Fully Present Post 50

In honor of my birthday weekend, my children and their families have come for a visit from Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Palmdale. So, I’m taking the week off from writing my blog to be fully present to enjoy the company of my three adult children, their three spouses and my three grandsons. Please take this opportunity to read some of my past posts that you missed or reread posts you enjoyed.

As always, thank you for caring enough to read my weekly musings about life. Have a great week.

Most Americans simply want to live their lives in peace, free from the political strife and turmoil that blankets the airways and social media. I admit that I’m one of them and that I’m not very successful at it these days. Each day, I do myself the favor of finding some time to turn away from the frustration caused by what I can only describe as a national identity crisis.

Americans are at war with each other over who we are and who we should become. At one extreme, there are those who long for simpler days when wealthy white men enjoyed the power of a democratic republic, and the fruits of capitalism were reserved for them. These people, including presidential candidates Trump, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy seek a future where poor people of color are essentially stripped of their voting rights, exploited for cheap labor, and women returned to the essential role of wife and mother. In their ideal country, faith in their God supersedes science, actual history is obscure, there are strictly two genders, LGBTQ folks will return to the closet they will build for them, and only wealthy Christian immigrants (preferably white) are welcome. This is Christian Nationalism at its core. On the other extreme, are the WOKE activists, regulators of capitalism, and socialists.

In this country, socialism and communism conjures up all kinds of fears in many people. Extremists among conservatives quickly label those who disagree with them as either a socialist or less commonly, a communist. But few people actually know what socialism and communism are. A quick search reveals that socialism is a system where the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively. Communism is a system of holding all property in common based on Marxism to create a classless society where all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state.

The reality is that there are very few socialists and even fewer communists among us. However, there are several systems in our country that are socialized. For example, our military, our public schools, our fire and police departments, our bridges and highways, national disaster relief, and public parks. These are systems wherein the production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively. They are paid for by our tax dollars and controlled by elected officials and government agencies on our behalf. There are many people in this country who believe that socialized healthcare, called “Universal Healthcare” should be added to the list beyond Medicare and Medicaid. All these “socialist” systems fit within the preamble to the Constitution which tasks the government to “provide for common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.” In our democratic republic, the decision to add universal healthcare to the list would be determined by the representatives that we the people vote into office. It is ultimately up to us to decide. But at this moment, the fight is over the continued existence of democracy itself.

The actual frontline fighters in the current national identity war are the Christian Nationalists and the WOKE activists. WOKE activists believe in making it easier for citizens to vote while Christian Nationalists seek to curtail access to the ballad box and to limit the power of certain votes. WOKE activists embrace the aspiration of the Constitution to provide equal justice under the law, while Christian Nationalists favor some people over others. WOKE activists insist upon the civil liberties found in the Bill of Rights with practical safeguards and limitations while Christian Nationalists believe these rights are absolute even if they harm others. Both WOKE activists and Christian Nationalists view the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness clause found in our Declaration of Independence as their driving force. However, Christian Nationalists interpret it to mean they can freely bully and discriminate against others.

In pursuit of WOKE ideals, we had a civil rights movement which forced legal compliance to end discrimination. That was followed by diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. At their core, these are an effort to capture the hearts and minds of all Americans by building an appreciation for the diversity that exists within the country and to honor the rich histories, contributions, perspectives, and values everyone has to offer. Equity is an attempt to remove remaining systems that hinder the equal access to opportunity for economic and social progress among previously excluded groups. And inclusion is an effort to bring historically excluded people and perspectives into spaces of prominence, power and decision making. These core principles gave birth to the Black Lives Matter Movement to which White Christian Nationalists responded with copycat marches from Nazi-Germany.

I am grateful to live in a democratic republic. In our form of government, power is exercised by the people through their elected representatives. For now, we have the right to protest, to petition our government, and to vote and have our votes counted. Our democracy is characterized by the equality of rights and privileges among citizens. And herein lies the problem for Christian nationalists. Their view of what America should be is increasingly a minority view and they afraid of losing power. The election of Barack Obama and the subsequent backlash represented by Donald Trump signals the beginning of our current struggle.

I see how mentally disruptive it is for a person who believes white people are superior to see people of color excel academically, professionally, politically, and creatively. It must be abhorrent to religious folks to witness gay pride parades, gay marriage, drag shows, and transgender folks in the public square. It must be horrible to imagine women making a frivolous choice to abort a baby when you believe it is murder. It must be hard to have a female boss, especially if she is a woman of color. It must be frustrating to compete for college admission or employment with all these women and people of color when in your mind they aren’t nearly as qualified as you because you are white and male. It must be disgusting to watch females flaunt their bodies in sexually explicit ways and demand sexual fulfillment as an empowered woman who no longer relies on a man. These are societal changes that democracy enabled, and these unsettling changes are why many on the far right are willing to discard democracy.

The exercising of civil liberties among people who do not share their religious values or beliefs is so terrifying to them that in their quest to persuade voters to vote Republican, some are pushing a false narrative that abortion is legal up to the time of birth, that the southern border is wide open and dangerous people are coming in, that teachers are indoctrinating children to become gay or transgender when in fact they are helping to end the bullying caused by bigotry. In their zeal to win voter support, some have gone so far as to push false accusations that democrats are pedophiles, groomers, and baby killers.

