Fully Present Post 50

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.

In part two, I suggested three things African Americans can do to help repair ourselves. They included active civic engagement, financial literacy to build generational wealth, and education in service to a fulfilling career. The remaining four suggestions are presented here.

We all know that white Americans and many immigrants often boast about how their family came to the United States with nothing but were able to pull themselves up by their “bootstraps” to improve the lives of subsequent generations through hard work. This is truly “the land of opportunity”, they will say with pride. Having that life experience and mindset, many are quick to point to African Americans and wonder what is wrong with those people? Why do they remain at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder? They’ll say slavery ended a long time ago, so their lack of success must be caused by their cultural deficiencies or perhaps their inferior DNA. They ask themselves why these people wallow in the past and keep claiming victimhood?

Either they are unaware, or they conveniently sidestep the years of Jim Crowe, the unfettered terror of violence, real estate redlining, racism, prejudice, detrimental government policies, and desperate treatment in employment, media coverage, housing, healthcare, education, banking, and the criminal justice system. They ignore the reality that whole communities and powerful individuals, often in backroom decision-making where no one is looking, curtailed our progress and ruined our collective reputation. Even though the law demands fairness and equal treatment, time after time, fairness and equal treatment have been elusive when it comes to African Americans. However, many Americans are mostly unaware of the mistreatment of their fellow Americans. I’ve had many white students express shock and dismay when they are presented with the economic and social disparities linked to discrimination, racism, and governmental policies. Many of these unsuspecting Americans will point to the small handful of black people who overcame both the visible and invisible obstacles to become successful as proof that the system is in fact equal, fair and just.

That was the great mind trip I faced as a teenager. There was the stated promise of fairness and equal treatment, but the reality I repeatedly encountered was so different. What I came to realize at an early age when I discovered the difference in school resources offered to white children and denied to children of color, was that I had to persist anyway. I learned that I had to find a window when a door was closed. I had to run while others could walk. I had to develop the courage, a strategy, and the tact to defend my integrity, my intelligence, my abilities, and my work. I recall the time when a white female PhD student at USC encouraged me to confront a white male English professor to insist that my paper deserved an “A” and not the “B” he gave it. After reading my paper, she was adamant that I confront him, and she told me how to approach the situation. Without any protest, the professor gave me the “A”. Until then I had been accustomed to being short-changed and I had accepted that I needed to be undeniably superior to get what others were given.

Experience taught me that I couldn’t be as good, I had to be better and that even then, I could be viewed as a threat to insecure people. For many years, I bore emotional blows with a smile. I saw betrayal up close and personal. However, I chose my fights carefully and won a few, but lost even more. It seemed like there were potential fights everywhere. I could have protested many times but didn’t like the time when I was the first in line for a sample at Costco, but the older white lady server literally moved my hand away to first serve the white woman behind me. I let it slide because I was happy to allow everyone around me to observe this woman’s blatant racist behavior. However, I should have, but didn’t protest in 1978 when an apartment manager informed us newlyweds when we arrived for our appointment to see an available apartment that it was already rented. We called again and found out that it wasn’t. We were young and decided that we could find another apartment. I’ve always felt guilty and ashamed by our short-sighted behavior that day. If that happened today, I would report it. And since that incident, I have called out discriminatory practices whenever I encounter them.

So, my fourth piece of advice for African Americans is to protect our mental health by picking our fights carefully. Walking away from a fight is emotionally draining, but actual fights are even more emotionally draining. However, some fights are definitely worth having. I eventually decided to fight whenever I saw discrimination and whenever a situation threatened my children’s health and education or to defend my wallet and my reputation. I have and I’m in favor of sitting down with a mental health professional to unpack the trauma that practically every African American endures. Some of it is generational and some is connected to specific events, and even more is from the accumulation of daily indignities we suffer at the hands of the media, unwitting associates, and people we barely know. We internalize the message that we aren’t valued when the media highlights the one missing blonde girl, but completely ignores the many black girls who go missing, are trafficked and murdered. It is traumatizing to see young black men murdered by other young black men or the police. It is traumatizing to have government leaders belittle black history and villainize Black Lives Matter. We like to think we are strong, but even the most resilient among us, can benefit from counseling. I know I have benefited greatly from it.

