With President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, one thing has become apparent: A truly independent investigation of any ties between the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign will only be accomplished by the free press, for however long it remains free.
There is precedent for journalists coming together across a variety of platforms to conduct an investigation together and report on it: The Chauncey Bailey Project.
Those of you who know me personally know of my brief interactions with the late Chauncey Bailey, a respected Oakland journalist who was killed investigating criminal activities of the Your Muslim Bakery in Oakland. Journalists from television, print, radio, the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, the Center for Investigative Journalism, and the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism came together to pick up where Chauncey Bailey was stopped in his investigation by murder and to investigate his murder themselves. They agreed on ground rules about sharing what they found and publishing across platforms. Their work ultimately led to arrest and prosecution of Bailey's murderer. In short, these journalists journalistically crowdsourced the investigation into the Your Muslim Bakery and Bailey's murder.
The importance of the Chauncey Bailey Project is that journalists didn't wait for the government to investigate Bailey's death. It may have been the idea of a journalist being gunned down in America for doing his job that galvanized journalists from competing platforms and organizations to make sure justice was done and the truth was told.
I don't mean to trivialize Chauncey Bailey's murder, but the stakes with the investigation into the Russian connections to the Trump presidential campaign are at least as high as the stakes in the investigation into Chauncey's murder because of the potential for upending American democracy as we know it. Trump's attacks on the media, the intelligence community, and pretty much anyone capable of getting to the truth of the matter are highly disturbing. The firing of FBI Director Comey while the FBI was in the midst of investigating this very matter smacks of Watergate. The Congress, unlike the Watergate Congress, is hopelessly compromised by the Republicans' intoxication with their own power. The late Senator Howard Baker, a Republican from Tennessee who played a pivotal role in the Watergate hearings and was known as the "Great Conciliator,' would not claim these Republicans. Or, he would woodshed them.
So instead of being mad about Sean Spicer hiding "among" the bushes of the White House or Trump's threat to end press briefings, White House journalists need to come together a la the Chauncey Bailey Project and do their own investigation of Russia's involvement in the Trump campaign and the 2016 American election. The freedoms that still exist that allow them to do their work demand no less.
Retired Man Walking: Too Young to Retire, Too Old to Take Shit
A while back I ran into a friend and fellow professional employed by the State of California, and he offered me his perspective on State employment as a tail-end Baby Boomer like myself -- someone who can't retire because he lacks the requisite age or years of service, but, unlike myself, is tired of taking shit from superiors who don't know what to do with you.
Although my friend gave his permission for me to use his name in this blog entry, I decline to do so because what he does is so specialized that it would not be hard for anyone to identify him as one of the few African American men, if not the only African-American man, in California state civil service who does what he does. For purposes of this blog entry, I will refer to him as he now refers to himself: Retired Man Walking.
Retired Man Walking, or RMW, has an interesting philosophy he applies to working for the State as a professional who isn't old enough to retire but has been around long enough to know the score. Like many state workers of his age, race, and qualifications, he encounters roadblocks to advancement because the State of California doesn't reward intelligence, achievement, innovation or efficiency among its rank and file employees; oh no, the only thing the State of California rewards is seniority. You could die waiting for the few spots above you in the hierarchy to open up when someone retires or, well, dies, no matter how stellar you might be.
Like many other African-American professionals in state civil service, he encounters "intelligence racism": The cognitive dissonance experienced by whites and sometimes people of other races when they simply cannot believe the intelligent words and ideas coming from your African-American mouth are, well, coming from your African-American mouth. Because they cannot reconcile your race with your intelligence, which is oftentimes superior to theirs, they endeavor to disprove your intelligence or undermine you in some other way as undeserving of what little stature you have.
At the other end of the spectrum, RMW, like many other African-American professionals in state civil service, also experiences being a financially pimped out professional by the State enjoying the benefit of his college and graduate education without paying you enough to cover the burden of the student loans necessary to pay for that college and graduate education. Too Short ain't got nothin' on the State of California when it comes to pimpin' professionals.
However, RMW has adopted a philosophy I found so intriguing that I felt compelled to share it with you. He's adopted a policy of not allowing himself to be stressed out by the intelligence racism, lack of upward mobility and the like, and here's why:
He wants to live long after he retires.
RMW noted how many people retire only to die shortly after, oftentimes from diseases that are stress-related, like heart disease, stroke, cancer and the like. As he puts it, "How you live the 25 years before you retire will determine whether and how you live the 25 years after you retire." RMW is determined to not let workplace stress cause him to develop diseases that will cheat him out of a long and healthy retirement.
As a result, he has declared himself to be "Retired Man Walking." He simply does not care anymore. As he put it, "I have two speeds at work -- slow and stop." He's not trying to prove anything, impress anyone, or race to get things done. He takes full advantage of alternate work schedules, vacation days, and breaks during the day. It's just not worth it to him to get stressed out in the last years before retirement. He has "retired in place."
As for upward mobility and the lack thereof, he likens them to the ephemeral traffic jam on I-80 west going from Sacramento toward San Francisco. "Notice how the traffic always backs up around Berkeley and Emeryville? Did you ever notice how there's no traffic over there by the Berkeley Marina, and if you get off near the marina and go around, you can get back on 80 and beat the traffic? Upward mobility in the State is like that -- sometimes you have to get off and go around to move up."
