Fully Present Post 50

June 15, 2024

Dear Chief Justice Roberts,

I am a regular voting citizen of the United States.  I write to you out of my deep concern and regret that I can no longer trust the Supreme Court to make decisions that are in line with our Constitution and that serve the best interest of the people as opposed to the interest of wealthy individuals, religious zealots, and corporations.  It is evident that the Court has been compromised by a lack of accountability, right wing religious ideology, and bribery.  I speak specifically of Justice Thomas and Justice Alito. 

I feel like this is a stolen Court through the political maneuvers of Senator Mitch McConnell and hearings wherein Republican nominees lied to the Senators and the American public with regards to overturning Roe v. Wade.  No Supreme Court has a record of perfect decision making, however, none have been as suspected as our current Court of acting in bad faith.

I feel like your highly politized and religious Court has not only endangered the lives of women, but your Court has poisoned our political system with dark money, made us vulnerable to more gun violence and subjected to undrinkable water and unbreathable air.  Your Court has made a mockery of the rule of law by even considering presidential immunity.  You have successfully provided cover for a man who would essentially destroy our nation and remove the independent power of the press, the justice system, and even the Court. 

I grew up during the civil rights era.  I now understand why civil disobedience may be the only avenue left for many Americans to restore their civil rights that are clearly under attack by the religious right, wealthy ideologs, and greedy corporations. Our very freedoms and well-being are under attack by a Republican Congress that seeks to siege complete power over our lives and livelihoods with the blessing of your Court.   

No woman should have to jeopardize her mental and physical life in favor of an unborn, unaware, and unviable fetus. I do not believe that human life begins at conception.  According to Genesis, it begins with breath.  If religious members of your Court believe life begins at conception, then they should support a woman’s right to not have an abortion.  How is it constitutional to force a woman who believes differently to favor the life of another “person” over her own?  

Given the clear compromise of Justice Thomas and Justice Alito, I call upon them to recuse themselves in any dealings that appear to a reasonable person to be a conflict of interest.  To average Americans like me, they should have nothing to do with issues surrounding Trump or January 6^th.  They should never be involved in issues before the Court where they have received gifts from people involved in a particular case.  This is corruption.  At this point in my life, I believe we are being subjected to a highly politized and highly corrupt Supreme Court that lacks accountability and that cannot be sustained.  Your rulings will be viewed as illegitimate and civil disobedience will become the only recourse many will find.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Juanita Hall

Congressman Bryon Donalds is on Donald Trump’s shortlist for vice president. As such, he and the others on the list are making the most outrageous comments in order to gain favor among MAGA Republican voters. His latest comment to black Republicans explained how blacks did better under Jim Crow because marriage rates were higher. I decided to write to Bryon Donalds regarding his affinity for Republican policies that supposedly benefit black people.

Dear Representative Bryon Donalds,

June 8, 2024

I watched your attempt to clarify your unfortunate comment regarding the black family being together during the era of Jim Crow on CNN.  To be honest, I find your attempt to attribute Republican policies to the black progress we see today not only ingenuous but lacking credibility.  I’ve lived long enough to experience the many roadblocks’ conservatives have placed in our way since the Civil Rights Movement.  It takes an extraordinary amount of tenacity, courage, and intelligence to overcome them.  I’m one of the lucky ones.

I am a black female senior citizen and a democrat.  I am also a Christian.  I attribute my excellent progress with obtaining an education, getting married, raising three law-abiding financially successful children, and retiring comfortably to policies enacted by the Democrats and to my Christian values of love, kindness, and hard work.  My grandparents fled the Jim Crow south for safety and economic opportunities to the Motor City, Detroit.  My parents later moved us to California where red lining curtailed our progress.  However, when the Democrats passed the Fair Housing Act, my parents had the courage and foresight to move us into a white neighborhood where housing values appreciated, the schools were better funded, the groceries were cheaper and healthier, the police were not omnipresent, and the air and water were clean.  I followed suit with my own family.

The reality is that since the passing of the Civil Rights laws, Republicans have sought ways to curtail the progress of black people, women, religious minorities and LGBTQ folks.  In my experience, even though I was an excellent student and state identified as gifted, my mother had to demand I had access to college preparatory courses at the predominately white high school I attended.  It was Affirmative Action that opened the doors to colleges and universities for me to attend.  I lacked guidance from the college counselor who refused to assist me in choosing any college at all, so I chose the University of Southern California where my brother was already a student.  I later learned that I could have attended an Ivy League school with my academic credentials, but I was never afforded the knowledge that some universities were more prestigious than others. 

The Political Party that encourages continued discrimination against women, people of color, religious minorities, and LGBTQ folks is consistently the Republican Party.  Your Party does not open doors for people of diverse backgrounds in this country; it closes them at every opportunity.  Your Party has managed to make “diversity”, “equity”, and “inclusion” bad words and continually bans books designed to teach tolerance and reduce bullying among children. I will argue that the progress you see among black people is the result of reproductive choice, access to education, Obamacare, demands for criminal justice reform, and the ability to choose who and when to marry.  The ability is begin building generational wealth is despite the Republican policies, not because of them.  Your Party deserves no credit!

Your Party seeks to “Make America Great Again” when the only ones who experienced nirvana were white Protestant males.  The rest of us were second class citizens, locked out of schools, neighborhoods, healthcare, job opportunities, and some were locked in closets. There was no liberty and justice for all.  There was no realized aspiration of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for every American.  There was no equal justice under the law for everyone.  Those things were reserved for white males.  That was your great America!

