FIRST OF ALL HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH YALL!!!
This is my Bday Month, so I am slacking a bit on posts, but holding myself accountable here and in future posts. If your reading this, thanks for rocking with me (You are freaking African Americans, plus, Mark) and without further adu, lets jump into this rant.
Here we are again, facing another catastrophic political agenda attemptting at the destruction of the Black American community. And some of y’all thought it would be sweet…….until the Fire Lord took the SNAP benefits and rental assistance.
But this year, I told myself, I will only give my energy to two issues to press and focus my attention on:
Child and Adolescent Health (specifically trauma support as it relates to my work)
Black Maternal Health Education/Advocacy
After I made this decision, I knew it was just a matter of waiting for Agent Orange, who clearly lacks the compassion begged from him by a priest mere moments before his induction into office for impoverished children and mothers, despite delivering platitudes about financial priorities and the necessity for more births in America.
As of January 28th, 2025, all federal grants, SNAP food program, Healthy Start, school breakfast and lunch programs, and rental assistance have been paused from further funding until further notice. This news rocked the entire world and of course, Philadelphia.
NOTE: As of January 29th, 2025, a judge has halted the executive orders due to their unconstitutional nature, effectively stalling the current presidential administration from carrying out this horrifying cut to needed assistance for our most vulnerable populations.
This attempted suspension extended to critical programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides vital food assistance to millions of low-income households, ensuring that they have access to the nutrition necessary for a healthy life. In addition, the Healthy Start initiative, which is designed to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal and child health, has also been affected by this funding freeze. Moreover, the school breakfast and lunch programs, which are essential for providing nutritious meals to children in need, were included in the freeze attempt, which would have left many public school students vulnerable to food insecurity, especially in low-income areas. The impact of this decision reaches beyond the immediate cessation of funds; it creates a ripple effect that threatens the stability of families who depend on these resources for their daily survival and well-being. Rental assistance programs, which help individuals and families afford housing in a time of rising costs and economic uncertainty, are also being targeted, exacerbating the challenges of homelessness and housing instability in communities across the country.
But aside from the disaster that is the Trump administration's destiny, as is the case with all negatively influenced and chaotic leaders throughout history, what we as a people and nation have to do to survive is going to require stepping up with action for each other, beyond the media posts for whatever distractions of his day-to-day actions.
See, when you have a proverbial child throwing a temper tantrum because they know they could never amount to the grace, dignity, and pride of their predecessors, yet will always be compared to them and their entire legacy hinges on a cult-like following whose ignorance, bigotry, xenophobia, and desperate need for a father figure that shows an interest in them fuels their loyalty, we must remember to be the adults in the room that deprive them of their need for this attention without accountability. It is best to remember one thing: his obsession with seeing everyone else around him crumble instead of lifting them up as a REAL leader speaks to a level of insecurity that is better for professionals to understand. Furthermore, his repulsion at our audacity to be excellent, unmarred, and inevitable within Black culture, while continuing to expand the concept of success, despite the many, many, many barriers put in place to cripple us, need only spur on our eagerness to triumph over a Giant bully (1 Samuel 17:1-11, 32-36, 45-47). He knows that his time is limited, that the outdated practices that come from when ‘America was great’ will only make this country lesser (and poorer) than our international competitors. And that forever nagging feeling in his chest like he is losing something isn’t really about us. It’s his fear of the one thing privelede can’t make better or easier for a single living soul. It’s kiss is cold for everyone, and cares not for your hunger for power. We're in the endgame now, and in the endgame, death always wins.
Many Black women have firmly established that they will not shoulder the burden this time when revolutionary actions are required in the streets. The petulant man-baby obsessed with undermining Black community progress is merely a physical representation of the red herring that has microaggressively or violently attacked Black communities for generations. He symbolizes confusion and frustration at the margins of our success stories. Despite many not even having boots to pull up or laces to match, we continue to pursue and achieve positions of power without being born into privilege. Now more than ever, the distractions and violent attacks on education speak to this desire for our community’s engagement in revolution and protest for the benefit of others, but never for ourselves. Stitches of videos and posts from other communities and cultures, at times demanding the presence of Black people in these spaces after the shameful voting day on November 5th, 2024, speak to a level of entitlement only generations of privilege can usher out.
However, I am grateful for the unintentional impact of social media to build up self-worth for many Black people, at last awakening many of us to our social capital and how to wield it. I hope we continue to pay those who wish our bodies to be the path for revolution dust, barter resources, shop local, and find joy in the eyes of the storm with our pods of friends and family.
Too many Black women have died in childbirth, with bias in the healthcare system at fault, yet few but other Black women marched for them. Too often our disparities are our own to fight, so its time we took this moment to build community with each other and with more intention.
While I may not have all the answers, and no longer feel the need to have them, I am determined to stand strong for as many families in my community as I can.
If your an ally, and you got this far, thank you. Support a Black family you know or organization you trust (I will build a list of them in a future blog) with monetary, skill, or mentoring support.
To the artists and creatives reading, I thank you for building me up in every space I meet you, and I will keep using my voice with confidence to contribute to discussions, embrace my talents, and cheer you on to do the same. We need you and your light nw more than ever in this darkness.
So readers, this isa question for you to take home: How are you going to add to your community plan? How are you going to cultivate rest into your weekly actions? You can answer below or discuss with your families/friends.
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing”.- Toni Morrison
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