Very wise, indeed.
Here's to a long and healthy retirement, RMW.
Although my friend gave his permission for me to use his name in this blog entry, I decline to do so because what he does is so specialized that it would not be hard for anyone to identify him as one of the few African American men, if not the only African-American man, in California state civil service who does what he does. For purposes of this blog entry, I will refer to him as he now refers to himself: Retired Man Walking.
Retired Man Walking, or RMW, has an interesting philosophy he applies to working for the State as a professional who isn't old enough to retire but has been around long enough to know the score. Like many state workers of his age, race, and qualifications, he encounters roadblocks to advancement because the State of California doesn't reward intelligence, achievement, innovation or efficiency among its rank and file employees; oh no, the only thing the State of California rewards is seniority. You could die waiting for the few spots above you in the hierarchy to open up when someone retires or, well, dies, no matter how stellar you might be.
Like many other African-American professionals in state civil service, he encounters "intelligence racism": The cognitive dissonance experienced by whites and sometimes people of other races when they simply cannot believe the intelligent words and ideas coming from your African-American mouth are, well, coming from your African-American mouth. Because they cannot reconcile your race with your intelligence, which is oftentimes superior to theirs, they endeavor to disprove your intelligence or undermine you in some other way as undeserving of what little stature you have.
At the other end of the spectrum, RMW, like many other African-American professionals in state civil service, also experiences being a financially pimped out professional by the State enjoying the benefit of his college and graduate education without paying you enough to cover the burden of the student loans necessary to pay for that college and graduate education. Too Short ain't got nothin' on the State of California when it comes to pimpin' professionals.
However, RMW has adopted a philosophy I found so intriguing that I felt compelled to share it with you. He's adopted a policy of not allowing himself to be stressed out by the intelligence racism, lack of upward mobility and the like, and here's why:
He wants to live long after he retires.
RMW noted how many people retire only to die shortly after, oftentimes from diseases that are stress-related, like heart disease, stroke, cancer and the like. As he puts it, "How you live the 25 years before you retire will determine whether and how you live the 25 years after you retire." RMW is determined to not let workplace stress cause him to develop diseases that will cheat him out of a long and healthy retirement.
As a result, he has declared himself to be "Retired Man Walking." He simply does not care anymore. As he put it, "I have two speeds at work -- slow and stop." He's not trying to prove anything, impress anyone, or race to get things done. He takes full advantage of alternate work schedules, vacation days, and breaks during the day. It's just not worth it to him to get stressed out in the last years before retirement. He has "retired in place."
As for upward mobility and the lack thereof, he likens them to the ephemeral traffic jam on I-80 west going from Sacramento toward San Francisco. "Notice how the traffic always backs up around Berkeley and Emeryville? Did you ever notice how there's no traffic over there by the Berkeley Marina, and if you get off near the marina and go around, you can get back on 80 and beat the traffic? Upward mobility in the State is like that -- sometimes you have to get off and go around to move up."
Very wise, indeed.
Here's to a long and healthy retirement, RMW.
Poverty of Imagination Is A Sin Against Yourself
Sometimes in life, you have to imagine yourself to where you want to be. You have to create where you want to be in your life in your mind first, see what no one else can see, and speak, create, and work what only you can imagine into existence. You especially have to do this when you don't see around you what you aspire to be, see, or do.
The inability to do this is what I would call "poverty of imagination." I see it all around me.
I even accused a dear friend of mine of suffering from this. She was taken aback, offended. I told her that, in imagining all the possible ways a legal conflict could be settled to the benefit of her client, she failed to imagine other options for no other reason than that they had never been done before.
"That, my friend," I declared, "is poverty of imagination."
I then told her the story of my dad and uncle that epitomized poverty of imagination, as told to me by one of my younger uncles.
When my dad and my uncle, his next oldest brother in age, were young children, they picked cotton alongside my widowed grandmother in the rural South during the 1930's. My uncle said to my dad, "When we grow up, we're going to be rich, so rich that our mama is going to pick cotton in a SILK dress, not burlap!" My dad agreed.
Neither of them could imagine the possibility of being so rich that their mother, my grandmother, would not have to pick cotton at all.
Poverty of imagination. And poverty of imagination is worse than poverty of one's real life situation because the failure to imagine yourself out of your present circumstances will keep you in your present circumstances, no matter what they are. Even if those circumstances are not dire, if they are not what you want, and what you want doesn't exist, you have to imagine your way out. Your imagination is the only way out because everything starts with an idea and an intention.
I've seen this with family members who immediately disqualify themselves from a position they're interviewing for because they can't imagine that the hiring powers that be would hire them. I see this in folks who can't imagine doing anything other than the work they're doing that they hate. I see it when I sit in meetings and hear coworkers say, "We've just never done it that way before."
Poverty. Of. Imagination.
I believe poverty of imagination is a sin against one's self. Why? Who gave you that imagination? GOD! HE put that ideas in YOU. HE gives you the ability to imagine something different than your circumstances. When you don't even try to imagine something different or when you reject something different simply because you've never seen it done before, it's like saying to God, "Nah, I'm good. What You, Father God, have in store for me? Nah, I'll pass."