Everything your Party is currently doing tells me, and many other Americans, that you want to return to those days.  Your Party’s unreasonable stance on abortion and contraception tells us how much you despise the intellect and aspirations of women.  Your attacks on the LGBTQ community tells us how you want to push them back into the closet and re-subject them to bullying so they will kill themselves.  Your attack on the justice system tells us that you want to return to a two-tiered criminal justice system where wealthy white men (like Donald Trump) are immune from prosecution and all others are over-policed and strongly prosecuted. Your attack on immigrants tells me you value white Christian people over all others.  And your attack on teachers and science, tells me you want a nation of ignorant workers who are easily exploited and expendable cheap labor.  Your attack on regulations means the maintenance of toxic air and water in poor neighborhoods, leaving folks sick and their children stunted.     

My family is building generational wealth.  But it has been through the policies of the Democrats that opened doors that were previously closed, giving us access to better education, better jobs, decent healthcare, bank accounts, capital, and allowed us to control our reproductive choices. 

I truly have no idea why you are a Republican.  They think men who look like you are criminals and belong in prison, not in professional careers.  Our country does need workers, but your Party can’t stand the idea of immigration when the pool of available workers are brown and black people.  It speaks to their inherent belief that all men are NOT created equal.  And that is the problem I have with MAGA and now with you.

Our Constitution promises equal justice under the law. School children and attendees at civic meetings begin with the Pledge of Allegiance wherein we proclaim a commitment to “liberty and justice for all.” But in many ways, these words are more aspirational than reality. Some Americans seem to be just fine with a justice system that harshly punishes the poor and people of color and seeks to pardon wealthy white men.

This past week, during Trump jury deliberations in New York, I asked my husband if he thought Erik Trump misspoke when he predicted they would win in the hush money trial because they were “white”, and the case was nonsense. My husband thought as I did that Erik spoke a truth that he might have preferred to keep silent. It’s evident to me that because Trump is wealthy and white, he has been able to break laws his entire life with near impunity until now; so being prosecuted feels really unfair to him and his family. We’re talking about a man who cheated on his SAT, dodged the draft, sexually assaulted women, discriminated against blacks in housing, cheated contractors, defrauded banks, defrauded Trump University students, and evaded taxes. Think of the many people through the years who were prosecuted and served time for crimes like this. He never did. For all his crimes, he was never prosecuted criminally until now. Most times, the law turned a blind eye. On occasion, he paid small fines, or he successfully tied things up in court leaving his victims without justice.

Many Americans, like me, are glad he was finally held criminally accountable for at least one crime. His more serious crimes involving stealing classified government documents and conspiring to steal the 2020 election have been successfully postponed by Republican judges who have co-opted our justice system through clever legal maneuvers. It is frustrating to say the least.

However, other Americans, most of whom are avid Trump supporters, are outraged that he is being held accountable at all. To their minds, Trump is somehow either incapable of breaking the law or is above the law altogether. No, it doesn’t make sense, but here we are. I hear them passionately proclaim that he hasn’t done anything wrong. I hear them echo his claims that this is all a political witch hunt. They aren’t interested in the truth; they are interested in protecting their dear leader. After the guilty verdict, the calls for riots and violence against the judge, prosecutors, jurors and all democrats are actually pretty frightening.

And then there are a handful of short-sighted Americans who submit to an unjust two-tiered justice system wherein some people are actually treated better than others and rightfully should be held to a different standard. They hold people like politicians and wealthy elites as somehow too valuable to society to be held to the same laws as average citizens. Unless someone is murdered, they seem to be okay with “white collar” crimes wherein elites evade taxes, falsify legal and business records, defraud banks and business partners, bribe politicians, extort others, and sexually harass women. They mistakenly view these as victimless crimes, failing to realize that we, the American people are the actual victims. The idea that any American would select a convicted felon as president is a terrifying thought. I’m hopeful the persuadable folks who are still reasonable will recognize what is best for our nation before it is too late.

In a way, I’m grateful that Trump has highlighted one of our nation’s psychological shortcomings when it comes to upholding the rule of law. We now see more clearly that we have yet to realize the aspiration of our founding fathers for equal justice under the law. But with the criminal conviction of Trump in this small and comparatively insignificant case, we have moved a step closer to that goal.

Throughout my life, I’ve utilized many of the proverbs I learned early in life as sound advice. One in particular fits the moment we are living in. Proverbs 27:12 states, “A wise man sees trouble and hides himself; the simple pass on and our punished.” That proverb is a call to notice warning signs presented to us and to act accordingly to protect ourselves, otherwise we will suffer negative consequences. As I consider the upcoming November election, I recognize signs of trouble ahead.

The first sign of trouble stems from the passionate and cult-like worship of Trump. Never in my entire life have I seen people in this country wave flags and clothe themselves in garments from head to toe in support of a political leader. They gather in rallies like they’re going to a church revival to listen to a man ramble and rant about nothing of actual substance to improve the nation or their lives. He feeds them a steady diet of fear, hate, insults, grievance, and promises of retribution and cruelty against their perceived enemies (immigrants and democrats) while lining his pockets, basking in their adoration, and trying to avoid prosecution his criminal acts. It’s not surprising that Trump says there will be a “blood bath” if he loses. He refuses to commit to conceding if he loses, so we must all be aware that his supporters are armed and will be enraged if he does lose–a dangerous combination. January 6, 2021 should remind us of what they are capable of. I predict that the days following a Trump election loss may be much worse. You won’t find me dancing in the street to celebrate a Biden win.

You also won’t find me at the polls on election day. I have been saying for weeks that Biden supporters should vote early or by mail to avoid MAGA chaos and intimidation at the polls on election day. Voting early or by mail will help ensure shorter election day lines, particularly in minority neighborhoods where there are fewer polls by Republican design. MAGA folks have proven their determination to win at all costs and I would not put anything past them. They will be watching the polls and some of them have volunteered as election workers. The brave among us must do the same. We need just as many election volunteers on our side to ensure a fair count. For fairness and safety, we should implore our county election officials to place additional law enforcement security around the polls and during counting. I’m thankful for surveillance cameras, and for this election, we should insist upon their presence during the entire process.

