We all in the African American community need spiritual shoulders to stand on as we embark on our quest to gain the full measure of absolute civic equality as well as economic equality. Ida Belle Wells-Barnett stood on the shoulders of Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman as she embarked on her journey. Ella Baker, whose insurmountable power to drive grassroots organizational growth was renowned stood on the shoulders of Ida Wells-Barnett as she embarked on her journey. Today, in our communities across the nation we have the ability male or female to stand strong on Ella and Ida’s spiritual shoulders as we continue to battle the forces of oppression and white supremacy. I salute both Ida and Ella today but most especially Ida Belle Wells-Barnett because she did indeed face insurmountable odds yet she battled until her very last days to uplift the lives of our ancestors.

No one who rises to the highest heights in their life does by their own individual merits, or efforts. It is always a team effort that encompasses the rise of individual or the group to greatness. You may even hear tell of people making the statement that they and they alone pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. You must dismiss that statement because it is a fallacy.The total illegitimacy of the statement provided by a person who feels that he or she alone is responsible for the success they have experienced in life has absolutely no merit.

Most prominently heard saying this are white people who said the secret of their success is that they had the individual willpower to overcome all the odds faced to reach personal success. That is simply a falsehood. In every aspect of life, we depend on others to support our dreams and aspirations. In many ways, the collective growth of minorities in this nation is even more surprising because legitimately many, especially African Americans are born into a situation where they don't even have boots to wear. Yet alone boots that have straps to pull on. 

So, on this particular Thursday morning I illuminate the words of Thurgood Marshall when he said quite emphatically that you owe your success to the support of others. We as a race of black people who were degraded, denied and ignored by the institutions of white supremacy as well as the supreme branches of government of this nation. We must depend on each other if we are to simply survive yet alone thrive. If we lift each other up, maybe just maybe each one of us in our communities will have enough bootstraps to hold onto while we attempt to reach the highest pinnacles of success. What we must do is just keep reaching together not alone.

"Joe Biden,you spoke yesterday of Lincoln’s words regarding America being a house divided. So Joe Biden why fix the mess white Americans who promoted white supremacy created. Once you take the oath of office on January 20, 2021. Finally give to African Americans the privileges and reparations we deserve because of the punishment and illegality they and their ancestors faced. Because between 1862, the year of the Gettysburg Address and 1965, the year of the Voting Rights Bill, America still maintained an evil system of neo-slavery. So, stop with all the nonsense, Joe Biden,you have had nearly 50 years to make right what is heinously wrong with America’s system of institutional racism. It’s time Mr Biden that action overtakes talk. "

#reparationist