For many years, I’ve said that black people in this country need to hire a public relations firm to enhance our collective image. I wish we would pool our resources and do it! Too many people continue to harbor a largely negative image of black people. We are viewed as highly emotional, prone to violence, overly loud, wildly colorful, overly sexual, uneducated, poor and lazy, but athletic people who can sing and dance. We’re good for a laugh and a roll in the hay but seen as a threat when we want to be taken seriously. It would be great if one of our few multi-millionaires hired that public relations firm to remind folks that we are simply human beings with as varied a skill set and mindset as any other individual human beings. But unless that happens, each of us is a public relations statement for the entire race.

One might think that black women hired such a firm. Since Oprah and a few others, we have come to be viewed as these invincible creatures who don’t feel pain, can handle all manner of physical and emotional abuse, are loud and intimidating, full of wisdom, and possess some kind of “black girl magic”. However, this false narrative hides some disturbing facts we must address. For starters, although we are the most highly educated group, we are still paid only 64 cents for every one dollar earned by white males. In addition, we have the highest abortion rates among any ethnic group and the highest maternal mortality rates, dying from pregnancy complications nearly three times more often than white women. The loss of Roe will hit black women the hardest, especially since 45 percent of black women under the age of 55 live in red states with limited or no access to abortion. These same women continue to have limited access to birth control and pre-natal healthcare. A disaster is at our doorstep, so we need to push to change this situation immediately or many of our sisters will die and many more black babies will be born into dire circumstances. Each of us must act as a public relations firm within our circle of influence to highlight our challenges and to suggest solutions so that we can work to change things.

My sixth piece of advice is to move away from living in predominately black neighborhoods to residing in integrated neighborhoods. Separate has never been equal! We need a second migration that takes us to communities that offer healthier water and air, better schools, access to healthcare, better job and business opportunities, improved shopping at better prices, and safer communities. When poor black people cluster together, it’s easier for the government to withhold resources and further marginalize people. But if we start spreading out across the nation instead of clustering in small pockets, we have a much better chance of thriving. It is only in communities of color that armed guards are found in the stores. It is only in communities of color that there are liquor stores instead of grocery stores and banks on every corner. It is only in communities of color that you have to wait multiple hours to vote. It is only in communities of color that there are bars on the windows. It is only in communities of color that schools are under-resourced.

While there are a few challenges to living as a minority in other parts of town, those challenges are far fewer than living in an impoverished, over-policed, and under-resourced community. I know this from experience. The benefits far outweigh the costs. If I had to choose where to raise my family all over again, I’d convince my brother and his family to move with us so that their lives could have been easier. The few black families in our neighborhood quickly found each other and we supported each other throughout the years. The best thing about the choice was the opportunity to build equity in our house while the kids obtained a solid K-12 education. The second-best thing was the sustained opportunity to expose people to an actual black family so they could see beyond the media’s negative portrayal of African Americans.

I admit to having to gently challenge the occasional, “I don’t consider you black” or “You’re so articulate?” or “Your kids are so well behaved.” I admit to having to be an advocate for my kids on several occasions when white teachers wanted to automatically track them into lower levels. However, I didn’t need a gifted certification to get the job done like my mother needed for me. That’s progress. And we enjoyed the security of a neighborhood free from the threat of gang violence, police brutality, and burglary. My kids ran a candy store out of our garage that was profitable. They were popular in school, and I always reminded them that being a fly in the buttermilk makes you extra visible, so use that to your advantage not your disadvantage.

My final piece of advice to African Americans is to support, even fund, other African Americans who are trying to educate themselves, start businesses, and are fighting to uplift the values of liberty, justice, and equality through their creativity, talents, protests, entrepreneurial endeavors, and political leadership.

No one is coming to rescue us or to repair the damage that has been done. But with determination, a few smart moves, and mutual support, I truly believe we can repair ourselves.

I doubt we will ever receive the reparations we deserve. So, I don’t think it is wise to for us to wait for any kind of national rescue plan. We’ve been battered, bruised, bullied, and broken by a history of slavery, discrimination, and racism. But we’re still here and it’s time for us to repair our broken parts by ourselves. I’d like to offer my humble prescriptions for repair and restoration.