At this point, there is a good chance that Trump may win this election. I truly hope he doesn’t because I think his administration will destroy the reputation of our nation, will undermine any hope of addressing climate change, and will roll back the individual freedoms we enjoy. I read a synopsis of Project 2025. It provides a playbook for the dismantling and political reconstruction of the administrative state in order to turn this country into a Christian theocracy that lacks presidential accountability to the rule of law and criminalizes citizens who do not adhere to their theocratic laws. The authors of Project 2025 interpret liberty only within the framework of Christianity and reinterpret the “pursuit of happiness” to be the pursuit of “blessedness” that comes exclusively by adhering to God’s laws, explicitly banning abortion, gay marriage, and eliminating all training and adherence to the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Science takes second place to the Bible, the family is redefined, only ideological loyalists are retained and hired by government, and discrimination is legalized.

How does a person hide from a Trump or Project 2025 administration? Prepare now for a fascist government. Some will be best served by leaving the country for safety reasons. I advise others to move away from predominately minority neighborhoods because environmental injustice and over-policing will worsen. It’s a good idea to gather family and friends and move together to the suburbs of states where housing is affordable, schools are better, and jobs are abundant if telecommuting isn’t an option. Save and invest, rather than spend money. When I was in China, I learned that the people avoid political, social, and religious conversations with people they don’t know. We’ll have to quickly adopt that behavior. Grow your own produce because regulations will not only loosen, but there will be a lack enforcement personnel for those that remain. Stop consuming processed foods that destroy good health and exercise more. I predict that healthcare will become unaffordable and less accessible. Avoid unwanted pregnancy, opting now for permanent solutions if future children are not desired. They plan to prohibit contraception, abortion, and no-fault divorce in order to improve the birth rates and to re-subjugate women. Educate yourself for a better job and be the best at your job for job security. Keep emergency cash on hand in a safe. Get off of social media as surveillance will be used by a fascist state. Start listening to independent news outlets based outside the U.S. like the BBC because fascist lie and withhold factual information to maintain control. And finally, develop a greater collective mindset with family and close friends to ensure better mental health, financial security, and safety.

I suspect many Americans will actively resist the government whether Trump or Biden wins. I won’t be surprised if protests in the streets are met by military violence against citizens no matter which candidate wins. If Trump wins, I’m considering my options. But I’ll begin with prayers that God will intervene and deliver us from this threat of evil as horrific as the Taliban. I recognize that I’m married to a man, retired, financially independent, reside in an affluent predominately white neighborhood, and I live a Christian lifestyle, so I’m not the actual “target” of their oppressive policies. But people I know, love, and care about are, so I’ll have to think about ways to support them and to resist a fascist government should Trump win and adopt the Project 2025 playbook. There are some things worth fighting for. And for me, liberty and justice for all is one of them.

Trouble is foreseeable beginning in November 2024, and we will do well to prepare ourselves for it.

My mother was right. She once said to me that I could have it all, just not all at the same time. Well, by a stroke of luck (or fate), I did have it all and it wasn’t all at the same time. My “haphazard” life story, the journeys of my daughters, and the state of our society today inform my advice for mothers raising daughters, for ambitious and talented girls, and for young women entering adulthood.

The first thing I will say is that we as females in this particular country (for now) are much more than our uterus and our place is wherever we choose it to be, whether that is the boardroom, the studio, or the kitchen. If a girl is blessed with an average lifespan, good health, energy, talent, and intelligence, then with some strategic planning, she can assume different roles throughout her lifetime without foregoing the fulfillment each role has to offer. In other words, I reject the notion that the vocation of a woman is limited to that of wife, mother, and homemaker.

Let me be clear. These are not vocations, but possible roles and responsibilities that change over time. Let’s start with the role of being a wife. For me, being a wife has always meant being a full partner, confidant, and companion, not a servant. I like being married and both times I was careful to marry men who respect women and honored my independence. However, I realized as a 35-year-old “stay at home” mother of three that fidelity was also important to me so when my first husband decided he wanted a side piece, I had the job skills, the confidence, and the education necessary to forge a different path. I was prepared to take the reins when I filed for divorce, securing the property, alimony, and child support the court ordered.

I learned from that experience that a woman must always maintain her own credit, checking, investments, and savings accounts. Total dependance on another human being is a dangerous and unwise decision that has thrown many unprepared women and their children into sudden poverty. My advice is to be careful when choosing a spouse if marriage is desired. These days there are a growing number of men who are eager to offer women “security” in exchange for a return to the days when women were regarded as property to be controlled. There are men looking for a personal slave who will give them sex on demand, who will cook and clean up after them, who will do as they say, and who will raise their babies on their behalf. They demand obedience and exercise total control. They will use religion, financial security, emotional gaslighting, or brute force to break a woman’s will and to undermine the natural human desire for personal autonomy. So, any man who offers to “take care of you” should be a “no, thank you” because there are always puppet strings attached. You want a partner, not an overseer.

Now, let’s move on to motherhood for those who desire children. My first piece of advice is to pay attention to our biology and to utilize effective birth control to protect against an untimely pregnancy. The inconvenient reality is that our biology intends for us to give birth in our twenties. It is far easier to get pregnant, sustain a healthy pregnancy, give birth, recover from giving birth, stay up with crying babies, and run after a toddler when you are in your twenties and early thirties. And it is also much easier and better for the child to do this with a partner, so I highly recommend first getting married after a few years of college, work experience, and savings in the bank. If given the option, choose funds for a downpayment on a house rather than a fancy fairy tale wedding.

Motherhood and career choices is where the idea of having it all, but just not at the same time comes in. Too many women put off serious relationships and having babies in favor of building a career. Sadly, some find they have waited too long. Yes, there is the option of freezing eggs, but youthful motherhood is still better. I think we need to give ourselves permission to prioritize raising children for a decade or even two. If you do the math, say you graduate from high school at age 18. You go to college and work until you are 25, actively dating in search of the perfect partner. You marry and have your children by the time you are 30, prioritizing child-rearing over work. When you are 40-45, you can return to college for a master’s degree and start or continue your career in earnest, unimpeded by childcare demands. You can then work for as many years as you are able or desire.

