What is the Plan in Your Community?

 

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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.”

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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.”

 

Students “March for Our Lives” Across the U.S.

With school shootings happening  across the U.S., today many student led marches numbered in the 10s of thousands.  Here are pictures from our Atlanta march.

With so many people out, hundreds of volunteers  were on hand to register and help voters update their voter information in preparation for Georgia’s March 22nd primary elections.

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Volunteers were from over a dozen non-profit organizations that included:  The People’s Agenda, 9 to 5, GALEO, and the Atlanta Urban League.

The deadline to register to vote for Georgia’s May 22nd primary election is April 24th.  Georgia’s general election is Nov . 6.   To register to vote online, change your address, and to get your sample ballot, visit:  www.myvoterpage.com

 

or:

“Georgia My Voter Page
https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov
Voter registration status; Mail-In application and ballot status; Poll location; Early voting locations; elected Officials; registration information on file with the county office; a Sample Ballot” and more!!

Printing your sample ballot will allow you to see and study your ballot BEFORE you vote. Take it to the polls with you so you can vote the entire ballot!!