As African Americans, I believe that we are living in a time of both challenge and opportunity. The forces set against the progress of anyone who is not white, male, heterosexual, and Christian (at least in name) are emboldened by politicians backed by a few wealthy donors. They have seized control of the Supreme Court, numerous state houses, some school boards, police departments, and their goal is to re-gain the presidency. And now the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Affirmative Action just as it overturned a woman’s right to an abortion. These same people who make laws and policies that negatively affect the lives of the poor, transgender youth, and people of color are the same people who now clothe themselves in color blindness and who love to quote sections of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech while constantly reminding us that they are the Party of Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves. However, their actual actions present a threatening challenge. But I am not entirely disheartened because I recognize that the progress we’ve made thus far continues to offer a window of opportunity. With some thought, effort, and a change of mindset, we can make current policies and programs work in our favor and not against us. In this post and the next, I will lay out the seven things I believe we can do individually and collectively to ensure our forward progress toward securing the American ideal in our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

The first thing we must absolutely do is understand how our government functions and then become engaged as petitioners, voters, and perhaps elected officials. Not everyone wants to run for public office, but each of must understand the beliefs and values of those who do before supporting any candidacy and voting for anyone. In today’s political climate, we must give as much attention to the election of school board members as we do to presidential candidates. Just as important as voting is the exercising of our right to petition leaders to meet our needs by contacting them directly and/or participating in peaceful protests when necessary. Exercising our right to vote and to petition our government are fundamental to securing our civil liberties, protecting our lives, and improving our justice system. No one should be in doubt that these rights are currently under attack by white Christian nationalists.

The second thing we can do is get our money situation right. In a capitalistic society that depends on the exploitation of cheap labor and gullible consumers to maximize profits, it is imperative that we cease being the cheap labor and become smart consumers. Forget the notion of “keeping up with the Jones” and instead imitate the example of the financially independent. For starters, we’ll do better if we adopt the habit of saving and investing rather than spending on things that perish quickly and add little value to our lives. It is self-destructive to spend money on products that harm us. So, let’s stop doing that. It’s a good idea to adopt the mindset that it is far better to be paid interest than to pay interest. I haven’t run a balance on a credit card for over 20 years, yet each year I collect cash rewards from each of my credit cards. I do direct deposit or maintain a minimum balance to enjoy free checking accounts. When I must buy something, I support black businesses whenever possible or shop within my city boundaries, so the sales tax dollars benefit my city. If monthly bills exceed monthly income, then either reduce living expenses or find another revenue stream. I learned long ago that small actions like bringing my lunch to work and making my own coffee provided a hefty amount of monthly savings that I could invest. There is a scripture that my mother taught us early in life that says, “A wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends everything he makes” (Proverbs 21:20).

I also like what Suze Orman says about clothes and jewelry, but I heard her advice too late. I’ve learned that dressing professionally has a positive psychological impact on both the wearer, customers, and on colleagues. So, I viewed my professional wardrobe as a necessary investment and spared no expense on dressing professionally. It really is true that people who are well dressed are treated better and taken more seriously. However, according to Suze, you really only need one high quality pair of earrings. It is better money management to invest in a few classic but high-quality clothes and shoes that will last than to follow the fashion trends. Admittedly, I failed in this area. While I did stick to the classics, I accumulated far more clothes and jewelry than I needed to the point that I was shocked when I retired and donated my professional wardrobe. I’m embarrassed to admit how much money I wasted over the years.

And finally, when it comes to money, purchasing insurance for the purpose of hedging against financial ruin due to health issues, untimely death, accidents, and natural disaster is a wise financial decision. I view insurance as an investment in financial security. The number one cause of bankruptcy in this country is high medical bills. How many times do you hear of families starting a GoFundMe page to pay for medical bills or to bury a loved one? Far too often. Medical insurance is a necessity. Car insurance is required if you drive a vehicle. Additionally, every financial advisor I’ve ever consulted advised me to purchase term life insurance because it was an affordable way to ensure the continued financial stability of surviving family members. The younger you are when you purchase it, the cheaper it is. And home insurance has twice saved us thousands of dollars from flood damage from a broken pipe and once from wind damage when an entire fence came crashing down. When I was working, I had personal liability insurance since I was advising students on issues that could impact their lives and needed protection in case I was ever sued. Let’s get our financial situation in order, starting with a good paying job, savings and investments, wise spending habits, and adequate insurance.