Being a mother isn’t a vocation. Most mothers know that raising children is both fulfilling and challenging. But some fail to realize that it is a temporary role. Children grow up and the mother-child relationship along with its responsibilities shift. Mothers will always love and worry, but mothers are supposed to stop “mothering” when their children are adults. I’ve seen plenty of women who mistakenly think that being a mother is their primary vocation and identity. While motherhood is a temporary priority for sure, those who think otherwise panic when their children begin kindergarten, and many feel lost or go into depression when their children leave home. I was never like that because I viewed the role as a temporary one, worthy of my best effort.

While not right or not possible for many, I worked undemanding jobs for a bit and then chose to stay home with my children during their formative years because I wanted to give them my full attention. I wanted to monitor their homework, to teach them life skills, and to give them a very broad range of experiences. However, I always viewed staying at home with them as temporary and I looked forward to sending them into their adulthood as well-equipped humans so I could fully dedicate myself to a career. I lamented that the divorce cut some of that plan short, particularly for my son who was only eleven at the time and my second daughter who was a very vulnerable 14- year-old. However, I put aside my personal hurt and anger over the divorce and encouraged their father to remain active in their lives. They needed him, too, and we remained full partners in parenthood. Alimony allowed me the time to earn a master’s degree and to embark on a new career.

And finally, I’ll give advice about homemaking. When I was a stay-at-home mother, I was the classic Suzi Homemaker. However, in truth, anyone who lives in a home (of all genders and ages) is a homemaker. We each assume specific roles to ensure the security, cleanliness, and comfort of the place we reside. In my home, I happen to be the primary cook because I’m much better at it than my husband. He is better at fixing things, building things, and installing stuff, so he assumes that “handyman” role. We each do our own laundry from start to finish and we both do dishes and clean toilets. We garden and grocery shop together. He cleans the showers and takes out the trash. I vacuum, mop, and dust. We both clean windows. At one point we paid a housekeeper when we were working, but since we’re retired, we’ve divided up the household chores.

I’ve been fortunate to have experienced being married twice to men who respected my independent thoughts and aspirations and my autonomy as a human being. I’ve had the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom to focus on my children until the youngest was eleven. I’ve also had the joy of obtaining a full education, earning a bachelor’s degree early in life and post-divorce, I earned both a master’s and then a doctorate. When the children were gone, I remarried, focused harder on my career and traveled around the world for fifteen years. Today, I am a financially independent retired wife and grandmother who writes a blog every Sunday. My mother was right. I was able to have it all, but at different times.

I was frustrated by an online debate this week between a young black man and a black woman. The man argued that it was foolish to continue supporting the Democrat Party because it never does anything for black people. The woman argued that the Republicans do even less and would in fact roll back rights for black people. I was most frustrated with the idea that anyone would expect either political party to center the specific and very particular needs of black people since we remain a relatively small percentage of the population. We need to support the Party that ensures opportunities, public health, and non-discrimination policies that allow us to succeed in spite of our race, not because of it.

Before getting into the personal responsibility aspect of this post, I should define who I’m talking about. The category of who is black has changed and so have the numbers. According to Pew Reseach, the number and diversity of Black people in the country is rising. There are more black immigrants who now comprise 11% of us in 2022 as compared to only 7% in 2000. In addition, Pew expanded the category of Black people from single-race blacks (who alone make up 14.6% of the U.S. population) to include Black Hispanics and multi-racial non-Hispanics. Of the 47.9 million black people in the U.S., 2.9 million are Hispanic, 5.4 million are multi-racial non-Hispanic. Not surprisingly, the percentages of Hispanic blacks and multi-racial blacks are growing rapidly. And it follows that their median age is much younger too. The median age for single-race blacks is 34.9 while black Hispanics is 21 and multi-racial non-Hispanics is a mere 19.5 years.

That said, the windows of opportunity since desegregation, the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action have opened in the areas of education, housing, banking, marriage, and employment. There were and remain individual bad actors in every segment of society who exercise covert acts of discrimination based on skin color. The reality is that there may always be individuals who try to circumvent fair treatment, due recognition, acceptance, promotion, and the success of black people. However, we must always exercise our legal recourse and demand fair treatment. When recognized and called out, these individuals usually back off or they end up paying the consequences. We must always call out health care workers, teachers, property appraisers, bankers, and others who treat us unfairly. Many companies and municipalities have paid out enormous legal fees and punitive compensation for the discriminatory behaviors of their employees. Police officers finally face criminal prosecution for the wrongful deaths of citizens they once killed with impunity. This is progress that I would argue the Democrats are largely responsible for.

I would say to young black men and women today that their future success is up to them given the current laws and public policies in place. Black people are no longer restricted to living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods with under-resourced schools and services and greater environmental pollution. In fact, one of the fastest growing black populations is in Utah. The courageous and ambitious will take the opportunity to improve their living conditions, even if that entails moving. However, a majority of black Americans (56%) continue to reside in the South which represent the poorest states in the country, with Texas and Florida having the biggest black populations. The Midwest and Northeast are each home to 17% of blacks and the west, where I live, only has 10% of blacks living here.

There is good news and there are threats on the horizon when it comes to our collective progress. For starters, according to Pew Research, 26.1 percent of black people over age 25 have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, up from only 14.5% in 2000. Unfortunately, the gap between black female educational attainment and black males has widened since 2000 with a comparison of 28.9% of females attaining degrees compared to only 22.8% of males.

