Educating & Advocating for Our Communities
Currently listening to Black Parade by Beyonce with many thoughts on my mind. There’s so much that I want to touch on, but I’ll try to make this as brief as possible. I am personally going to challenge myself to provide more resources in relation to financial literacy. I feel that I’m not doing enough especially when it’s paramount for people of color to build wealth within our communities, empower one another and continue to educate ourselves. Knowledge is power! June has been busy in good and bad ways… so here we go:
BLACK LIVES MATTER In response to the killing of George Floyd, millions have taken to the streets to fight against police brutality, systemic oppression, and racial inequality. What’s most prevalent in the midst of this is how can we influence change. We can do the following:
Vote Make sure we take our concerns to the polls and vote! Especially for local officials. Once we get those officials in office, we need to hold them accountable to that agenda.
Black Dollars Try to support black businesses as much as possible. I realize that at times it can be inconvenient, but we have to understand that buying black is for the greater good and will help empower our community. I use The Black Wall Street App to find local black businesses to support. If donating is your preference to support, make sure you are donating to credible sources.
Educate It’s important to take this time to learn as much as we can about current policies that are place and how they can be reformed. Think about redlining, disenfranchisement, predatory lending, etc. Change will come. We just need to continue to challenge our system and have appropriate political representation.
JUNETEENTH This month on June 19th we celebrate the end of Slavery in the United States. One June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX and announced the end of The Civil War and the end of slavery. Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers and family gatherings (Source: www.juneteenth.com/history). How did you celebrate Juneteenth? I spent this entire month reading and learning as much as I could about black history and culture. My favorite read thus far is The History of the Black Dollar. Such an informative book on how African American’s weren’t ever given a fair chance due to the structure of our system. The System has always fought against our progression and it still does today!
PRIDE MONTH Every year during the month of June we celebrate pride. Pride month is an opportunity to peacefully protest and raise political awareness of current issues facing the LGBTQ community. For example two Black Trans Women — Riah Milton in Ohio and Dominique Fells in Pennsylvania — were killed earlier this month amid an increasing outcry from activists to protect Black trans people. In addition to that, earlier this month The Trump Administration finalized a rule to roll back protections for transgender people. In 2016, the Obama admin changed federal health care guidelines to include gender identity in the definition of sex discrimination. This new rule removes that. Supporters say the reversal lets health care workers deny access to procedures that go against their religious or moral beliefs – like gender reassignment surgery meaning insurance companies could deny coverage. But dont worry, civil rights groups are suing. This is clearly discrimination. I just want the LGBTQ Community to know that I see you and I’m advocating for you as well. Change is coming!
NATIONAL HOME-OWNERSHIP MONTH This is a time where we need to prioritize building assets and strengthening our families and communities. Is there a reason why you’re still renting? Have you really stopped and asked yourself this? Is it because your credit isn’t in the right place, you’re undecided on what city you’d like to purchase a home in, or just stuck in a family curse? Honestly, I didn’t know the first thing about buying my first place. I just knew that I wasn’t building equity for myself by paying someone else’s mortgage. I’d honestly like to know why you may be renting. Maybe renting works better for you. Please send me an email!
I’d like to end with a question that came about during a Killer Mike interview that I watched. “If reparations were to be given… what would you ask for?” Send answers to melaniemechele@gmail.com. Stay Strong and Beautiful. And as always, thanks for reading.