The reality is that no one is stopping the religious right from exercising their religion. It is just that WOKE activists contend that others should not be forced to abide by the religious beliefs of others. For example, if a religious person doesn’t believe in gay marriage, they shouldn’t get gay married or attend gay weddings. If someone believes abortion is murder, they don’t have to have abortions. The problem is that these choices aren’t something the far right wants to embrace. A few are seeking to roll back the Constitution and the rule of law to get their way. The road to fascism is before us.

Fascism is a totalitarian governmental system lead by a dictator with an emphasis on nationalism, militarism, and often racism. The warning signs are easy to detect. Look for book bans to limit knowledge and perspectives. Look for an attack on the free press to suppress investigations and factual information. Look for anti-intellectualism. Look for the cult of personality. Look for the amassing of guns to enforce their will through violence. Look for the scapegoating of groups as the cause of problems. Look for the paranoia that says a good way of life is being threatened by outsiders.

This next election will determine whether we will maintain our current freedoms as a democratic republic or slide further down the road toward fascism lead by Christian Nationalists.

I accept that upon watching the brawl on August 5th at the Montgomery dock, many of us felt like a long overdue sweet revenge was exacted upon anti-black white folks in payment for hundreds of years of violence perpetrated against black bodies with impunity. Those white folks who assaulted the black co-captain, Dameion Pickett, for simply doing a job that inconvenienced them were not only beaten down by black spectators who came to his rescue, but they were also arrested and soon charged with third degree assault. It appears that justice is finally being served and I’m very happy about that. And I’m extremely happy that Dameion Pickett survived this particular incident with his life. So many others before him did not. I also want to acknowledge that the viral video of the incident gave birth to incredibly clever memes, t-shirts, songs, poems, reenactments, and a host of other creative and comedic responses.

But I’m not laughing. And I actually worried for my son who is vacationing in Maine with his family. The population of Maine is 98% white. There would be no black calvary to rescue him should he be attacked by anti-black white thugs. While I sympathize with the righteous celebration behind the sentiment that these white folks finally got what they deserved, I’m equally horrified and disheartened that in 2023 some white folks continue to think they have a right to violently attack black people, to call the police on black people for simply existing in certain spaces, and to continuously treat us as inferior human beings who shouldn’t overstep “our place”. The fact that three of these attackers were in their 20s is disturbing because it means that the white supremacist mindset was passed down to yet another generation. And I admit that I’m concerned about it.

Despite our many contributions to the physical and cultural development of this country, black people continue to be targets of insecure white people. If we build something, they try to tear it down. If we succeed, they try to discredit our success. If we gain power, they try to disrupt it. If we speak up, they try to silence us. If we move in, they move out. In truth, it must be exhausting to harbor so much fear and hate towards a group of people because they happen to have darker skin. But I can’t blame them for this destructive mindset. I’m well aware that since the country’s founding, so much time, marketing, and public policy have been devoted to promoting this negative view of blackness to advantage whiteness.

I recognize that there are people who continue to enrich themselves by promoting such nonsense. Shame on them and shame on those gullible individuals who continue to buy into it this low-level ego-manipulation. I’m glad the antics of these haters are being exposed at every turn and that consequences are being served up by employers, the justice system, and the courts. But it is time that we hold the actual purveyors of this fear and hate accountable. This includes certain media outlets, think tanks, wealthy influencers, and political leaders.

For example, we cannot afford to silently allow Governors like Ron DeSantis and his backers to ban books and to distort black history in schools. We also can’t stand by as he arbitrarily suspends a duly elected black female state attorney (Monique Worrell). DeSantis claims she is soft on crime which is code for she isn’t prosecuting enough black and brown people. Despite the fact that crime was actually down in her jurisdiction, he used his power to appoint a conservative judge to replace her. I hope the NAACP and other civil rights organizations stand beside Worrell to challenge this suspension in court, just as they are challenging other attacks on civil liberties designed to curtail the progress of minorities.

As I mentioned before, I’m amazed by the creativity that was on full display following the boat dock brawl. As African Americans and black folks in this country, we should continue to use our creativity, hard work, collective money, and voting power to campaign for respect, fairness, justice, laws, and the common decency we deserve. As a child, I roamed the streets singing James Brown’s song, “Say it Loud, ‘I’m black and I’m proud’.” I gladly donated to and displayed Black Lives Matter stuff. I embraced the concept of being “woke”. I dedicated much of my professional career to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

However, I predicted and was right about the eventual attacks from the right on these noble efforts, even though they make no logical sense and can present no rational argument for their opposition. These folks were going to be moved by emotion, not logic, and I knew it, arguing that they just don’t like any of it because they don’t like us. Americans have been programmed to either fear, despise, or at least consider blackness inferior. And sadly, some of us black folks have internalized that programming. So, here we are.

For years, I have argued that it’s going to take a massive marketing effort to change the hearts and minds of the American psyche. We need to foment the sentiment that we are all fully human, that reparations to repair damage is warranted, that equality under the law is constitutional, and that equal opportunity is the ultimate goal. I believe that we are capable of and must create a new narrative for ourselves that spills over into the greater society.

Until we can successfully re-brand ourselves as African Americans, the time for declaring victory and dancing in the streets is premature. As things stand today, with MAGA and white Christian nationalists having a moment, I’m dreading a white backlash to the incident in Montgomery. So, please be careful out there and steer clear of places like Maine where there are no black calvary to rescue you.

t took more than a minute for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to finally indict former President Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Despite the evidence against him, Trump supporters on C-Span Washington Journal cling to claims that Trump is being unjustly persecuted by Democrats, that he did nothing wrong, that the real criminals are the Bidens, and that the DOJ has been weaponized against Trump. Of course, I am more than a little disturbed to hear Trump tell his supporters that the DOJ is really after them and that he is just standing in the way, protecting them from this fictional Bogeyman. However, he never provides a coherent reason why the DOJ is after them. And worse, politicians like Kari Lake have the audacity to threaten MAGA protection of Trump on social media while evoking their NRA connections.

