The inauguration is only a few days away. Why don't you help out young women, and protest it at the same time? This inaugural protest is a great idea.


Also, I agree with this perceptive from the end of this series about black men.


"Finally, the ultimate solution is to deal with this life from the standpoint of true spirituality as opposed to pop culture. Spirituality involves an interrelatedness, a connectedness, the notion that you did not create yourself, as opposed to rugged individualism - the notion of a self-made man or woman. You can't make yourself. You certainly can't make yourself physically. You are the result of your actions, the actions of others and pre-existing conditions. People rising up out of the ghetto, inner city, cannot allow them to think they made it by themselves"

I agree- you can't change much by yourself. You need to connect to others, even if you seem to be alone. I seem to be a loner, but I am more connected than people who seem to have a lot of friends. You can't connect with people if you are creating a hierarchy of who matters and who doesn't based on superficial characteristics. You can't connect if you don't know who you are.

You can't connect with your community if you don't listen to the old heads. I don't say, you gotta do what they say, but at least have some history and context in your life. If you think everything occurs in a vacuum, and because a bad thing happened to someone, they are a bad person, how can you connect?

You connect by learning who you are, you connect by speaking honestly, you connect by showing others respect. When I get older, I feel that I will become a truly deeply connected person. As you can tell, I'm a book person- so I get my models from there. My so called 'patron saint' is Richard Wright. He educated himself with just a library card. I also admire and respect bell hooks, she has great ideas.

I think to connect, you have to find strength within yourself, and not be afraid. I want whites not to be scared of how they will have to give up unearned privilege for the reality of a good country for everyone. I want people of color not to be scared to take the next step to uplift their community. I want men not to worry about their masculinity, but on doing what's right. I want women to realize that they have power in themselves, not just in competing over a man. I'm really idealistic, but people who are idealistic are needed.