This gap in educational attainment should not be ignored. For one, it means that black males will have fewer life opportunities for high paying jobs and social mobility. Higher education attainment is attached to increased earning capacity, higher level information processing skills, and social status mobility. On this Mother’s Day, I call upon mothers to monitor their son’s whereabouts, associations, and schoolwork. Parents must insist upon the academic achievement of their sons to a higher level to ensure opportunities and avoid exploitation. We must raise our academic expectations for our children to match or exceed the general population. If we continue to raise black boys to believe their opportunities lie only in becoming professional athletes or music moguls, then the school to prison pipeline will only increase. They can pursue a rigorous education while also participating in sports or music. However, without education, their legitimate job prospects are next to none without a trade or formal education if sports or music does not pan out. And for the vast majority of them, it will not!

I contend that it is far easier to adequately monitor kids, especially boys, when there are two parents at home. Unfortunately, many of our black children are being raised by single mothers who struggle to survive and have too few resources and too little time to devote to being an involved parent. It has always been a mistake to expect the government to rescue single moms to the extent that fully nurtures a developing child. And the truth is that it takes a super-woman to provide all the love, attention and educational opportunities a developing child needs to thrive and succeed. In red states where the greatest population of black people live, new abortion restrictions have gone into effect and access to health care is being rolled back. The threat of more black babies being born into poverty to single mothers is a horrifying prospect for our collective future. Education and marriage before babies are essential for our children and our collective future. We should be preaching this from the roof tops. Instead, online conversations feature angry uneducated black men complaining that black women are too independent and money grubbing.

There is definitely something going on in the culture that has affected marriage or the lack of it among black Americans. I suspect that the education and social gap between black men and women likely has some bearing on the fact that only 32% of black adults are married compared to 53% of adults who are not black. Additionally, unemployment, low paying jobs, and extremely high incarceration rates among black men don’t help the prospects for marriage either. And neither does the reputation for infidelity.

Nearly half of black men and women have never been married and of those who have 25% of black women and 15% of black men are divorced, separated or widowed. More black men are married (36%) than black women (29%). Of those, 21% of black men are married to non-black women while 13% of black women are married to non-black men. What I hear from black women is that it is difficult to find worthy partners among black men. Going back to parenting, I’m convinced that it generally takes two involved parents to raise a worthy black man. So, my guess is that more black women will soon be marrying outside their race and the trend of multi-racial babies will continue. Not surprisingly, my daughters are married to white men and my step-daughter is married to a highly educated (PhD) Nigerian immigrant.

It is also not surprising that mixed-race households have the highest median income ($60,000) followed by black Hispanic households ($56,500) while single race households have only $49,500. I attribute this to the likelihood that multi-racial couples meet in higher social circles outside racially segregated neighborhoods, typically in college or on the job. My son met his white pediatrician wife in the Peace Corps after college.

My point is this: for now, laws and policies are in place that allow us to determine our future prospects for success. We must take advantage of the choice to get an education whether that is in the trades or academics no matter our preference for athletics, acting, or music. Higher education is about learning how to process information and gaining social mobility. We can also move out of impoverished, under-resourced, high pollution neighborhoods. And finally, we can expand our marriage prospects beyond black men and women.

I began by saying that we need to support the political party that provides opportunities for success without regard to race. Which Party supports reproductive rights? Which wants to expand access to healthcare? Which Party cares more about clean air and water than corporate profits? Which Party wants everyone to vote? Which Party’s candidate just claimed that discrimination against “whites” is a major problem that must be dealt with?

Pay attention to Biden’s push to forgive student loans. This policy will help young people, many of whom are black men and women who obtained degrees or trades and now find themselves in overwhelming debt. Once free of this debt burden, my sincere hope is that they will be wise enough to save and invest, start businesses, get married, and buy homes. Those who say the Democrats have done nothing for black people are likely stuck in impoverished neighborhoods, are uneducated, and therefore lack the upward mobility a good education can provide.

I’ve been largely silent about the war between Israel and Hamas because I realize that I’m likely to offend people I care about who are personally impacted by what is happening. In truth, I am deeply sympathetic to both the Israeli and the Palestinian people. At the same time, I absolutely despise the leadership on both sides. I’m vehemently against oppression and violence and I am in favor of a two-state solution. I am neither anti-Semitic nor anti-Muslim. I respect the dignity, basic rights, and humanity of all people groups. Having worked with college age students for 25 years, I honestly believe that 99% of the students protesting the historic mistreatment of the Palestinians and the current war in Gaza feel the same way as I do. But their message is being lost.

The main reason for their messaging problem is that this country has a difficult time processing nuance, particularly when emotions are high. Nuance doesn’t make for good sound bites. Nuance takes more time to explain than people have the patience to hear. Nuance requires critical thinking skills that clearly half the country lacks. Nuance requires an exceptionally high level of communication skills that most people, especially college students, haven’t developed to the degree required to be fully understood.

The other reason the students are struggling to gain support for their protests is that there are unruly folks among them who steal the attention of the news outlets that pursue sensationalism for views and profits. I watch in horror everyday as the news media amplifies the occasional anti-Semitic rants and threats coming from a few protesters while putting a mic in the face of the rare Jewish student who feels threatened, not necessarily by specific acts of violence towards them, but by the subject matter of the protest itself.

The news media paints the protesters as anti-Semitic, creating an avenue for conservative politicians to hold public hearings where they could brow-beat college presidents about their radical anti-Semitic colleges where Jewish students are being continuously threatened while they do nothing. Although untrue, university donors only hear the headlines, and some of these presidents lost their jobs. It’s as though defending free speech and the right to protest is limited to donor-approved speech and non-confrontational protest. Nuance is completely lost. The monied interests behind the news media know that the public and politicians aren’t hearing the full story. The reality is that sound bites fit the narrative of those who pay for them. And right now, that means ending the student protests by painting the students as radical, immature, naive, and anti-Semitic bullies who don’t know any better. However, their stated demands prove this isn’t true.