In the thick of things, I’m grateful that C-Span bought on an attorney and law professor, Kimberly Wehle to talk about why the January 6th indictment is important for the preservation of our democracy. She explained in detail each of the schemes Trump is accused of implementing to overturn the election. She explained each of the four counts and his actions associated with them. She then asked the listeners to consider whether they want to continue to live in a country designed to rule from the bottom up where we the people select our political leaders through our vote or to live in a country where political leaders decide who wins elections by subverting the vote and overturning elections at will. Trump tried to deny the will of the people so he could remain in power. When Mike Pence refused to fulfil his role in his unconstitutional scheme, Trump sent thousands of his deceived, fearful, and angry supporters to the Capital to “stop the steal” when in fact he was the one trying to steal the 2020 election.

It was disheartening to hear Republicans call in to C-Span and accuse the Constitutional professor of being a communist and a person who hates the country. I’ve noticed that passionate people often resort to name-calling out of frustration. That’s what is happening today among otherwise decent adults: “Democrats are pedophiles”; “Democrats are communists”; “Democrats are baby killers”; “Democrats are trying to destroy the nation”; “Democrats are indoctrinating our children to be gay or transgender” and “Democrats are brainwashed”.

Of course, I’ve done my own fair share of name calling, however I limit my characterization to small groups within the Republican Party who have shown themselves deserving of the labels I’ve attached to them. I often refer to staunch Trump supporters as “cult members” and white Christian nationalists as the “American Taliban”. Staunch Trump supporters demonstrate the same mindset psychologists find in cult members and white Christian nationalists possess the same desire as the Taliban to install a theocracy, imposing their religious beliefs on everyone and robbing certain members of the society of their rights. In my view, these factions within the Republican Party represent an existential threat to minorities and are clearly in opposition to the “no establishment of religion” clause in the Constitution itself.

Despite all evidence, there are political candidates for president, like Vivek Ramaswamy, who defend the indefensible as though it is more important to give a pass to a political candidate than hold him accountable for breaking the law trying to overturn our election. As often happens these days, Republican accusations turn out to be confessions. For example, the whole “stop the steal” mantra is just one case in point. The only one conspiring to steal the election was Trump and the six unindicted (and unnamed for now) co-conspirators according to the indictment.

The deeper point is that Trump supporters really don’t care that he was trying to steal the election because they believe that Trump is trying to “Make America Great” again. And some continue to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the election was stolen. In their words, they believe that Trump will usher in a White Christian state that will put an end to Black Lives Matter, abortion, LGBTQ rights, and restore some mythical Christian nation run by Trump. It is terrifying to listen to fellow Americans openly and without shame espouse these beliefs. Many are willing to fight another civil war to make this happen and to put Trump back into office. The language of revenge, oppression and violence is scary.

It’s ironic that while they complain that Biden has weaponized the DOJ without actual evidence of interference, Trump openly promises to do just that. If elected, he has promised to use the Justice Department to seek revenge on his political enemies. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that this has become an anti-democratic cult and white supremacist movement that must be stopped at all costs. These are truly dangerous times. It is hard to understand how the polls can be frighteningly close when it comes to a Trump versus Biden election. Some think the economy is pushing people away from Biden and towards Republicans for economic relief. But when have the Republicans ever presided over a great economy?

But this is where we are. We are living in an era when too many Americans can’t find reliable news sources. While I was at the nail salon on the day of the indictment, the owner had Fox News on. After listening for about 15 minutes, a few of us customers railed at the distorted news coverage and I finally asked the owner to turn the channel, explaining to her that Fox wasn’t a reliable source of news. I told her that I would never trust a news broadcast that admitted to lying to its viewers by promoting false stolen election claims and had to pay a large settlement for their lies. Many other Americans stop listening to the news altogether. All it took was for Trump and a few wealthy individuals and corporations to successfully corrupt the news.

Additionally, our current situation can be attributed to Americans failure to understand basic U.S. civics, our Constitution, and history itself. Trump says he loves the uneducated. And that’s because he knows just how easy it is to sow hatred and a fear of others into the hearts and minds of otherwise decent human beings. We are watching how deep rooted that hatred and fear have become and how easily these folks will threaten violence to literally throw away our democratic republic.

The 2024 election will be the most important election of our lifetime. If Trump or even DeSantis wins the office, our country will literally lose the rule of law as well as free and fair elections.

Am I the only person in the country who is tired of people evoking Hunter Biden’s legal problems in defense of the criminal indictments of former president Donald Trump? When I was a child, that “what about?” the wrongdoings of someone else never got me off the hook for my own poor behavior. But today, conservatives repeatedly evoke “what- about” deflections and offer false equivalencies as though they were legitimate reasons to ignore the abhorrent illegal actions of people in their party, especially Trump. The “both sides” argument is a ridiculous fallacy that needs to be rejected because one side is clearly breaking the laws and acting in far more nefarious ways than the other.