REALLY? Because what HE has for you is for YOU. And HE isn't always going to make it appear in the physical realm. HE puts it in your mind. It's there for you to imagine, if and only if you are open to it. If, in the words of The Rock, you are smelling what the Creator is cooking.
Are you?
I'm as guilty as the next person of poverty of imagination. Right now, there are so many changes happening at my current workplace that I have been asked by coworkers whether I will be staying to see those changes through, whether I have any other plans that would cause me to jump ship, so to speak. They tell me that the skills and exposure I have gained in my current situation make me extremely marketable as an attorney. They say these things with what looks like a mixture of curiosity and fear in their eyes.
I told my coworkers that, no, I have no plans to leave until I finish the projects I started.
And then I broke free from my poverty of imagination and spoke my next phase of life into existence by saying this:
"But this is my last legal job."
The inability to do this is what I would call "poverty of imagination." I see it all around me.
I even accused a dear friend of mine of suffering from this. She was taken aback, offended. I told her that, in imagining all the possible ways a legal conflict could be settled to the benefit of her client, she failed to imagine other options for no other reason than that they had never been done before.
"That, my friend," I declared, "is poverty of imagination."
I then told her the story of my dad and uncle that epitomized poverty of imagination, as told to me by one of my younger uncles.
When my dad and my uncle, his next oldest brother in age, were young children, they picked cotton alongside my widowed grandmother in the rural South during the 1930's. My uncle said to my dad, "When we grow up, we're going to be rich, so rich that our mama is going to pick cotton in a SILK dress, not burlap!" My dad agreed.
Neither of them could imagine the possibility of being so rich that their mother, my grandmother, would not have to pick cotton at all.
Poverty of imagination. And poverty of imagination is worse than poverty of one's real life situation because the failure to imagine yourself out of your present circumstances will keep you in your present circumstances, no matter what they are. Even if those circumstances are not dire, if they are not what you want, and what you want doesn't exist, you have to imagine your way out. Your imagination is the only way out because everything starts with an idea and an intention.
I've seen this with family members who immediately disqualify themselves from a position they're interviewing for because they can't imagine that the hiring powers that be would hire them. I see this in folks who can't imagine doing anything other than the work they're doing that they hate. I see it when I sit in meetings and hear coworkers say, "We've just never done it that way before."
Poverty. Of. Imagination.
I believe poverty of imagination is a sin against one's self. Why? Who gave you that imagination? GOD! HE put that ideas in YOU. HE gives you the ability to imagine something different than your circumstances. When you don't even try to imagine something different or when you reject something different simply because you've never seen it done before, it's like saying to God, "Nah, I'm good. What You, Father God, have in store for me? Nah, I'll pass."
REALLY? Because what HE has for you is for YOU. And HE isn't always going to make it appear in the physical realm. HE puts it in your mind. It's there for you to imagine, if and only if you are open to it. If, in the words of The Rock, you are smelling what the Creator is cooking.
Are you?
I'm as guilty as the next person of poverty of imagination. Right now, there are so many changes happening at my current workplace that I have been asked by coworkers whether I will be staying to see those changes through, whether I have any other plans that would cause me to jump ship, so to speak. They tell me that the skills and exposure I have gained in my current situation make me extremely marketable as an attorney. They say these things with what looks like a mixture of curiosity and fear in their eyes.
I told my coworkers that, no, I have no plans to leave until I finish the projects I started.
And then I broke free from my poverty of imagination and spoke my next phase of life into existence by saying this:
"But this is my last legal job."
Progressives, Liberals, Democrats and Trump: No Quarter Asked Nor Given
Now that Donald J. Trump is the president of the United States, progressives, liberals and Democrats need to wrap their mind around a wartime concept that violates The Hague Convention:
No quarter asked nor given.
What does that mean? According to Wikipedia, in war, a victor gives "no quarter" (or takes no prisoners) when the victor shows no clemency or mercy and refuses to spare the life of a vanquished opponent in return for their unconditional surrender.
No amount of protest or persuasion is going to change the fact that President Trump has no intention of compromising on the more inflammatory ideals he campaigned on -- the wall, repealing Obamacare, not acknowledging climate change, rolling back regulations because they are regulations, a Muslim registry, the deportation of Dreamers.
Republicans are so drunk with their power that they don't care what ideological compromises they made to get it. They backed a sexist, racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic candidate without remorse. The President's inaugural speech showed no signs of trying to heal wounds and create an inclusive vision of America. Nope, he played to his base. I don't know what the Republican party stands for anymore. Neither do they.
But I do know this: Unlike Chrisette Michele, my dignity is not for sale and not for compromise. "No quarter asked nor given" is, for me, a battle cry. I will ask no quarter from this administration and expect none. I expect that the institutions and ideals that President Obama held dear and fought for will be eliminated, undermined, and under constant attack. I expect that no matter who is hurt, especially with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act -- and, dear broke-ass red state people, that means "Obamacare," since you don't know they are one in the same -- President Trump will try to deliver on his populist promises. And the Republican party, with a majority in both houses of Congress, will piggyback on Trump's agenda by adding in their own policy wet dreams -- defunding Planned Parenthood, drilling off the coasts and in Alaska, you name it.