Honestly, these students know enough to understand that the Israeli government has been mistreating the Palestinian people unfairly for many years. They know what oppression looks like. They know that if you kick a dog long enough, that dog might eventually bite you. They know Hamas is evil and visited that evil upon innocent Israelis on October 7th and wrongly continues to hold innocent people hostage while hiding behind a helpless population. They don’t support Hamas. But they don’t support Netanyahu either. They know that indiscriminate bombing and strategic starvation of innocent women and children is wrong. They heard how Netanyahu referred to the Palestinian people as animals and not human. They understand right and wrong and proportionality.

In truth, these are educated young people who are full of energy and who have a stake in the future of the world. They rightly want to shape the world they will live in. So, they protest, demanding that their college sever ties with the Israeli government whom they see as the root cause of the conflict. They want better for Israelis and the Palestinians. To garner greater attention, they set up camps in violation of university rules. They know that the Administration can’t ignore rule breakers and that is the point.

But the public likes order. Disorder gets attention, but when the stance is nuanced, the messaging is difficult. The students believe they are morally right even if the news media convinces the “adults” that they are uninformed radicalized brats who need to study and stop disturbing the peace. The reality is that there are more Jewish students among the protesters than there are Jewish students being threatened. But very few of the Jewish students who are protesting Netanyahu’s policies are being highlighted.

History has shown us that when protest is met with silence, it only gets bolder and louder and more dangerous. The aggrieved will be heard! As a former university administrator, I understand this. I believe Netanyahu is unwittingly creating more future enemies for Israel as he prosecutes his war on Hamas without regard for innocent human suffering. I also believe President Biden was throwing away his prospects for re-election by his silence on the student protests.

So, this past week, I became so frustrated by President Biden’s silence in the face of growing campus chaos that I emailed him three times in 24 hours. I’m certain others contacted the White House as well, especially after Trump went on record praising the police action against the protesters, altogether ignoring student grievances and even their right to protest. He was doing what authoritarians do.

Within two hours of my final email, President Biden did an unscheduled press conference. He touched on pretty much every talking point I articulated in my emails, except the reason for the protest: a ceasefire and humane treatment for Palestinians moving forward. While he emphasized the right to protest peacefully, he fell short in acknowledging the actual grievances the students had. He didn’t tell them that he is doing his best to bring an end to the violence and starvation in Gaza and to have the hostages released. He didn’t push hard enough against the characterization of protesters as anti-Semitic. His curt responses at the end showed everyone that he is above all else a politician who relies on donors to fund his campaign, so he can’t say too much to disrupt the fully funded media narrative against the students.

When all is said and done, I support the students. I believe that 99% of them are fighting for the right thing: an end to the slaughter of innocent lives and a peaceful transition to a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live in security, dignity, and opportunity. I hope these same students will vote to re-elect President Biden this November because he really is the lesser of two evils with regard to protecting the lives of the Palestinian people and mitigating a growth of anti-Semitism because of Netanyahu’s inhumane policies.

Almost daily, I’m tempted to throw up my hands and surrender this crazy fight to preserve the civil liberties of all Americans. Negative news reports, unhinged poll results, and ridiculous social media posts set my heart racing. I’m stressed and have to take frequent breaks to relax so I can regain my rational thought in order to respond prudently. I often posit that since most young people are too pre-occupied to pay attention to the wrecking ball coming for their freedoms, then perhaps I should just let it come. It would certainly be less stressful. But even if I respond on social media, Facebook and Instagram have minimized my political posts in accordance with their new community standards so that it feels like I’m shouting in an abandoned forest. And that’s frustrating!

The problem is that I care. I care about my children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren as well as my former students. I care about their ability to live their lives in accordance with who they are and what they value. I care about their ability to breathe clean air and drink clean water. I care that they have opportunities to thrive. I don’t want them to live their lives under religious tyranny, legalized discrimination, lack of affordable health care, or constant threat of violence or climate related natural disasters. So, I fight on even when I’m infuriated by their lack of attention and willingness to engage in their own protection beyond the task of voting. So, I push for at least that (voting) while simultaneously reminding MAGA lawmakers and their supporters that there are Americans who oppose their agenda. In my thinking, silence is a form of consent and pushing people to defend their position can have a moderating effect.

Fighting is hardest when you’re dealing with stubborn and uneducated people who have been led to believe a fictional version of American history and who have a distorted view of Christianity, our constitution, and humanity itself. It’s mentally taxing and takes a lot of time and emotional energy to listen to their unsubstantiated pronouncements, deeply flawed and even dangerous proposals, threats of violence, and incomprehensible defense of Trump as their persecuted “savior” who will right this sinking ship.

I’m thankful for the rising voices of Christians who are finally speaking up and proclaiming that what these MAGA are promoting is not in fact “Christianity” but a dangerous form of white nationalism that completely contradicts the teachings of Christ and gives Christianity itself a bad name. MAGA claim that this country was established by and for white Christian protestants and that the original constitution provided freedoms intended for them. However, they are willing to extend a measure of freedom to the rest of us. In other words, second class citizenship awaits women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks if they were to take power. The freedoms we enjoy today will be gone tomorrow and our lives will be subjected to their self-serving view of “Judeo-Christian” values and their unscientific view of humanity and the planet on which we reside. And because they believe climate change is a hoax, they will drill and thwart any efforts to address environmental issues in favor of cheap energy.