The third thing to do involves a commitment to hard work. If we’re going to work hard, demand a fair wage for that work. But the kind of work people do matters. Drug dealers work hard, but that job is both destructive and dangerous and will likely end with incarceration or death. I believe that humans need purposeful work to maintain a healthy self-esteem as well as to provide funds for living. No legitimate job is without dignity; however, some jobs are designed to exploit the uneducated, unskilled, and undocumented. The time has come for us to encourage each other to choose career paths that are legal, safe, fulfilling, secure, and jobs that pay us well enough to live without government assistance.

And that starts with ensuring that our children and grandchildren obtain the necessary education, whether through college or trade school. Although college is a worthwhile investment, it can be achieved without accumulating massive amounts of student debt. Two years of community college for a trade or as a prerequisite to transferring to a four-year university is affordable and selecting a state university over a private one is typically more economical unless scholarships are substantial. Student loans should be avoided whenever possible. However, if a student load exists, it should be repaid without delay as interest continues to accrue during every deferral. Some people end up owing 2-5 times more than they borrowed because of this. It is far better to work a part-time job than to take out a student loan.

As previously mentioned, Affirmative Action is likely to end. It was useful in that it opened the door for those few fortunate souls among us who were prepared to enter. And those doors remain open to everyone. I’ve been saying for a long time that we need to take this new opportunity to better prepare ourselves. I even had a non-profit called “Reachable Heights” that conducted workshops for black parents on how to prepare their children for higher education. Now, more than ever, it is our responsibility to fully prepare our children to compete for admission to the trades and colleges to which we were once denied entrance based on our skin color. Since racial exclusion is no longer the case, our community must join with parents to raise the expectation of academic excellence from our schools and our children. We should cease to rely on government policies and programs for preferential admission treatment because we allowed our primary schools to fail us. We are capable of gaining entrance based on merit if we put forth the effort. The time has come for us to make the necessary investment in our K-12 schools and for us to improve our children’s attitude toward academic achievement. I know from experience that the lack of school resources doesn’t determine academic achievement, but the high expectations and commitment on the part of parents does. Parents and the community must support and push currently failing schools and our own children to move toward academic excellence.

These first three things: civil engagement, financial literacy, and hard work coupled with the pursuit of educational excellence are my first prescriptions to begin repairing ourselves. In my next post, I’ll present the remaining four things that we can do to repair ourselves without waiting for reparations that may never come.

In my previous post I wrote about reparations to heal a nation. I explained in great detail why they are owed, to whom they are owed, and how I’d like to see them distributed. I printed out my post and sent a copy to President Biden, my House and Senate representatives, and the majority and minority leaders of both the House and Senate. I even sent a copy to Governor DeSantis. I fully understand that actual reparations as I described may be impossible, however, I feel a duty to offer solutions and to exercise my right to petition our government. Because reparations may never come, I want to address how we as African Americans can once again work to repair ourselves.

After slavery, we did our best to repair, restore and rebuild our battered lives. We were denied the forty acres and a mule, but we forged a way forward anyway. America did not invite us to join the “melting pot”, so we were forced into segregation, the lowest paying jobs and the worse sections of town. In 1916, we began moving north and west seeking jobs, leaving Jim Crow, and escaping racial violence. By the 1970s, 47% of us had fled the South. We established our own communities, our own businesses, our own schools, and our own churches and mosques. In the South, we had a little assistance from land grants to set up our own colleges and universities. We established social and political organizations to strengthen our communities and fight for our Constitutional rights. But we soon learned that much of what we built for ourselves or gained politically was subjected to a backlash from the white supremacists in the country. In fact, during the 1920s, the KKK boasted a membership of 4-5 million members across the country. The pockets of individual and community prosperity were targeted by jealous white folks and nefarious government intervention that allowed lynchings, broad discrimination, and land theft. Whole communities were targeted and destroyed.

