "what happened to the American that "We"" sacrificed so much to make great?'"