I ‘m clear about my own sense of justice. First, and foremost, no one should be above the law if we are to be governed by laws. So, if Hunter Biden broke the law, then he should be prosecuted for his wrongdoing and sentenced accordingly if found guilty. However, Hunter Biden is NOT the president. He is a private citizen and a grown man who made his own life decisions. His prosecution has nothing to do with President Biden and I’m glad President Biden has steered clear of the legal proceedings regarding his son’s offenses. However, the Republicans keep trying to connect father and son to unsubstantiated criminal activities. For the gullible MAGA Republicans who don’t require any evidence, they’ve coined the phrase “Biden crime family” to make it easy evoke their what-about-ism at every turn.

Their House investigation is an actual “witch hunt” led by Representative James Comer and Representative Jim Jordan. Sadly, our taxpayer dollars are funding their charade. It’s comical that they refer to the legitimate indictments of former President Donald Trump as a “witch hunt” when tangible evidence of multiple crimes actually exists. This is the kind of “what-about-ism” and false equivalency that turns the legitimate demand for fairness into a joke.

In a country governed by laws, no person should be allowed to run for the presidency in order to avoid prosecution. That would be the worst thing for the preservation of the rule of law. If former President Trump broke the law, he should also be charged and prosecuted for his wrongdoing. I’m appalled that many Republicans, despite all the evidence of wrongdoing, continue to try to shield Trump from accountability by appealing to our sense of fairness by misusing the “what-about” argument and elevating a false equivalency. They point to the Department of Justice and FBI, accusing them of wrongly ignoring their ridiculous pleas for “fairness”.

The reality is that in this country, people who are white, wealthy, and well-connected are too often given a pass by the criminal justice system. Trump has experienced this pass for his entire adult life, and he fully expected that privilege to continue. The wealthy have the means to hire expensive attorneys to delay trials, fight allocations, file meaningless motions, and negotiate light punishments that often evade any prison time. We’re talking about a man who has repeatedly committed business fraud, evaded taxes, dodged the draft, raped women, and stole highly classified government documents. And we should all remember how Trump as president of the United States, pardoned his loyal criminal partners like Michael Flinn (and others) when their law-breaking was exposed and prosecuted.

Republicans continuously claim that we have a two-tiered criminal justice system, and they are correct. However, the tiers aren’t manifested in how Trump and Hunter Biden are investigated or treated. Nor is it manifested in how the classified documents cases were handled by Trump versus President Biden or Mike Pence. Republicans simply choose to ignore the circumstances, actions, and the numerous broken laws Trump is accused of perpetrating in favor of false equivalency and a ludicrous “what-about-ism”. Yes, both Biden and Pence had classified documents, but they quickly turned them over when they were discovered and voluntarily allowed law enforcement to search their primacies for them without the need for repeated begging and a court ordered subpoena. They didn’t lie, remove, hide, and indiscriminately share classified documents. They had no scheme to use the documents as leverage or to profit from them. There is no equivalency and the “what-about” deflection, is just that, a deflection.

The two-tiered justice system is manifested in the difference in how the poor, the immigrant, and people of color are policed, prosecuted, and sentenced as compared to others in society. We all know the unfairness is happening and it is time for us to demand the equal justice under the law that is provided in our Constitution. I am not saying that poor people, immigrants, or people of color shouldn’t face consequences for their wrongdoing; I am saying that white people. politicians, and the wealthy should face the same consequences when they break the law. This is the kind of “what-about-is” that is justified. It doesn’t allow any wrongdoers off the hook. When I was a child, I agreed that I should be punished for my wrongdoing, but I thought it only fair that others be punished as well.

The time is now for citizens of this country to demand that our criminal justice system lives up to the provisions provided under our Constitution. It is up to us to support civil rights organizations who are fighting for criminal justice reform and to follow their lead to collectively address the unfair plea-bargain agreements, the excessive sentencing, the over-policing/under-policing of certain neighborhoods, and the exploitative fines in poor neighborhoods.

In addition, it is imperative that citizens support the Department of Justice as they seek to hold Donald Trump accountable. It’s always a good idea to express that support in an email to the Department of Justice and to the Attorney General specifically. I can guarantee you that Republicans and MAGA folks are doing their best to intimidate the Department of Justice using “what-about-ism”, false equivalencies, conspiracies, and now threats of violence to make them release Donald Trump from the prosecution he clearly deserves.

This is the final post in my series addressing recent Supreme Court decisions. Just over a year ago, the Court overturned Roe sending abortion rights issues back to the states and thereby causing many women in red states to lose their right to access abortion care. This decision will affect the lives of women, men, children, and society.

Before we get into how we can respond to this ruling, I want to correct some misinformation that “pro-life” advocates have been spreading for years. I watched a few Congressional hearings on the topic that featured experienced OBGYNs. These experts were eager to address the lies circulating about abortion. OBGYNs emphatically asserted that late term abortions are rare, tragic, and medically necessary to save the life of the mother. No woman comes in at 38 weeks and requests an abortion because she has changed her mind! OBGYNs corrected the false narrative during these hearings that abortions are being performed on a fetus after birth. OBGYNs had to explain that by definition it isn’t possible to abort someone who is born and that killing a newborn is murder, not abortion and that we have laws that strictly prohibit murder. It was sad to watch medical professionals have to debunk the most outrageous claims about women’s healthcare. It was evident that many of the lawmakers were ignorant about the workings of the female body and completely unaware of the medical risks associated with pregnancy.