I intend to do what I said I'd do: Put my family and friends in a position to weather this political storm until 2018 or 2020. I will weather this political storm because I firmly believe in the strength and resilience that was imbued in me by my black parents and in them by their black parents. But I will not attempt to persuade or negotiate with people who share Trump's beliefs for any compromise or, as many have suggested, "get behind the new president." No, this president is unlike any other. I know of no president in my lifetime who came to office by insulting an entire race of people (Mexicans), an entire religion (Islam), a disabled person, women, the free (for now) press, Gold Star parents, even Republican standard bearer John McCain. I don't care how many jobs President Trump promises or delivers, I will not normalize achieving political power by demeaning people based on race, gender, religion -- you know, the same kinds of categories that are protected from discrimination under federal law, at least for now. To do so would be to compromise my dignity, the dignity that my ancestors fought and died for. The dignity that Chrisette Michele sold for $750,000 and won't ever be able to buy back. (Can you tell I'm a disappointed Chrisette Michele fan?)
I will not normalize the administration of Donald J. Trump. I. Will. Not.
No quarter asked nor given.
No quarter asked nor given.
What does that mean? According to Wikipedia, in war, a victor gives "no quarter" (or takes no prisoners) when the victor shows no clemency or mercy and refuses to spare the life of a vanquished opponent in return for their unconditional surrender.
No amount of protest or persuasion is going to change the fact that President Trump has no intention of compromising on the more inflammatory ideals he campaigned on -- the wall, repealing Obamacare, not acknowledging climate change, rolling back regulations because they are regulations, a Muslim registry, the deportation of Dreamers.
Republicans are so drunk with their power that they don't care what ideological compromises they made to get it. They backed a sexist, racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic candidate without remorse. The President's inaugural speech showed no signs of trying to heal wounds and create an inclusive vision of America. Nope, he played to his base. I don't know what the Republican party stands for anymore. Neither do they.
But I do know this: Unlike Chrisette Michele, my dignity is not for sale and not for compromise. "No quarter asked nor given" is, for me, a battle cry. I will ask no quarter from this administration and expect none. I expect that the institutions and ideals that President Obama held dear and fought for will be eliminated, undermined, and under constant attack. I expect that no matter who is hurt, especially with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act -- and, dear broke-ass red state people, that means "Obamacare," since you don't know they are one in the same -- President Trump will try to deliver on his populist promises. And the Republican party, with a majority in both houses of Congress, will piggyback on Trump's agenda by adding in their own policy wet dreams -- defunding Planned Parenthood, drilling off the coasts and in Alaska, you name it.
I intend to do what I said I'd do: Put my family and friends in a position to weather this political storm until 2018 or 2020. I will weather this political storm because I firmly believe in the strength and resilience that was imbued in me by my black parents and in them by their black parents. But I will not attempt to persuade or negotiate with people who share Trump's beliefs for any compromise or, as many have suggested, "get behind the new president." No, this president is unlike any other. I know of no president in my lifetime who came to office by insulting an entire race of people (Mexicans), an entire religion (Islam), a disabled person, women, the free (for now) press, Gold Star parents, even Republican standard bearer John McCain. I don't care how many jobs President Trump promises or delivers, I will not normalize achieving political power by demeaning people based on race, gender, religion -- you know, the same kinds of categories that are protected from discrimination under federal law, at least for now. To do so would be to compromise my dignity, the dignity that my ancestors fought and died for. The dignity that Chrisette Michele sold for $750,000 and won't ever be able to buy back. (Can you tell I'm a disappointed Chrisette Michele fan?)
I will not normalize the administration of Donald J. Trump. I. Will. Not.
No quarter asked nor given.
My Prayer and Mantra for 2017 -- Do Not Waste Time on People and Things That Don't Matter
In this era of fake news, fake political candidates, and fake people all around, my prayer and mantra for 2017 is simple: Do not waste time on people and things that don't matter.
In 2016, I spent too much time and money on things and people who didn't matter. I allowed myself to become distracted by stuff that, for me and Black Man Not Blogging, didn't really matter for our happiness. These distractions not only didn't improve the quality of our life together; they decreased it with additional and unnecessary stress.
The good news is that, for the most part, we're okay. Yeah, Trump and his ilk really suck, but instead of a lot of hand wringing and commiserating, I'm going to do the one thing my late mother She Who Is Exalted (SWIE) did better than anyone I know: Play the hand you've been dealt. My mother was a black female without a college education and with six kids, so playing the hand she was dealt was her survival skill. Now it will be mine.
She also didn't spend a lot of time on things or people who didn't matter. She was too focused on her purpose: Raising six children who didn't end up on drugs or in prison. For the most part, she succeeded. To the extent that what someone wanted from her detracted or distracted from her purpose, she really didn't have much time for them. She was too busy playing the hand she was dealt.
