It’s Black History Month Ya’ll

February is THE shortest month of the year. Just 28 days most years. And here we are 7 days into the month of February 2017. And the fact that this is Black History Month is being overshadowed by the Mean Tangerine, the Apricot Pol Pot,  Comrade Baby Hands,  and his shenanigans du jour.

Folks are in a frenzy sharing posts that say to call here and there and to write and to show up and, and, and……..

But some of the info is wrong and when corrected people share it anyway and call the wrong places and do ineffective actions. I had a post shared with me asking me to call the mayor here in Columbus and thank him for the words he shared about immigration because he was getting pushback. When I told the person that what he said meant nothing but sounded nice and that some of the pushback he was getting was from our side because he has not declared us a sanctuary city, I was dismissed and they asked another person who lives here. We should not celebrate half-assed actions particularly when lives are at stake but I digress.

As an activist and an organizer I am so excited to see some of you activated that have never been active in politics before, but before you wear yourselves out let me share a few practical tips:

1. We cannot have another election. There is no precedent for that and it would create a problem for future election if we just threw out the ones we didn’t like.
2.  Be careful what you are asking for when asking for impeachment. I think that Pence was the choice all along. He is worse than the Mean Tangerine because he has the congress as his friends and remember he wants to electrocute gay people and strip women of their rights. MT did not chose him, he was chosen for him and it was by design
3. Stop with the petitions and causes sign ups already work on actions that actually make change
4. Get your finances together- this is the MOST important.  The resistance is going to take money to happen. You are going to need money.
5. Remember that MT and his gang of brethren what to keep you distracted, use some discernment and make sure you take care of yourself.

NOW back to the topic at hand. IT IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!

IF you really want to know HOW to do this, read about Bayard Rustin who was one of the architects of the civil rights movement. Read about Charles Hamilton Houston, the lawyer who chipped away at the Jim Crow laws and gave us many of the rights we are again fighting for today.

WE do them a disservice when we march and don’t have an end game in mind. We do them a disservice making all of these calls with no plan on what we will do if the calls do not work.

THAT is your homework assignment.  You have to know where we came from in order to know how to protect the freedoms we have come to enjoy.

WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER! But we also have to be educated.

Charles Hamilton Huston source: http://www.chhprelawinstitute.org/