Health Care Reform

Please read, and consider signing the petition. I did.

Dear ___________________.

The Senate is closing in on a health care bill with a public health insurance option, a key ingredient of meaningful health care reform. It’s great news.

But conservatives and insurance companies are fighting hard against the public option, so Senate leadership has compromised by including an “opt-out” clause, which would allow individual states to choose not to participate in the program.1

There’s a real danger here. In the stimulus fight, we saw Republican governors and legislators refuse federal dollars for political gain. The same thing could happen with health care reform, with everday people in states like Lousiana, Alabama, and South Carolina — states with large Black, poor, and working-class populations — left out.2,3

You can help. Join us in calling on the White House and Congress to make sure that, in the end, we have a true public option that serves all of us, regardless of where we live:

http://www.colorofchange.org/healthcare/?id=1604-649824

We understand the need for compromise and negotiation, but we also want to make sure that there is no community that gets negotiated away in the process.

Another compromise that was floated, a so-called “trigger,” would be far worse than “opt-out”–it would basically kill the public option through indefinite delay. Right now a “trigger” looks less likely than the “opt-out,” which is good.4

But the “opt-out” has problems too. The public option will keep insurance companies honest and make health care more affordable. That’s critical because in many states, one or two insurance companies dominate the whole market.5 These are the states that need the public option the most, and allowing local Republicans to opt them out–just to score political points–makes no sense.

Including “opt-out” may be the best way to get a bill through the Senate with a public option–but that won’t be the end of the process, and it doesn’t mean “opt-out” will be in the final bill. The House still needs to decide what exactly will be in its health care bill. And once both the House and the Senate have passed legislation, they’ll have to negotiate with each other, and the White House, to reconcile the differences between the two bills.

That’s why we need to make it clear that we’re watching and that we will demand a public option that’s available in every state. Please join us in sending this message to Congress and the White House, then ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/healthcare/?id=1604-649824

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
October 27th, 2009

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

https://secure.colorofchange.org/contribute/?id=1604-649824

References:

1. “So what is the ‘opt-out’ compromise?” Talking Points Memo, 10-26-2009

http://tinyurl.com/yjffquq

2. “Demand Republican governors allow unemployment aid to flow,” ColorOfChange.org, 3-5-2009

http://colorofchange.org/govs/message.html

3. “Public option opt out denies help to those who need it most,” Fire Dog Lake, 10-8-2009

http://tinyurl.com/yks5sxz

4. “A trigger for the public option — a plan to kill the public option,” Health Care for America Now blog, 9-4-2009

http://tinyurl.com/n69mbk

5. “Health care competition: Insurance market domination leads to fewer choices,” Center for American Progress, 6-2009

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/health_competition_map.html

What are YOU Doing Here?!

My Dear Dad stopped by my apartment on last Saturday. He needed for me to type up something for church; he is the Chair of the Trustee Board.

Anyway, I discovered that I needed a new printer cartridge. So, Dear Dad and I took a short drive to Staples, which is just up the road in the neighboring community, but, it is a predominately White middle/upper-middle class community.

On the way back from Staples, driving through the aforementioned community, Dear Dad commented that Back In The Day, a Black man would be tailed by The Police, pulled over, and told that he had a burnt-out tail light. In other words, “What are YOU doing here?! According to Dear Dad, unless said Black man (or Black woman, for that matter) could justify his/her presence in said community, i.e. house cleaning/maintenance work for a White family, he/she could be harassed.

This is not to say that the aforementioned doesn’t continue to happen in said community, but, apparently it was worse Back In The Day.

They’ve Been White All Their Lives…

I was venting to my Dear Mom. Since I have no husband/partner to which to vent, and to appreciate my trials and tribulations as a school teacher, my Dear Parents and Dear Brother get the pleasure and honor.

Anyway, I was venting to my Dear Mom about feeling the underwritten and unspoken need to “teach” White people, and then some, such as their seeking my “advice” on this, that, and a third. I told her that I am sick and tired of “teaching”. Besides, White people have had the right to read long before Black people ever did.

In other words, there is a plethora of literature on the subject of race, and, any other topic, for that matter. So, get a book, read it, and then we will chat. One of the things I dislike the most is trying to engage in a conversation on the subject of race with an ignorant, ill-informed White person.

My Dear Mom, jokingly, said, “They’ve been White all their lives…”

Exactly.

Some Unrelated But Not Random Thoughts

It’s been several days since I posted here. I love this blog, but, the matters of daily living have prevented me from writing as often as I need and would like.

Which perhaps isn’t necessarily a bad thing; I have several things which have been on my mind. So, the days away from the blog have generated what I hope will be thoughts worthy of your time and mental energy.

1. Anxiety HURTS. Really. It does. Eight months of therapy have taught me how to link my anxiety to a specific event. So, I am more adept at identifying the cause and the source of my anxiety, and the panic which sometimes follows. The thing which I don’t like, and which emerged as a new dimension of my anxiety this past summer, is extreme pain in my neck. So extreme, there have been times when I have been unable to lower my neck.

2. Being Incognegro: It’s working out quite well, actually. Im staying off the email server of my place of employ. I’m also flying low under the proverbial radar. It’s made life at my place of employ far less stressful, and, I am able to focus more on my personal life, which has been neglected in some areas, particularly in matters of relationships. But, as they say, that’s an entire blog in and of itself.