Well, relatively speaking, I've got an even better hand to play. I am educated. My job is pretty secure. I make decent money. I have good health insurance. My elderly father is safe and well cared for. Most of my siblings are retired and living like teenagers with money. There are things I want to see, do, and be while I'm still relatively healthy. I want to enjoy more of the people I love and what I've worked for. I refuse to get my anxiety up over things I can't control.
I do not want to waste even a second on people and things that don't matter 2017. That is my prayer and my mantra.
Happy New Year to you and yours. May you also not waste even a second on people and things that don't matter in 2017.
In 2016, I spent too much time and money on things and people who didn't matter. I allowed myself to become distracted by stuff that, for me and Black Man Not Blogging, didn't really matter for our happiness. These distractions not only didn't improve the quality of our life together; they decreased it with additional and unnecessary stress.
The good news is that, for the most part, we're okay. Yeah, Trump and his ilk really suck, but instead of a lot of hand wringing and commiserating, I'm going to do the one thing my late mother She Who Is Exalted (SWIE) did better than anyone I know: Play the hand you've been dealt. My mother was a black female without a college education and with six kids, so playing the hand she was dealt was her survival skill. Now it will be mine.
She also didn't spend a lot of time on things or people who didn't matter. She was too focused on her purpose: Raising six children who didn't end up on drugs or in prison. For the most part, she succeeded. To the extent that what someone wanted from her detracted or distracted from her purpose, she really didn't have much time for them. She was too busy playing the hand she was dealt.
Well, relatively speaking, I've got an even better hand to play. I am educated. My job is pretty secure. I make decent money. I have good health insurance. My elderly father is safe and well cared for. Most of my siblings are retired and living like teenagers with money. There are things I want to see, do, and be while I'm still relatively healthy. I want to enjoy more of the people I love and what I've worked for. I refuse to get my anxiety up over things I can't control.
I do not want to waste even a second on people and things that don't matter 2017. That is my prayer and my mantra.
Happy New Year to you and yours. May you also not waste even a second on people and things that don't matter in 2017.
Hillary Clinton Can Stop Trump -- If She Releases Her Electors
Hillary Clinton isn't going to be President of the United States. At least not yet. And not in 2017.
But she can possibly stop Donald Trump from being President by releasing her pledged electors in the Electoral College to vote for a compromise Republican candidate.
This is part of the strategy of the Hamilton Electors, members of the Electoral College who see that Donald Trump is not qualified to be President. They argue that the Electoral College's role is not to rubber-stamp the popular vote -- which, in this case, would belong to Clinton -- but to serve as a check on the popular vote to make sure that no one who is unfit assumes the office of President.
According to the Hamilton Electors, named for Founding Father Alexander Hamilton (Yes, he of the very popular musical for which I can't get tickets) Hamilton stated that the Electoral College's test for fitness to be the President was as follows (and I'm quoting):
But she can possibly stop Donald Trump from being President by releasing her pledged electors in the Electoral College to vote for a compromise Republican candidate.
This is part of the strategy of the Hamilton Electors, members of the Electoral College who see that Donald Trump is not qualified to be President. They argue that the Electoral College's role is not to rubber-stamp the popular vote -- which, in this case, would belong to Clinton -- but to serve as a check on the popular vote to make sure that no one who is unfit assumes the office of President.
According to the Hamilton Electors, named for Founding Father Alexander Hamilton (Yes, he of the very popular musical for which I can't get tickets) Hamilton stated that the Electoral College's test for fitness to be the President was as follows (and I'm quoting):
Election of a Qualified Person: As Hamilton stated [in Federalist Papers 68], the purpose was to ensure that “…the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
Preventing Election of a Demagogue or Charlatan: The Founders did not want a person who would play on public fears and temporary passion to hold the office. Hamilton again: “Talent for low intrigue…may alone suffice to elect a man… but it will require other talents and merit to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union.”
Preventing Election of a President under Foreign Influence: The Founders feared attempts by other countries to orchestrate the election of a person under their influence. The Founders believed, as Hamilton put it, that the decentralized, layered electoral college guarded against foreign nations “…raising a creature of their own to the chief magistry” of the United States.
Clearly, Trump fails all three tests.
The strategy of the Hamilton Electors is this: If 38 Republican electors do not vote for Trump when the Electoral College votes on December 19, the election will be in hands of the House of Representatives, which can choose to elect someone else. The Hamilton Electors are not trying to get the Republican electors or Republican members of the House to vote for Hillary, but to join with Democrat electors to choose a qualified Republican candidate. Governor John Kasich has been discussed, although he has publicly declined, as well as Mitt Romney and John McCain. Purportedly, there are as many as 40 Republican members of Congress who are not comfortable with a Trump presidency and would choose another Republican if they could
The roadblock: Hillary Clinton.
Republican electors are not going to flip unless the Democrat electors flip, too. Yet, Democrat electors may feel loyal to Clinton and want to make history by casting their electoral college votes for the first woman to be nominated by a major party. President Bill Clinton is a Democrat elector for the State of New York.
But desperate times call for desperate measures. And we're running out of time. Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and a California law firm, through an effort called The Electors Trust, are providing free, confidential legal advice to electors who want to understand the legal ramifications of breaking their state-imposed "pledge" to vote for the candidate who received the majority vote in their state.