Imagine trying your best to climb a ladder and having someone constantly pulling you down or worse, burning the ladder beneath your feet. That is what happened. And I think African Americans collectively lost some faith that the “American Dream” was even attainable. While some wallowed in despair, others chose to quietly strategize, and still others chose to fight publicly for access to that “Dream”. I recognize now that my family in general were the quiet strategy folks who kept their heads down and quietly prepared to enter every door of opportunity through education, hard work, and undeniable competence. Although they were quiet, they supported the civil rights movement and were shocked by its sudden end. I recall an extended time of confusion shortly after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

Eventually, that confusion led me to have a serious conversation with my mother when I was a teenager. I challenged her conviction that I could do or become anything I wanted. Despite the new civil right laws, even at that young age, I could sense the contradiction between her words and the forces that were clearly against black progress. Thankfully, she was able to convince me to continue to strive for excellence and progress. She quoted scriptures like, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” and “A man’s gift will make room for him and bring him before kings”. I engraved those scriptures upon my heart and used her high expectations and constant words of encouragement as fuel to strive in school and in life despite the obstacles that sometimes exposed themselves.

I think it was helpful to spend my childhood surrounded by people from a variety of different cultures. In previous posts, I shared the life-lessons I gained from my encounter with other cultures. I believe those lessons served as a buffer against the internalized oppression many black people adopted. For example, I recall accusations like “acting white” being hurled at black students who tried to excel in school. I escaped that by attending school with academically competitive Asian students during a crucial time of my development. But that whole “acting white” nonsense greeted me at the black middle school I decided to attend. However, I was able to counter it by starting a club titled, “Get it Together”. I worked hard to convince my peers that excellence itself was a worthy pursuit.

America sent black students to poorly resourced schools but short-sighted voices within our own community were able to convince too many of us that to care about school was a white thing to be rejected. In fairness to them, perhaps they remained traumatized by those burned ladders and wanted to protect us from disappointment. But the truth is that a black child had to be emotionally strong enough to withstand that kind of pressure. Even the adults in our black church weren’t too keen on pursuing too much education. I recall the pastor of our church taking my teenage brother aside and trying to convince him to pursue the ministry rather than college as this was a safe and prosperous career choice. After that conversation, my brother rejected the church altogether and went to college. My mother, in her wisdom, left the black church and began attending a predominately white church in the San Fernando Valley where pursuing a higher education was encouraged.

The negative attitude toward education, especially among the most impoverished black people is a self-inflicted wound that contributes to a lack of mentors and role models in poor black communities. My husband talks about the unemployed black men he encountered on the streets in Baltimore who freely shared their uneducated worldly advice. He says he was on a path to nowhere good when he was drafted for Vietnam. He credits his six years in the Air Force for saving him from following in their footsteps.

For most of my childhood, society only encouraged black men to pursue trade jobs, music, the ministry and eventually sports. Businessmen, academics, and professionals were viewed as “uppity negros” often subjected to ridicule by blacks and whites alike. My father was one of those “uppity negros” who was a professional limited to work solely within the black community. I think his fraternal organization was of some comfort to him but the pressures he faced were immense. Although, he never complained about his struggles, he drank heavily and eventually died from his alcoholism.

There were so many frustrated black men like my father. It didn’t help that the federal government enacted anti-family policies, sanctioned the sale of illicit drugs in the black community, nor that we had more liquor stores than grocery stores in our communities. When any group of people are put under constant stress, discrimination, mistreatment, duress and subjected to pollutants in the water and air, there is bound to be a mental health crisis within that community. Hopeless and desperate people behave in desperate ways whether that be violence or an escape through drugs and alcohol. And the police were there to arrest, and judges were there to incarcerate those who acted out. In 2010 one third of black males had felony records.

But if I could point to one bright spot, I would have to point at liberal Hollywood producers who decided to show a different side of black life. I recall watching the show, “Julia” about a loving single black nurse raising her son. Then there was the “Jeffersons” about a successful black business owner and his family. And then there was “The Cosby Show” that for the first time depicted the family life of black professionals. These shows went a long way toward changing the image of black people, not only among white people, but among black people. “The Cosby Show” and subsequent shows like the “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” represented the prospect for a culture shift.

I’ll end my post here because it is getting long. However, in my next post, I’ll continue to address the opportunity to repair our lives without reparation before dark forces close the doors and it is too late.