What is the Plan in Your Community?

 

Want to change social and economic injustices?  Then you need a plan of action.

Shaun King’s commentary  for Black America Web this morning emphasizes how a “blind loyalty” gets people nowhere.  However, a plan of action gets you results. In case you missed this less than 10 minute audio, here is the link for you to listen, share, and move to action:

Shaun King Talks Policy Ideas

Harriett Tubman, Booker T. Washington, and President Barack Obama were successful because they all had a plan of action!!  Likewise,  Adolph Hitler, the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party also had a plan of action!  With technological advances AND boots on the ground, you can plan, educate, empower and implement a customized plan of action with best practices, for the Top 5-10 (depending on manpower/volunteers) issues that cause Blacks, Browns, Native Americans, the working poor, functionally disabled, mentally challenged and other citizens who simply want equity. This can be done in each community across the country.

Harriett Tubman, the Pullman Porters, residents of Black Wallstreet (in Tulsa), Muhammad Ali, Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Maynard Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Oprah Winfrey, The Freedom Riders, and the Native American Code Talkers (to name a few) did not wait for a leader to emerge.  They knew Superman was not coming.  They all stepped up to do what they could to make a difference. So can you!!  Each of us can use our skills and talents to help a current organization, or start your own.  No cause is too small.  Jesus also had a plan. And, He trained twelve.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist, have a degree, or a title. If you can figure out how to go on vacation and navigate in a city or country that you have never visited, surely you can figure out how to make a difference in your neighborhood, church, or non-profit.  Or, start your own group.

As my dearly departed Godmother, Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow use to say, “If you are not at the table when plans are made, you are on the menu.”

Above: Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow (Dec. 7, 1924 – March 12, 2015).

It is time to stop talking about how bad things are. It is time to do something about it!! It is time to stop saying, “they ought to” or “the church ought to”.  Who are they?  Who is the the Church?  When is the last time you volunteered or worked on a community service project (in person or online)?

Gandhi famously said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.“

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

“Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

 

Atlanta’s New Mayor Will Be Known Soon

 

Regardless of which woman wins tonight’s election, Keisha Lance Bottoms or Mary Norwood, Atlanta will continue to be a good city. We have the opportunity to make it a great city when more of us regularly participate in meetings, forums, etc. that allow us to be informed and weigh in on decisions being made about our health, housing, safety and economic well being.

Remember:
1) “A closed mouth does not get fed.”
2) Most of what you need to know about city, county and school boards meetings is on public television (also available on your mobile device) and is kept in archives online. Televised meetings are repeated often (for those without a DVR).

3) You have to participate in the well being of your neighborhood.  It does not stay clean and safe by itself.  Good neighbors and productive neighborhood associations and Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) are what controls these things.
4) If you do not understand the connection between your vote and what our elected officials are doing; your vote and your neighborhood crime rate; your vote and your the amount of blight in your neighborhood; then you have a lot you need to “Google”. The answers are all on your mobile device. No mobile device? Try your “free” neighborhood public library. The librarian is waiting to help you find answers to all of your questions.

Did you know that you can tell whether a neighbor has high or low voter turnout by  how it looks?  Case in point:  If you drive through any neighborhood in the U.S. where all the lawns are pristine and there is very little litter (or none at all), with few exceptions, the voter is high.  However, if you drive through a neighborhood and there are lots of unkept yards, lots of blight, and litter; the voter turnout, with few exceptions, is extremely low.  The squeaky wheel always gets the oil.

Now, discuss that on social media and among your circle of friends.