Here's what you can do:
1) Donate to the Hamilton Electors.
2) Follow the Hamilton Electors on Twitter (@HamiltonElector) and retweet their tweets to your followers with the hashtag #HamiltonElectors. Post a video to social media of yourself supporting their effort.
3) Spread the word about the Hamilton Electors and their strategy through your other social media outlets.
4) Attend or organize a candlelight vigil to stop Trump.
5) Write or tweet Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) and ask her to release her Democrat electors so that a bipartisan compromise can be reached.
It's not too late, but time is running out.
Hillary Clinton, you could change the course of history. Put your country before your party and your ambitions. Your nation needs you to step up.
Smarter, Harder, Blacker: My Guide to Being Black in the Trump Era
When
I started to write this, it just wouldn’t flow as easily as previous blog
entries had. I didn’t like the tone – me
pontificating on what we as black folks need to do to get through the oncoming
Trump era. I realize now why I didn’t
like the tone: I’m not qualified to
pontificate on what black folks should do.
Remember,
I’m the one who called for a boycott on Colin Kaepernick’s birthday in support of Black Lives Matter, and that fool didn’t even vote. I bought his jersey and everything. Posted a picture of myself on social media
wearing it and taking a knee. Damn.
So
instead of me telling you, Gentle Readers, what you should be doing to survive
Trumpocalypse as black people, I’m going to tell you what I’m going to do. And it’s not much different than what I am
doing or have already done, if you remember from my blog posts in 2011 about my family’s revolution to be smarter than Wall Street during the Great Recession. First, let me tell you want I’m not going to
do:
I’m
not going to hate. I have white family
members I love and conservative friends I like.
Hate, like guilt, is a pretty useless emotion. As my husband Black Man Not Blogging said,
“What you saw in this election isn’t hate; it’s fear. What passes for hate is really fear.”
I’m
not going to go all separatist. I’m not
going to give the Trumpeters the pleasure of my retreat from this nation. In fact, I’m going to get louder, prouder,
and more present than ever before. That’s
the “blacker” part of my strategy.
And
I’m not going to be afraid. I come from
people on both sides of my family who are just this side of crazy. What our ancestors put up with during Jim
Crow, well, we’re just not having it in 2016.
Our family motto is, “Don’t start none, won’t be none.” We’re the kind of people who, if faced with
death by murder, would try to kill our murderer on the way out because we
wouldn’t want to die without getting revenge first. It’s just who we are.
In
that spirit, here’s Black Woman Blogging’s Guide to Being Black in the Trump
Era.
I.
Black Woman Blogging’s Prime Directive in the
Trump Era: As much as possible, protect
my family and myself from the effects of racism.
I define racism as the harming or disadvantaging
of someone based solely on their race.
That harm or disadvantage can be physical, mental, financial,
educational, or economic.
And why am I limiting my efforts to my
family? Because I think we as people
either don’t do enough or try to take on too much in advancing our people. If every black person would simply start with
his or her own family, the entire race would be okay.
Now, I’m not so stupid as to think I can
completely insulate my family from racism.
What I can do, however, is reduce the odds and attempt to put them in a
position to withstand it. How so, you
ask? Here’s where I’m putting my efforts:
· Health – to withstand
the stress of the days to come and do the work that’s necessary
· Financial stability and
literacy – to protect against racism in the marketplace
· Education – to overcome or
at least withstand racism in the job market
· Conscientious
consumerism and entrepreneurialism -- to be less vulnerable to racist economic
policies
· Supporting and
strengthening the institutions that support and strengthen black people, for
obvious reasons
· Staying out of the
criminal justice system – ‘nuff said
· Political engagement –
to police the government and, when possible, shape its laws and policies.
· Knowing my history
· Spiritual warfare –
because I know where my strength comes from.
II.
Black Woman Blogging’s
Guiding Principles for Being Black During the Trump Era
My grandmother, a widowed mother of eight,
survived the Great Depression in the Jim Crow South. How?
She owned her property, she lived off her land as much as possible, and
the entire family pulled together to get out of poverty and leave the Jim Crow
South for California, where greater opportunities existed. She was an educated
woman – she attended Spelman College but had not finished – and she was a
God-fearing woman. I come from her. If she could raise seven boys and one girl,
not lose a single boy to lynching, and still have enough Christianity in her to
feed homeless white people who came to her back door begging during the Great
Depression, I, with my Ivy League degrees, house in the ‘burbs, 401(k) and
fairly secure government job, can survive the Trump era. The key: Being prepared for the worst but
hopeful for the best. To that end, my
guiding principles during the Great Trumpcession are as follows:
· Every tub must set on
its own bottom. Everyone must prepare to or be able to take
care of himself or herself, and quite possibly others who can’t take care of
themselves. If you are able-bodied and
between the age of three and retirement, you need to be doing at least one of
three things:
o
Getting
an education.
o
Working.
o
Starting
and running a legal business.
· Some people are going to
get left behind. No matter how much you encourage, cajole,
teach, preach, cry or yell, there will always be able-bodied family members who
don’t want to take responsibility for themselves. The question I ask when trying to help
someone is, “Are they coachable?” If not,
I move on to the next. There are too
many people who are coachable. Even
Malcolm X acknowledged that some people would be left behind. Word.