Comprehensive healthcare for women is complicated and necessary. Pregnancy is a serious undertaking. This is why I strongly believe in the use of birth control to prevent unplanned pregnancies whenever possible. In fact, in 1978, I was fitted for a diaphragm shortly before I got married and was confident that it would keep me from getting pregnant. Used with spermicide, it was said to be 95% effective. And it probably would have been effective if had I used it consistently before my first child. It worked perfectly between my second and third child. Here’s the story.

In my youth, my period was like clockwork, so I incorrectly assumed I could get away with not using the diaphragm for at least two weeks prior to my period. My Catholic friends used the rhythm method and so I thought there was something to it. I was wrong. A stubborn female sperm remained alive long enough to fertilize the egg I eventually released. After six visits to the doctor for nausea and my insistence that I couldn’t possibly be pregnant, the doctor finally suggested that I just take a pregnancy test anyway. I was shocked, but also happy about the news that I was pregnant. I was healthy, newly married, my husband had a great job, and we could certainly make this adjustment to our lives a little sooner than expected. I had an easy pregnancy, a long but natural delivery, and a very quick recovery. Both the baby and I were healthy the entire time. I was lucky.

Not all women are as fortunate as I was to A) have the ability to emotionally adjust to an unplanned pregnancy; B) to have a support system in place to care for me and a baby; C) to carry a healthy fetus to term without medical complications; and D) to have the financial resources required for prenatal, delivery, and post-natal care. If just one of these factors is missing, an abortion may be is a reasonable option for a woman.

Some people believe that abortion is murder at different points in a pregnancy. There are those who believe that conception is that point. Others believe it is somewhere between 8 and 20 weeks. Others believe it is at the point of viability, around 24 weeks. And still others believe it is at birth. Personally, I believe it is at the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb after being born. As I’ve explained in previous posts, I believe the human soul enters the body with the first breath as when God breathed the breath of life into Adam and he then became a living soul.

I think of the womb as a place of formation of the human body. It’s the formation of the house that a person may eventually live in. Many of these “houses” do not form correctly and are spontaneously aborted. Other times, a woman is unable to safely carry fetus to viability. There can be many medical reasons for this problem. We call these miscarriages, but they are technically aborted pregnancies. At times, doctors detect major medical problems in the forming fetus and recommend an abortion. The problem is that anti-abortion laws rarely consider the many things that can and do go wrong in a pregnancy that can endanger the life of the pregnant woman or will cause the unnecessary trauma of a doomed birth. I think that forcing a woman to give birth to a fetus without a skull and a fully formed brain because it has a heartbeat is cruel.

The consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to return abortion rights to the states is that poor women in red states who lack the ability to travel and are often without medical insurance will be giving birth. Prenatal care, delivery, and post-natal care are not inexpensive. And should there be any medical complications, the situation will be deadly. We can already foresee that black female mortality rates will only get worse in the post-Roe era in red states, increasing the rates of suicide, botched abortions, and maternal mortality. The number of black children born into poverty will rise along with the number of children born addicted to drugs or with major medical problems. It is evident that red states who have rejected Medicaid extension will face the greatest problems stemming from a rise in unplanned births. As OBGYNs flee red states in fear and frustration, even wealthy women with medical insurance will experience greater maternal hardships.

In the short term, the answer is expanded use of birth control, early pregnancy tests, and medication abortion. Women groups are already setting up funds to help poor women travel to get the care they need. I’m glad the FDA approved the sale of over-the-counter birth control pills, eliminating the need for a doctor’s visit and a prescription. This will benefit teenage girls and poor women, enabling them to prevent most unplanned pregnancies. We must all teach and encourage the young women among us to use birth control now more than ever. Pushing abstinence onto young people only increases unplanned pregnancies because abstinence ideals lead to unpreparedness when temptation strikes and eventually wins.

In the long term, we absolutely must join forces to vote for lawmakers at the state and federal levels who are sensitive to the healthcare needs of women, who listen to medical doctors, and who recognize that religious beliefs about when life begins and what constitutes actual murder of the unborn should remain an individual matter of conscience and not public policy. Simply put, if a woman believes abortion is murder, she shouldn’t have one.

In part one I addressed the Supreme Court decision that ended Affirmative Action. In part two I addressed their decision against student loan debt forgiveness. This week I address their unprecedented and dangerous decision to allow blatant discrimination against the LGBTQ community in public commerce on the basis of protecting free speech based on religious beliefs.

Putting aside my doubts as to whether actual standing existed in the case where this Supreme Court upheld a Colorado woman’s right to deny her (hypothetical) website creation services to same-sex couples should she decide to open a business based on her freedom of speech and her religious beliefs, I believe the ruling was wrong in that it promotes discrimination in the public sphere. It wasn’t too long ago that signs were posted in windows denying service to “colored” people. It probably goes without saying that I wouldn’t want to patronize a business that didn’t want to serve me anyway. Their service would not only suck but could even be harmful to me. I wouldn’t trust the cake of a baker who hated me or “my kind” nor would I hire someone who objected to my views to create a website on my behalf. In fact, no one asked for a same-sex wedding cake (last year’s case) and no one asked for a same-sex website to be built. Both plaintiffs before the Court only feared that such a request might be in their future. The truth is that there are plenty of other businesses who welcome the patronage of same-sex couples, and I’m pretty certain many of us would prefer to patronage a business that welcomes our business.