Given the current make-up of the Supreme Court, if Trump were to win this next election and if the GOP capture both the House and Senate, I predict several immediate outcomes: 1) All legal actions against Trump will end. 2) Trump will hand Ukraine over to Putin and encourage Israel to completely remove the Palestinians. 3) There will be mass deportations across the country, creating a shortage of workers to be replaced by prisoners as legalized slave labor, child labor and the impoverished elderly. 4) There will be a nationwide ban on abortions followed by an attempt to ban contraception, endangering the lives, life-prospects, and livelihoods of women. 5) There will be a gradual elimination of the safety net, forcing labor and stretching charities to the breaking point. 6) There will be a ban on gender reassignment surgery for everyone, increasing suicides. 7) There will be a ban on same sex marriage and public displays of homosexuality and transgender. 8) There will be widespread censorship of the media, entertainment, and an expanded ban on books. 9) The Department of Education will be eliminated along with reduced funding for public schools, and the Bible will be required as the main text for morality and science, enraging educators. 10) The guaranteed individual freedoms in the constitution will be suspended in the name of public safety and national security. 11) Environmental regulations will be relaxed in favor of corporate profits, causing more pollution. 12) Massive tax cuts for the wealthy will be passed, defunding government agencies into oblivion. 13) There will be an immigration bill that favors white protestant immigrants and bans Muslims, homosexuals, and others. 14) There will be an uptick in police brutality and arrests along with a substantial growth in the prison population (slave labor) which will grow to include political protestors, abortionists, the unhoused, homosexuals, transgender, rebellious professors and teachers, and the mentally ill. 15) There will be more tariffs imposed on goods coming from China, raising the prices on everything. And finally, 16) There will be actions taken to ensure that MAGA wins all future elections.

Of course, no one really knows what Trump will do because he doesn’t articulate policies beyond his desire to get revenge, deport and ban undesirable immigrants, remain in power with absolute immunity, and bask in the adoration of his followers. To these ends, I predict that he will do the bidding of the nefarious characters around him who have a clear vision for remaking America. I predict that they are going to need a lot of complicit able-bodied police, a lot of loaded guns, and a whole lot of new prisons to accomplish their vision because I also predict that the youth and pre-occupied adults who aren’t paying attention today, will be more than willing to fight then.

Lately, I’ve met the nicest people during my trips to the grocery store, the doctor’s office, the post office and to restaurants. People seem to be going out of their way to be kind, engaging, and helpful. Some don’t even work at the place; they’re just patrons like me. Workers and patrons alike are engaging in empathetic conversations with me about food, the weather and just life in general. I welcome the engagement. Sometimes, it starts with a simple, “How’s your day going?” On several occasions, someone has noticed me reaching for a product and asked what I was planning to do with it. Other times, it’s just a comment on a shared circumstance like a really long line. I’ve received a lot of compliments on my gray hair. My everyday lived experience out and about is nothing like what I’m seeing on the news or on social media. You’d think there was a “Karen” lurking around every corner to challenge your right to exist, or an undocumented criminal lying in wait to rob or assault you, or a non-binary person screaming at you for using the wrong pronoun, or some MAGA cult member itching to start a fight over politics. I’ve experienced none of this.

What I realize is that most people are decent. Like me, they simply want to live in a society where people treat others with dignity and respect and where they can simply go about their day peacefully with positive interactions sprinkled throughout. We are social beings who want to be accepted for our basic humanity, and I think that the pandemic really robbed us of the daily connections that helped keep us emotionally healthy. So, I welcome the now more frequent simple and positive conversations with strangers sharing a common space. It brightens my day and I’m pretty certain it brightens theirs as well. I can tell by the smiles and the parting wishes for a great day.

The problem is that we have collectively given economic and social incentives to the media and content providers to highlight the most indecent behaviors. The market rewards poor behavior with views. The more socially deviant, the better because we are mesmerized by violence, sex, and craziness. Videos of outrageous “Karen” behaviors go viral. Other examples of rare but indecent behaviors that are exploited for gain are the rare teacher who pushes inappropriate material on students, the heinous crime of an illegal migrant, the “smash and grab” thieves running wild in a store, the high-speed car chase through crowded streets, the star who wears the most revealing outfit at an awards show, or the politician who makes the most xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, and racist statements. Highlighting indecent behavior promotes more indecent behavior. And even worse, the constant onslaught of rare but outrageous behaviors and unusual but scary events, skew our perception of reality and makes us vulnerable to support those who intentionally generalize atypical indecent human behavior as typical to use as a fear tactic.

I am convinced that many of the culture war issues are in fact manufactured. Politicians realize that it is effective to turn rare indecent incidents into epidemics of indecency. Let’s face reality. Not one of us has ever been forced to attend nor to take our children to a drag show or a drag queen story time. It will be rare for any of us to encounter a dangerous transgender person in a public restroom. We are far more likely to be murdered by another American citizen and someone we actually know, than by an undocumented migrant. And almost none of our children have been in a classroom with a teacher who is actively working to make them gay or to question their gender identity. The books being banned are about accepting differences among people; not creating them. And the goal is to reduce bullying by promoting understanding and tolerance.

Are there people in America who lack common decency? Of course there are. I once took a sociology class on social deviance. The professor said it was a class about “nuts, sluts, and perverts.” They certainly do live among us, and we definitely want to curb their behavior when it harms others, not promote it. I don’t know any person from either political party that wants to normalize violence, open borders for terrorists, human trafficking and drug dealing, pedophilia, rudeness, bullying, or the sexualization of children. Anyone who is pushing that narrative is lying. Most people are decent and prefer decency to indecency.

The problem is that the media outlets are incentivized to give the indecent airtime and we are too quick to watch the spectacle on television and on social media. There is an old saying that the things that get rewarded, get repeated. We have collectively rewarded the media and content providers with our views and clicks for which they are monetarily rewarded. They likely know that our viewership and clicks are linked to our disapproval, but that is not the point. Outrage, fear, and incredulity sell best. They know that we may watch a bridge collapse in horror, and that the effect is our fear that the bridge in our area may also collapse. They know that the extra attention given to the nearly naked singer accepting an award on television only encourages other young singers seeking attention to also dress that way. Ratings are not approval, but they are money. Often there is dismay and outrage behind the views, but the goal is to make a profit and that comes from viewership. The negative consequences to societal norms be damned.

