Be Thankful

By Aswad Walker
Defender
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://defendernetwork.com/

With all the madness going on in the U.S. and the world, we can be forgiven for feeling pessimistic at times regarding where we’re headed as a human species. White nationalism and anti-Blackness are on the rise globally. Women are losing their rights as human beings while old, white men (and the women who support them) strip women of their God-given agency. Black people have seen our “allies” leave us high and dry, even though they still worship Black athletes and entertainers for bringing joy to their lives. And the hyper-wealthy are poised to remove all guardrails formed to protect Planet Earth, leaving the most important issue, our environment’s well-being, in a precarious state. Still, our best path forward is to be thankful. Living in a state of gratitude and thanksgiving opens people up to powerful and positive possibilities closed to us when we’re wallowing in the Sunken Place. Gratitude and thankfulness are superpowers because they supply us with hope. And if you didn’t know, hope is literally spiritual plutonium; it’s that powerful and necessary for our lives and our well-being. So, find your “why” to be thankful and extract all the joy and goodness out of it that you can. We need it.

WHITMIRE PLAN TO END HOMELESSNESS

Houston’s Mayor John Whitmire recently announced his push “to end homelessness.” And though others have mentioned the difficulty of this issue, Whitmire responded, “It’s not a moon shot. It’s not rocket science. It’s us coming together.” Whitmire’s plan prioritizes “reducing the number of people sleeping on the streets” by making it illegal to sleep in public spaces at night, and doing so with the coordinated efforts of multiple city departments. The plan also involves creating 12 “civility zones” which are not places for the unhoused to sleep, but rather where they can seek mental health resources and get help with housing. The plan will rely on $70 million from local, state, federal and philanthropic sources and used for outreach, diversion, housing and shelter support. Of that, $25 million is said to come through city funds. Though the start date for this initiative hasn’t been announced, Whitmire’s team says once it is, everyone in the Houston area defined as homeless, a number which that team estimates to be roughly 3,200 within Harris, Ft. Bend and Montgomery counties, will be housed within 30 days. Stay tuned.

YOU MAD? YOU SAD? OKAY

The calls from all corners of society for Black people to get over the Election 2024 loss are coming fast and furious. Some of those calls are from well-intentioned folk who contend dwelling on the Trump victory (and all the nastiness attached to it) will only do more damage to our mental and emotional well-being. But others making this demand of Blackfolk could not care less about our state of mind. They just want to gloat about their ability to re-elect someone with 34 felony convictions. A person who bragged that his actual “business plan” is to refuse to pay people who he contracted and then wait them out in court. A business “genius” with six bankruptcies to his credit. A U.S. president who attempted to overthrow the U.S. government… while still in office. But calls for Black people to move on aren’t being heard, because the angst Black people are still talking about is so loud and strong. Just check the response to the Defender Roundtables on this topic. I say there are no wrong answers regarding how Blackfolk proceed at this moment. We have the right and responsibility to find our own way.