Legalizing discrimination against members of any particular group based on bigotry cloaked in speech based on religious belief degrades that religion and harms society by condoning the differential treatment of certain people. Too many so called “Christians” misread Jesus’ mandate to “love thy neighbor as thyself” to be “hate thy neighbors who are different from you”. And the Supreme Court wrongly agreed that discrimination based on unsupported religious beliefs and freedom of speech is allowed. First, it would have been nice if they had required that designer to point to a specific Christian teaching that prevented her from serving same-sex couples. I have never seen a teaching in the New Testament that calls upon Christians to deny services to gay or any other group of people. If anything, Jesus made it a point to meet with and serve with the societal outcasts of his day. And second, I wonder if the Court considered that the content and design on the website would rely solely on the input provided by the same-sex couple. So, is it really the website designer’s speech? I guess the objection is that her business would be forced to parrot content she opposes in exchange for payment. But couldn’t she post a disclaimer that the views expressed on this website are solely that of the client? It appears to me that the conservative judges bent over backwards to condone discrimination in public commerce.

So, given the decision of this current Supreme Court, how should decent people who want to reside in an inclusive community respond to a business owner who decides to discriminate against particular members of our families, friend groups, community, and human race? My response is to boycott that business. Should signs go up on websites or in store fronts to advertise their discrimination, I will take my business elsewhere and certainly let them know why. I will inform my circle of friends and family about the discrimination and ask them to do business elsewhere as well. And most importantly, I will follow the lead of my LGBTQ family and friends when they inform me of businesses who discriminate against them.

White “Christian” nationalists have taken over the Republican Party and have infiltrated too many churches with a brand of Christianity that is in direct opposition to the actual teachings of Christ. They have successfully infiltrated our Supreme Court and are now represented on school boards, state legislatures, governorships, and in Congress. If we are not careful, one might again become the next president.

The time is now to push back on their agenda to “make America great again” which is code for turning back the clock to when white heterosexual men held all the power, extended human rights only to themselves, hoarded all the opportunities to succeed, legalized discrimination, and exploited the labor of women and people of color to further enrich themselves. If nothing is done, I foresee a return to those days.

What was true in Hitler’s Germany remains true today. Apathy, distraction, and threats of violence are tools of the fascist. And so, the reality is that silence remains a form of consent. Patronizing discriminating businesses enables more discrimination. And neglecting to vote is further empowers the oppressor. At this moment in time, we have the collective power to protect our country and the civil liberties we have gained for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.

The question is whether or not we have the courage and the will to resist. I will not go along to get along. As a patriot, I am willing to die on this hill to protect and defend this country and to preserve the hard-won freedoms of the people I love.

The Supreme Court decided against allowing President Biden’s student debt forgiveness program to proceed. While the program is not a perfect strategy to end the student loan debt crisis, the program would have provided some relief to students, many of whom are poor and disproportionately African American females. The program did nothing to address the predatory profit-seeking student loan program. Student loans today are far different from the student loans I secured when I was going to college.

I’m among the baby boomers who fully paid off my student loan debt. The terms of my undergraduate student loan debt mandated that it would be paid off in ten years and it was. It was straight principal and interest, and the interest rate was low compared to the market rate. It was exactly like a car loan. My consolidated student loan at the graduate level for both my master’s and doctorate were also straight principal and interest that started at 4.5% and was reduced to 3.25% after 24 consecutive payments. It much took longer than ten years to pay off that $70,000, but I did it without missing a payment and by paying more than the minimum payment. Well into my repayment, I learned that working for a non-profit for at least 10 years qualified some borrowers for loan debt forgiveness and so I applied, only to learn that my loans weren’t the type of government loans eligible for the forgiveness program. To this day, I don’t understand it, and no one could quite explain it, but I shrugged my shoulders and continued to pay my off my loans until they were fully paid. I’m thankful for the extremely low interest rate, consistent employment, a decent salary, and a modest lifestyle that allowed me to pay off my student loan debt.

My eldest daughter attended an expensive private university and incurred a substantial amount of student debt. It was her dream school that offered her a great education, social connections, and leadership skills. That education served her well. Thankfully, she secured a six-figure income and quickly paid off her loan. My son secured a full-ride athletic scholarship and graduated in four years completely debt free. This made it possible for him to volunteer for the Peace Corps and return to secure a high paying career. But things were different for my middle daughter. She worked to pay her tuition and fees at a state university, and I paid out of pocket for her room and board. However, due to her illness, at one point she took out a $6000 student loan. I was shocked at the 8% interest rate but was certain she could manage a mere $6000 once she returned to work, thinking it was like a car loan. However, that wasn’t the case at all.

If you’ve read my blog, you know that my middle daughter struggles with bipolar disorder and so she seldom has a straight line between her objective and her goal line. She graduated in five years despite her mental health challenges that included occasional hospitalizations. Eventually, her mental health challenges interfered with her jobs post college. Regrettably, I wasn’t paying attention to her student loan. I later learned that her loan behaved more like a credit card than my straightforward principal and interest payment student loan. Despite her consistent minimum payments, the balance grew. When she took a necessary deferral due to unemployment because of her illness, the interest continued to accrue. Eventually circumstances forced me to pay attention to her financial situation and that was when I discovered that the $6000 student loan had ballooned to a $26,000 debt. I was shocked.!

I was also furious, not at her, but at the new student lending laws that allow banks and the government itself to saddle students with predatory loans to fund their education. The student loans today are like credit cards where the minimum payment doesn’t cover the full principal and interest to pay down the loan. My daughter had been making monthly payments, only for the loan to grow bigger and bigger every month. And because of her situation, she was unable to pay more than that. These loans are worse than credit card debt because our government doesn’t allow for bankruptcy relief of student loan debt.

