Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

Ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

By lwilliams@semourbanvoices.com - November 24, 2025

That famous line from Spike Lee’s movie Malcolm X wasn’t just a cry from the 1960s. It’s a mirror for America in 2025 — especially here in Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri, where the pain of political betrayal and misplaced trust cuts across race, class, and county lines.

Those searing words describe a trust betrayed. Today many across the rural Midwest and America’s cities can read that line and see their own betrayed expectations: promises of prosperity turned into policies that enriched some, penalized others, and relied on narratives that obscured who actually pays. We’ve seen it again in the latest government shutdown — a crisis triggered by the same politicians who control government. The Republican Party, now dominant in the White House, and Congress, has allowed ideological gridlock and political gamesmanship to halt basic government operations. Federal employees are furloughed, small business loans are frozen, food assistance is delayed, and local economies — especially in rural communities — are feeling the strain.

While family farms and working households continue to scrape by, Congress sits paralyzed under Republican control. Programs like Head Start, SNAP, and housing assistance hang in the balance, along with the paychecks of thousands of federal workers. And yet, many of these lawmakers still claim to stand with “working families.”

In truth, the Republican majority has advanced policies that cut the very lifelines rural and low-income Americans depend on — from Medicaid and food aid to affordable childcare. At the same time, citizens are told “there’s no money” for healthcare, childcare, or nutrition programs, billions flow elsewhere.

In October 2025, the U.S. government announced a new $40 billion aid package for Argentina, which includes a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina’s central bank, while telling struggling Americans to “tighten their belts. For working families here at home, that double standard is impossible to ignore.

Democrats, on the other hand, want to extend Obamacare (ACA) subsidies and stop cuts to Medicaid, and have held firm on defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — the only federal law that guarantees healthcare coverage for millions who would otherwise go without. They argue that protecting Medicaid expansion, mental health coverage, and preventive care is not just a partisan issue but a moral one. For many in our region — from Cairo to Cape Girardeau to Benton — the ACA is the difference between seeing a doctor and going without treatment.
With those tax credits set to expire, come open enrollment in November, American families are going to start seeing health care costs skyrocket on the exchanges.

Democrats have called for reopening the government and restoring essential services, warning that these shutdowns are not about fiscal responsibility but about political theater. Their position: the government should work for the people, not hold them hostage to partisan standoffs. Yet, instead of negotiating solutions, Republican leadership continues to demand deeper spending cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and education — while approving billions for tax breaks and overseas bailouts.

That contradiction lies at the heart of America’s current discontent. The same administration that claims to fight for “ordinary Americans” has pursued trade policies, social cuts, and redistricting schemes that strip opportunity and representation from working people — both Black and white.
We’ve been hoodwinked by political promises that never deliver.

We see it with the trade war. Farmers were told tariffs would protect American jobs and strengthen the heartland. Instead, those same tariffs collapsed soybean markets across the Midwest, slashing profits and leaving small family farms struggling to survive.
When the fallout hit, Washington wants hand out bailout checks — quick cash that never replaced the lost trade or long-term stability. Meanwhile, the safety net that sustains struggling families is being torn apart. Medicaid work requirements have stripped coverage from thousands. SNAP benefits have been reduced even as food prices surge. Head Start funding faces new threats. These cuts aren’t budget numbers — they’re real lives: closed clinics, hungry children, and families hanging by a thread in towns like Cairo, Sikeston, and Cape Girardeau.

In Missouri, redistricting efforts have targeted the seat of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of the only remaining Black members of Congress from the Midwest. The new district maps dilute the voting strength of Black and urban voters in Kansas City, effectively silencing a voice that has represented both Black and rural working-class communities with integrity for years. This is no accident — it’s part of a national trend to weaken Black political power while claiming to protect “fair representation.”

The words, made famous by Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, were spoken six decades ago — but they still ring true across America today.
They echo across time because they say what so many now feel: “Ya been had.”

We’ve been told to fear each other instead of holding those in power accountable. We’ve been divided by race and distracted by slogans while decisions in Washington — made by those who already have everything — deepen our struggles. We’ve been played against each other while the powerful profit from the chaos.

When politicians convince working people that cuts to Medicaid or SNAP only hurt someone else — when they divide us by race, region, or party — they win, and the people lose. The real divide isn’t between red and blue, or Black and white. It’s between those who profit from chaos and those who pay for it.

In the movie, “Malcolm” warned us not to be fooled by false promises. Today, as government workers go unpaid and families lose benefits, that warning rings louder than ever. His message wasn’t just for his time. It’s for ours. And unless we wake up — all of us — and quit voting against yourselve we’ll keep being had again and again.

Election after election, large swaths of voters in this region have backed candidates and policies that, are making it harder to earn a living wage, get affordable healthcare, and have a real say in government.

“I say, and I say it again, ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”