· If you are able to work,
I’ll teach you to fish, but I won’t give you one. I’m not trying to support a perfectly healthy
person while I get up every weekday and work for The Man. I’m willing to help you help yourself, but
I’m not willing to help you mooch off of me if you’re not doing anything to
help yourself.
III.
Black Woman’s Blogging
Plan for Achieving Her Prime Directive During the Trump Era
· Health
Black people
are going to be stressed by the unrepentant and audacious expressions of racism
that have become normalized as a result of Trump’s election. Stress is a killer. I know I’m easily prone to anxiety and
physical illness when I’m stressed. My
goal is to be in the best health possible during the Trump era to do the work
I’m called to do. I intend to achieve
better health through healthier eating, regular exercise, rest, meditation,
rejuvenation, mindfulness, and, if necessary, therapy. Yes, I said it. Therapy.
IMHO, we as black people don’t give mental health the respect it
deserves and we dismiss mental illness of any type as the province of weak
people. Mental illness runs rampant in
my family and I’m not foolish enough to think I’m immune or that only weak
people have anxiety or depression. What
I don’t want to have happen is to have to invoke an insanity defense when a
Trump supporter says that one thing that makes me reach for a weapon and then black
out about what happens next.
· Financial stability and
literacy
Financial
stability and financial literacy will be weapons, but not absolute shields,
against racism. The Trump era will mean
deregulation writ large. I’m predicting
the repeal of Dodd-Frank, the rolling back of the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau, and the resurgence of all the shady financial instruments that led to
the Great Recession. In 2011, Black Man
Not Blogging and I held a series of family meetings and talks titled “Something
to Think About” to promote financial literacy so that our family members, many
of whom lost their homes due to bad mortgages, would not be taken advantage of
again by unscrupulous lenders and mortgage brokers. We are considering bringing back those talks
and our family sou-sou, but the materials are already on this blog, so they may
not be necessary. We do plan to take those talks to another level – financial
stability -- by teaching anyone in our family who is interested how to get a
civil service job with the State of California.
o
Civil
Service Jobs with the State of California
Why a civil
service State job, you ask? Because
during the Great Recession, the State of California laid off, for the most
part, only non-essential positions – temporary positions, student positions,
retired annuitants—and furloughed the rest.
Yeah, we State workers got paid less for the duration of the furloughs,
but we kept our jobs and, more importantly, our benefits. Plus, the benefits paid, regular raises,
opportunities for advancement, and civil service protections against capricious
termination make civil service State work appealing in tumultuous times. Finally, banks and lenders are more willing
to lend to State workers because their jobs are considered more secure than
other jobs. My goal is to get everyone in
my family who wants such a job hired within the next two years.
o
Home
Ownership
My second
financial stability goal for my family is to get as many adult members of my
family as possible owning their own homes.
As my uncle put it, renting is just another form of sharecropping,
putting you at the mercy of your landlord.
You cannot control your housing costs if you don’t own your own home,
and you can be subject to housing discrimination. Those very family members who lost their
homes in the Great Recession? They are the ones I want to help get back into
home ownership.
o
Sitting
Out the Stock Market – For Now
Our
Idiot-Elect still hasn’t gotten a lid on his tweeting. What he doesn’t understand or doesn’t care
about is that a single flippant statement from the Leader of the Free World can
make markets drop in an instant. Talking
about trade wars with Mexico and China doesn’t help. I remember when the stock market dropped in
1987 and my law school professors fled their classrooms to talk to their
brokers. I’ve worked too hard to regain
the ground I lost in my 401(k) during the Great Recession to lose those gains
in a volatile Trump market. Like Jim
Cramer, I don’t think the current “Trump Rally” is going to last. And, as Jim Cramer says, “Bears make money,
bulls make money, pigs get slaughtered.”
I’ve achieved a very healthy return on my 401(k) investments since the
Great Recession. I’m good. I’m cashing out the stocks in my 401(k) and
sitting on the sidelines until I figure out how crazy our future POTUS really
is. I’d rather not lose money than hope
that I will make money. I’m not going to
be a pig about this.
o
Paying
Off Credit Card Debt
I have more credit card debt that I’m
comfortable with. My goal is to get it
all paid off by the end of Trump’s first and only term. My dad always says that
debt is just another form of slavery.
Word.
· Education
In my view, education is going to be
indispensable for the next generation to be competitive in the job market, to
be critical thinkers capable of seeing through Trump’s rhetoric, and to
understand the effects of Trump’s policies on black people. Black Man Not Blogging and I have taken it
upon ourselves to provide advice, and, when possible, financial support to the
young people in our family who want to go to college. We have provided tutoring, supplemental
educational materials, and insight on the college application process and
preparing for college. We will continue
working to ensure that the young people in our family – and some of the older
ones, too – who want to go to college can do so.
We don’t believe solely in college education as
the only means of advancement.
Vocational education, trades, you name it – if it will help someone in
our family get a stable job and earn a livable wage, we’re down to help.