I decided to take over her loan and pay it off. What I discovered is that even when I began to make payments considerably higher than the required minimum, the principal wasn’t moving much but next statement due date would move further out. The monthly interest that was accruing remained high despite the extra payments. What I learned from a phone call to the company was that I had to specifically specify in writing that any amount over the minimum payment must be applied to the principal. Talk about predatory lending! I was glad to finally get that debt paid.

But that experience made me realize that the problem with the student loan crisis for many students today is not that they don’t want to pay their student loans, but that they are locked into a system that entraps them into a never-ending cycle of credit card-like debt under the guise of a student loan. While 8% is less than a credit card interest rate, with the increasingly higher loan principals needed to fund higher education these days, the payments can be debilitating for a person just out of college. So, because of the nature of the student loans today, I am in favor of Biden’s one-time forgiveness of $10,000 or $20,000 in loan debt to make up for the how students are being ripped off. It’s regrettable that the Supreme Court decided against it. As previously mentioned, the largest proportion of debtors are black women and students from poor families. This is yet another blow to people in the most vulnerable positions among us.

But more important than forgiving some student debt, I believe our government should return to low simple interest and principal repayment plans and stop exploiting students with debt that behaves like a credit card. As a country, it is in our best collective interest to encourage education and not to exploit our youth by saddling them with predatory loans. Deferrals for medical reasons or unemployment should halt the interest accrual. In addition, government Pell grants for low-income students should be much higher. State and federal government scholarships for low- and middle-income high achieving students should be substantial enough to fund public college or trade schools. No undergraduate student should graduate from college owing more than it costs to purchase a car or to make a down payment on a house. In the end, this hurts our economy while curtailing the social and financial progress of young people.

Getting an education beyond high school is necessary for most people to achieve financial success, whether that be a trade or college. It remains a wise investment that will pay off in higher wages and a greater earning potential over a lifetime. However, I also believe that under the current government policies that allows for predatory student loans, becoming saddled with unnecessary student loan debt is to be avoided. There are steps that can be taken to avoid student loan debt.

First, is to be an exemplary intellect or an exemplary athlete who earns a full scholarship through the school, community scholarships, and corporate and private scholarships. I once had a very smart student from Chicago who applied for every scholarship she could find, even those that she didn’t think applied to her. She had more money to fund her entire four years at our expensive private college than she needed. To motivate my children, I remember telling them that their grades and extra-curricular activities equated to dollars when they applied to college. While each of them received various scholarships, only one received a full ride.

Second is about choosing the right school. The most economical choice absent a full scholarship or trust fund is a local community college. A student can fund two years of community college for university transfer or education for a trade on a part-time job. In some places, students can take community college courses while still in high school for free. I’ve had several students enter my university as juniors right after high school graduation. A few entered as sophomores because of AP courses for which they earned college credit. In addition, community scholarships and Pell grants are available to community college applicants. Community colleges also offer remedial courses that many students from low performing K-12 schools need to prepare them for college coursework. This strategy would help eliminate the exceptionally high university dropout rate among under-prepared students. Tragically, many of the dropouts leave the university saddled with student debt and no degree to show for it.

For those seeking a four-year degree, doing well in those first few years of community college could mean a much lower student load burden (if any) at a more prestigious four-year college as a transfer student. Students and parents forget that the degree on the diploma will show the school from which the student graduated, not their path to get there.

Choosing the right four-year college is important too. State colleges tend to be less expensive and concentrate on supplying an educated workforce for the state. I believe that people going into careers like k-12 teaching, business, social work, and public service work are best served by the less expensive state colleges. People interested in academic research, law, medicine, and teaching at the University level are best served by a slightly more expensive state research institution. However, there are private research one institutions as well that are even more expensive. And those interested in high level leadership roles as professionals generally covet competitive spots at the most expensive and highly prestigious private universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Lesser-known private universities do well at pre-professional preparation, offering small classes and personalized attention. They also have a leadership component attached to their mission and are feeders into the more prestigious public and private graduate schools. Students will pay a premium to attend these four-year private colleges and universities.

And finally, funding college should be considered a family affair with the goal of avoiding student debt. Of course, wealthy parents often pay for their children’s education outright, selecting the most prestigious private colleges and universities. Their children are able to graduate debt free while having obtained an education, social connections, and leadership skills. For the majority of Americans, it will take parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles as well as the students themselves joining together to pay for college if they want to graduate debt free.

Here’s some advice. Absent generational wealth, people should begin saving for college as well as retirement as soon as that first job. High school students who hold part-time jobs should save for college or trade school, not for cars, fancy vacations, or clothes. These days, investment companies make it easy to set up 529 college saving plans. Make saving automatic to avoid the temptation to spend the money and then watch it grow. With high interest rates today, high yield savings accounts are paying up to 5%, making it a good time to save. You can comparison shop at NerdWallet.com or Bankrate.com to find a high yield savings account.

I’m hopeful that President Biden will find a way to get around the Supreme Court decision and forgive some of the student loan burden on these unwitting students. But I’m even more hopeful that each reader will join me in petitioning President Biden and lawmakers via email or letter to encourage an end to the predatory lending practices that created the debt crisis in the first place.

June has become a tough month in the life of our nation since it is the month when our Supreme Court releases their decisions on the constitutional questions before the court. Their decisions rarely satisfy everyone, and their decisions don’t always stand the test of time either. Last year, the Supreme Court ended the right of women to reproductive health care or abortion. This week, the Supreme Court furthered showed that it cares little about the real-life challenges facing poor people of color and members of the LGBTQ community in favor of a Republican ideology that privileges religious freedom, the wealthy, and a mythical bootstrap individualism.