3. Columbus Day: I don’t address it, really, with my Onsies and my Twosies. Unless, of course, a student raises the issue of indigenous peoples, which formulate significant segments of the population in the Spanish-speaking world. In many Spanish-speaking countries, at least in Latin America, anyway, Columbus Day is known as “El Día de la Raza.”. It’s a very complex and complicated topic, one which many adults have not even remotely decompressed. For my own part, I think about the issue, more as the Columbus Day holiday approaches. While I do need to be able to discuss the topic in an intelligent way with my students, it is something about which I am not able to value neutral. For all of of his navigational talents, Columbus was a scumbag, in his times, and in ours.

That’s all I have for now. Perhaps I should make this a regular feature…

Oh. No. You. Don’t.

During the annual middle school retreat on last week, a colleague asked me about a student. The conversation went as follows, which went from the proverbial sublime to the ridiculous:

Colleague: Where’s X?
Me: X? (saying WTF? to myself) He’s at Y Prep.
Colleague: Really? I was wondering why I hadn’t seen him.
Me:(Hoping I didn’t display too much of that face my Dear Mother tells me gives away exactly what it is that I am thinking and feeling) He hadn’t planned to return.
Colleague: Really?

Now, there are some things you need to understand about the aforementioned situation. The colleague in question can be brainless and clueless. But, what’s even more astonishing about the aforementioned is that the student in question is Black, and one of the most talented athletes, gifted students, extraordinary student actors, and all-around good citizen that my current place of employ has ever seen. But, even if he weren’t all of the above, he is Black, and, there aren’t many Black students in general at my place of employ, let alone Black males – of any kind – adult or student. But, what’s even more astonishing still is that it was no secret that the student question would not return, and was exploring other options. But, the coup de grâce: (chuckling as I write this) It took the colleague in question six weeks to recognize/question the absence of the student in question.

It’s not only one of those things that makes you go “Hmmm”, it’s also one of those things which…you guessed it…Makes Me Shake My Head.

BTW: This is the same colleague who wanted to use my sleeping bag as a seat cushion at the retreat. I said, albeit politely, Oh. No. You. Don’t.

I Am *Not* The Hired Help

This was something I used to say, and quite frequently, at my former place of employ.

I guess it was not only a race thing, but also a class thing: White middle and upper-middle class kids, and a Black middle class teacher. I take a lot of pride in what I have achieved, and what my parents have helped me to achieve. In fact, so much so, I viewed students leaving me a mess to clean up as something of an insult.

Not that I have anything against domestics; my grandmother was a proud domestic for many years. However, cleaning up after White folks wasn’t something I was feeling, and certainly wasn’t what my parents had sacrificed so much to see me do.

That said, I took a great deal of pride in having a clean, neat and orderly classroom. Therefore, when I said to the students, “I’m not the hired help”, it meant that they needed to help out a little, and clean up their own messes.

Looking back on the situation now, I don’t think that the students made a mess simply to piss me off, or as a class/race power play. Besides, all I had to do was to ask them to pitch in.

A Reluctant Black American Princess (B.A.P.) Muses

It seems that the only two men I can honestly rely and depend on are my father and brother. The other men in my life have proven to be fails in this area.

Perhaps this says more about my choice in men than it does about their flaws. Especially since that a woman’s father establishes the pattern for the sort of man she will choose to date, and, possibly marry.

Did I mention that my father and brother are the only two men who have ever taken me to a really nice restaurant, or have bought me really nice jewelry?

So, why do I choose men who, for the most part, have no money, or are nothing at all like my father? This is the enduring and elusive mystery of my love life.

The one boyfriend who actually bought me anything really nice was the man with whom I was involved when I was in my early 20s. We dated for two years. He bought me this funky set of beaded earrings, with a matching choker. Perhaps it was handmade. It was sort of nice, but, I wasn’t feeling the style or the color. I remember my mother having little to say when I showed her the jewelry, and me trying to be excited about the only thing the boyfriend-at-the-time had bought me. Dear Mom wasn’t impressed. Especially since she, my Dear Dad and Dear Brother had bestowed upon me beautiful jewelry, such as diamonds, pearls and yellow gold. And, being an April-born Aries girl, diamonds just so happen to be my birthstone. I am a lucky girl.

By the way: I am not a golddigger. I am perfectly capable of buying myself nice things, and, in fact, I do buy myself nice things on a regular basis. It just would be nice for a man to be as nice to me as by father and brother have been. So, I admit it: I am SPOILED. A princess. Maybe even a B.A.P. Which, actually, isn’t the worst thing I can be.

I am not feeling much like a feminist at the moment. But, that’s O.K. too.

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Happy October!!!

This will be the last post I write for awhile. I am off on retreat, to the wilds of a rural area in my state, with about 65 middle schoolers. The kids are great. It’s the adults, or at least some of them, anyway, who get on my last nerve. But, it’s all about the kids, right? So, it will be fun if I focus on them.

Anyway, I did a Google search on breast cancer and Black women. Since I am a Black woman, it’s a topic of great interest to me. However, the study I found the most disturbing is this one.

I hope you will take a moment to click on the links. If you, or someone you know, is due, overdue or has never had a mammogram, encourage them to get one. Take them if you have to.

Some inspiration: About two years ago, I went for my annual mammogram. While there in the waiting room, I met a lovely Black woman. She is also a 20-year breast cancer survivor, and advocates annual mammograms. In fact, a mammogram saved her life. It doesn’t get any better than this.