· Conscientious
consumerism and entrepreneurialism
My intention
during the Trump era is be conscientious about how and where I spend my money and
to get my side hustle on so that I can do what I’ve encouraged others to do –
to have more than one source of income.
In terms of
conscientious consumerism, I’m going to be a lot more careful about the
corporations with which I spend my money.
I will be spending a lot less at companies that supported Trump and more
with those that didn’t. I’m not going to
work hard only for my money to be an instrument of racism, sexism, and any
other of the isms to which our President-Elect is prone.
I’m also
going to try to consume less. I’ve been
pretty good at shopping at thrift stores, clipping coupons, and keeping my
costs low. I’m just going to do less
consuming of stuff and possibly more consuming of experiences. Experiences, like travel, make me happy.
And when I
do buy stuff, I’m going to actively seek out black businesses first. I tend to do this with brick-and-mortar black
business, but not as much with internet black businesses. No more. I know better and intend to do
better.
As for
entrepreneurialism, I’ve got an iron in the fire for a new venture which should
be taking off before the new year. Keep
your fingers crossed. I would encourage
everyone to have more than one source of income.
· Supporting and
Strengthening the Institutions That Support and Strengthen Black People
Every year,
I receive a call from Harvard Law School asking for a donation. I give.
Every year I am asked to do admissions interviews for Princeton. I usually do.
But even without my minimal donations and participation, these
institutions will endure. They have, for
hundreds of years.
I’ve decided
to redirect my giving to those institutions that support and strengthen black
people because those institutions may be under attack. So instead of donating to Harvard Law, I will
donate to an HBCU or the NAACP. Instead
of doing admissions interviews for Princeton, I will direct my time towards
other institutions that support and strengthen my people. Mind you, I’m not anti-Harvard or
anti-Princeton, but as I learned from my parents, you give where the need is.
All things black are now targets for unrepentant racists thanks to Mr. Trump,
and they may remain so for a long time to come.
But they’re not going down. Not
on my watch.
· Staying Out of the
Criminal Justice System
I definitely
intend to stay out of the criminal justice system, but I also intend to keep
those I love out of it, too. I voted for
California’s Proposition 64 not because I love weed – I hate it, actually – but
because of the provisions that allow for the expungement of criminal
convictions for possession of marijuana that would now be legal. I will have “that talk” with young people on
what to do if they get arrested. I will
make myself available to help with expungements for my family members. And I will keep my criminal defense attorneys
on speed dial. Yes, any attorney worth
his or her salt has a criminal defense attorney friend. Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.
· Political Engagement –
To Police the Government and, When Possible, Shape Its Laws and Policies
More than at
any time during my existence, I am compelled to become politically engaged
because our federal government is in the control of liars, demagogues, and
those who stand for no principles whatsoever.
I’ve watched as people who rightly called out candidate Trump during the
campaign have now deigned to entertain joining his administration or have
joined it. I’ve seen how the press has
woken up too late to the normalizing of Trump’s racism, sexism, xenophobia and
attacks on fundamental rights. Now, more
than ever, I am compelled to get and remain politically engaged, to raise my
voice, to write this blog, to march, to support Black Lives Matter, and to
stand up for those who would be the targets of Trump’s toadies. Part of my approach in this regard is to tell
people what they can do when they or their family is subject to discrimination
in their schools, places of work, or public accommodations. I went to law school to become a civil rights
lawyer. Although that is not my field of
legal practice, I will be using my legal training to inform people who are
under attack because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or place of
birth of their legal rights. I will be
writing opposition letters. I will call
out racists, sexists, homophobes and xenophobes when they show their bias. What I won’t be is silent.
· Knowing My History
I know I draw great
strength from learning black history and critical race theory. The more I learn, the stronger I feel. When I think of all that my ancestors came
through, I can’t help but know that I’ll get through the Trump era. I’ll be dusting off all of my Derrick Bell
books, Bayard Rustin’s writings, Dr. King’s speeches, and black history tomes
and immersing myself in the strength of my people.
· Spiritual Warfare – Because
I Know Where My Strength Comes From.
I don’t have
a church home, but I hope to find one.
But I don’t need a church home to wage spiritual warfare. I’ve heard it said that there is nothing more
powerful than a child of God with a made up mind, and that’s what I intend to
become during the Trump era and beyond – a spiritual warrior on the side of
righteousness, justice, equality and fairness.
Although I respect the right of atheists and agnostics to not believe, I
can’t imagine having the strength to deal with what is to come without a belief
in a higher power. I know in the days to
come I will be called to stand up not only for myself, but for others who can’t
stand up for themselves. I’ve already
had to do this with my own Facebook family. Knowing that I’m doing the right
thing and that God has my back makes it so much easier.
All
in all, the days ahead will prove to be challenging. I’m up for the challenge. Are you?
I
had a conversation with my 91 year-old dad, who has dementia. I try to bring him good news about how our
family is doing well and moving forward.
My father’s eyes have seen far worse than what Trump and his people are
capable of inflicting. We were talking
about Trump, and he became very serious, saying, “Black people . . . . we have to be strong. We have to be prepared. We have to keep on moving forward.”
I
replied, “Because we’re not going back.”
He
chuckled, “Oh no. We ARE NOT going back.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)