Although it’s disheartening to have judges make decisions that ignore the harm their decisions inflict upon people who already suffer tremendous harm by ongoing racism, discrimination, and homophobia, I am a person who always looks to make lemonade when provided with lemons. There is lemonade to be made from these nasty decisions regarding Affirmative Action, the student loan forgiveness program, the denial of service to LGBTQ customers by expressive businesses and abortion. In my next four posts, I will address each of these decisions and possible steps to mitigate the damage. I’ll start with Affirmative Action.

It is undeniable that Affirmative Action opened doors that were previously closed to women and people of color despite their qualifications. I personally benefited from Affirmative Action. There were others like me who were lucky enough to be “qualified” to walk through those previously closed doors and we have become successful enough to ensure that our children are themselves “qualified” to enter college or the workforce without the need for special preferences. Except for a few white supremacists, society itself has become more accepting of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This was the reality for my three college educated children and it was also the reality of the Obama daughters and numerous others. However, the vast majority of black and brown Americans are still not qualified to enter those doors in the same way that a few blacks and most white women and Asians were when Affirmative Action was first introduced.

The good news is that even with the removal of Affirmative Action, colleges and businesses are still holding those doors are open because they recognize the benefit of diversity. I find it encouraging that they are actively seeking alternative ways to continue to recruit women and people of color without specifically addressing race. Many will use an impoverished background as a good proxy for race and as sad as it sounds, that will work because this nation has successfully used legalized discrimination, unethical government policies, and violence to keep black and brown people in poverty.

In addition, this ruling has highlighted the unfairness of longstanding Affirmative Action on behalf of the children of the wealthy, famous, and alums, especially at elite colleges. That should become a target of litigation under the same equal protection clause. I wish those Asian students had attacked that unfair practice instead of targeting the black and brown students. But they didn’t because the ugly truth is that they want to attend Ivy League schools because the proximity to wealth and power those wealthy and well-connected students represent, increases their likelihood of socioeconomic success. The wealthy donate buildings and scholarship money, lend name recognition to the school, and boost the prestige of the school. That’s the reality that perpetuates this unfairness and makes black and brown students’ defenseless scapegoats.

I find it deplorable that many poor and middle-class students are often told that it doesn’t matter which college they attend when the reality is that the most elite colleges in the country feed the highest ranks of our government, law firms, and corporations. I believe the objective of this Supreme Court decision was to make it more difficult for black and brown citizens to gain future access to wealth and power at the highest levels. I predict that white supremacists will increase their attacks on Jewish and Asian students as they overwhelm Harvard, Yale, and Princeton like they have the UC system in California.

The fight will be over the spot at those most elite schools because there are more than enough colleges and universities to accommodate everyone. In fact, most colleges are competing to attract students. In their quest to attract a diverse class of students, they already began seeking alternative routes to maintain access to their campuses. In recent years many colleges have eliminated those worthless college entrance exam requirements that favored students from highly resourced and academically rigorous high schools. Poor students (mostly black and brown), locked into underfunded and academically inferior schools were at a disadvantage. The SAT and ACT are more highly predictive of a student’s socioeconomic status than of actual ability and so they are rightly being disregarded. Grades and actual high school course offerings are also being more closely scrutinized since some students have access to multiple advanced placement courses while others do not. Colleges are looking for high grades and for students who took advantage of the rigor they were offered as an indication of academic curiosity that indicates greater potential for success. Activities and experiences beyond the classroom as well as high school teacher recommendations are becoming more important than ever. Also important is the student essay and interview. The best and brightest are not necessarily those with the highest SAT score and GPA. It will be interesting to see how the Ivy League moves forward in the next few years as students compete for access. My hope is that black and brown students continue to seek access as well.

My advice to parents and grandparents and extended family raising children today is to invest in their children’s education from day one. This not only means saving money for higher education (college or trade school), but it means ensuring each child is attending a fully resourced K-12 school. The current reality is that our states are failing our inner-city schools. So, for many this will mean moving into a neighborhood that has good public schools. For others, it means investing in a good private school. A fortunate few may win the lottery to send their kids to a high performing charter school. Each family must do what is necessary to accomplish it because a solid K-12 education will determine each child’s socioeconomic trajectory. But the responsibility doesn’t end with saving money and enrollment in the right school.

Parents or a designated family member must monitor homework and academic progress and be ready to advocate for each child’s placement in the most rigorous academic level he or she can handle. Of course, access to tutors, books, and technology is a must. Let’s acknowledge that not every child is going to be college material. But every child must learn the basics of reading, math, science, history, and civics to succeed in life. Technical or trade school is a must if college isn’t in your child’s future. Beyond the classroom, each child should be involved in extracurricular activities whether that is sports, art, music, scouting, science, technology, gardening, activism, drama, or dance. The preschool and elementary years should be spent exploring options and middle school through high school should be spent on a passion that fuels active participation and proficiency. Colleges and employers will be looking for well-rounded, highly proficient, and emotionally grounded candidates.

When I grew up, education was a family affair with my grandparents along with aunts and uncles pitching in to help my parents educate us. Everyone asked about my grades. My family helped me fund educational opportunities for my children. And now I’ve made it a point to help my children raise highly qualified children. It’s within our ability as a united family to prepare all the children in our family well enough that there will be no need for Affirmative Action and the racial preferences it once provided.