I recall when Trump first came on the political scene. I was appalled by his crude and dangerous rhetoric. Almost daily, he would call into NBC’s Today Show and talk nonsense. I actually wrote to them and asked that they stop giving him airtime every morning or I would stop watching. Apparently, I was in the minority and people kept tuning in to hear the next outrageous thing Trump had to say. They continued to take his calls. I haven’t watched them since. The profit incentives within corporate media made Donald Trump a political contender and today they keep his candidacy alive. They know he is a clear and present danger, and yet they can’t forgo the profit from the impending train wreck. I won’t ever forgive them for it.

In short, we get the society we are willing to pay for with our clicks and our views. If we want less violence, explicit sex, rudeness, and lude behaviors to fill our television and social media feeds, then we simply need to turn the channel or scroll past them. Most people are decent, experience everyday decency, and yet also desire decency within the public square. It’s within our collective power to restore it with decent viewing habits.

For most of my adult life I have understood the portion of Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech wherein he says that he dreams that one day his children will be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin to be the end goal, the aspiration, and the victory in the fight for racial equality and social justice. After watching multiple interviews, including his Ted Talk, I’ve observed that Coleman Hughes has essentially ignored the situational context of Dr. King’s words and reframed the aspiration of colorblindness as the only legitimate foundation for public policy and moral interpersonal behavior today. While he acknowledges the persistence of racial bias (calling it stupid), he mischaracterizes the opposition to colorblindness by diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) advocates as neo-racist. As a former DEI worker, I don’t know anyone on the left who would disagree that colorblindness remains the ultimate goal, in the sense that our race has no bearing on our treatment, opportunities, nor outcomes, using measurable economic, health, and social outcomes as a metric for how we are doing. However, some would argue that it is too soon to center colorblindness in every public policy decision. But I do think Coleman has a point worthy of discussion.

I think Coleman is correct in his assertion that socio-economic status is a more accurate metric to determine government-based policies to help people succeed and for the most part, that is already in place. When using poverty as a measure, programs do in fact capture a disproportionate number of black and brown people because they remain disproportionately poorer. However, Coleman rarely addresses why this remains the case except to blame single family homes, inattentive parents and neighborhood violence. I would argue that many black people remain impoverished in large part due to public policy decisions in housing, school funding, policing, and rampant individual discrimination, so I differ from Coleman in that regard. That said, I’ve seen the poverty-based strategy at work in government-funded Trio Programs like Upward Bound. Entry to the six Trio Programs is based on socio-economic factors like family income and first-generation college status and so students in these programs come from all racial backgrounds and that’s a good thing.

I personally benefited from race-based Affirmative Action programs because in the 1970’s there were very real race-based barriers to college and career opportunities. Opponents, like Coleman and conservatives, often fail to acknowledge that Affirmative Action did not lower admission standards or job qualifications, but it provided preference to those whose race had historically (and legally) prevented their access. There were no quotas, but public schools and employers were required to give preference to women and people of color over white males if they met the qualifications for entry. The purpose was to right a historic and legal policy of discrimination based on race and gender. What Affirmative Action did was provide competition to white men who had enjoyed a monopoly on the best schools and the best jobs based on their race and social connections.

I do agree with Coleman that the days of legal discrimination have since passed and that Affirmative Action came to give unwarranted and certainly unnecessary preference to the sons and daughters of highly educated minority professionals. For example, I was able to provide my children with every educational and economic advantage when they were young. Since times have indeed changed, absent the covert bigotry of an individual college or job recruiter, they did not need to rely on Affirmative Action for their college admission or job. In essence, the extra points given to them by admission policies seem unfair when compared to a black child born to more dire circumstances. As a DEI professional, I made this argument on multiple occasions. In fact, later arguments to keep Affirmative Action in place centered on the educational benefits of diversity as opposed to access to opportunity for low-income students. The problem was that the stigma of admitting or hiring “less qualified” candidates remained.

The problem is that opponents to diversity hiring conveniently ignore years of public policy and poverty that limit the educational opportunities of women and people of color while also limiting their opportunity to enter spaces that would provide them connections and resume building experiences. Coleman sites the over-representation of black men in the NBA as an example of merit-based entry without regard to race. But is it really? I would argue that the NBA and the NFL are over-represented by black males, not because they are inherently better at the game, but because the opportunity structure in the country funneled their energies into these easily accessible sports as opposed to academic endeavors.

I think a lot of people struggle with Coleman’s insistence to use colorblindness as a guide for all public policy decision-making right now. His stance seems to ignore the evidence of the lingering harms caused by historically race-based discrimination. While he does acknowledge slavery and Jim Crowe as immoral and harmful, he fails to fully acknowledge their lingering effects. And worse, he fails to acknowledge how the pseudo-science of eugenics infected the national mindset with a belief in white superiority and black inferiority. It is naive to expect average people to change their way of thinking and behaving just because it is the right thing to do. When confronted by prominent conservative comments blaming the Maryland bridge collapse on DEI and pointing their fingers at the black governor and black major as examples of DEI, he simply characterized them as “stupid” and possibly racist. He fails to connect the dots that people in positions of power and policy making continue to view blackness as inherently inferior.

Because of the continuing negative mindset regarding the character and intellect of black people among those who make policy and those who put policy into practice, I think we must also make laws that ensure that those who violate colorblindness in their implementation of non-discriminatory public policies should be held civilly accountable. There are many examples of non-compliance with colorblind policies. There are police who over-monitor blacks, ticket them, or brutalize them. There are judges who issue harsher sentences to black perpetrators compared to white perpetrators for the same crime. They, like police should be sanctioned or removed. Banks who make it more difficult for blacks to access capital or who target blacks for sub-prime loans should be sued. The list of individuals violating the principles of colorblindness with impunity is long. Coleman never addresses the penalty for such harmful actions that will have lasting negative affects on victims and their families.

I’m glad we are having this conversation about the merits of colorblindness in 2024. I still see it as an aspiration. I just think it is important to address the topic with an eye to history, practical applications, and human nature.