The Way We Move; A Message to Black People

There is a lot to be said lately about the way Black folks are moving. Historically we are known to move to the beat of a particular person or organization's drum. Right now, that's not the case. Black people are just moving in unison under the direction of no one special person or group and I am lovin' it!

How are we moving?

Black people are not engaging in mass protests or street rebellions, of which previously we've been the face or at least on the front line of danger. We're letting other people take the risk and do the work. We're tired of not being heard and being taken for granted. So, we've stayed home and no specific person is telling us to do that. We're just moving on cue, almost by silent instinct.

Black folks successfully boycotted Target. No particular person told us to boycott Target, it just spread throughout the community that we were not shopping at Target and that's what we did. We didn't shop at Target.

Target tried to use Jamal Bryant to reign us back in. That didn't work so Jay Z rose to the task of leading "his people" astray. Shame on him and anyone else who supports tearing down any steps of unity or progress being made by Black people. His moves, seemingly made entirely in his interest, not that of the community at large, justify why his invitation to the cookout is in jeopardy. He seems motivated at lining his pockets at the expense of the community. Again, shame on him.

Black people, keep boycotting Target and anyone else you think disrespectful or undeserving of our dollars. 

Enter, the Asian community, another target of boycott by the Black community as we collectively embrace supporting Black owned businesses. Again, the boycott cannot be stopped because it is an unspoken directive commanded by no one person in particular. It's just the way we are moving. 

Keep moving Black people, keep moving...

The response to the Converse/Nike klan imagery controversy was swift and decisive. I expect that they, too, will see a decline in sales, certainly from the Black community.

Another sign that we're moving in unison without specific direction, is the overwhelming response to the release of Melania Trump's documentary earlier this year, Melania. Black folks received the message to go to Netflix and re-watch the 2020 release of Michelle Obama's six-year-old biographical documentary, 

Becoming, during the opening weekend of Melania. We heeded the assignment and smashed the ratings.

Becoming enjoyed an astronomical 13,300% surge with more than 480,000 views globally (330,270 US) and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 93%. Melania's cinematic project reportedly sold an estimated 600,000 theater tickets and received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 5%. It didn't matter that we'd previously seen Becoming. Absent instruction from any one person, Black people heard the assignment and responded accordingly. No matter how symbolic, the mission was accomplished.

What is significant about this new way that Black folks are moving? 

As stated, typically, the Black community moves at the direction of a person or an organization. We are the only community coerced or bullied into having a "leader", someone not always chosen by us, but designated to represent or speak for us.

Typically, Black leaders are easily identifiable and ripe for manipulation or control by powers not operating in the best interest of our community. Leaders who do not comply or who cannot be controlled, will be taken out physically, financially, have their credibility killed, or their reputation smeared. By any means necessary, an unmanageable or uncooperative leader in the Black community will be destroyed or discredited.

Conversely, compliant leaders are publicly rewarded with empty promises of powerless, but very visible, golden carrots or shiny goose eggs, intended not only to sway or impress the recipient, but more importantly, the Black community, enticing Black folks to "behave", yearn for, and sell one another out for, the same "reward".

Significant of late, is that we are moving in such a way that there is no easily identified leader of our community. That's unusual and likely off putting for those who watch and study us as they grapple with new ways to infiltrate, derail, manage, or manipulate us as a community. Still, Black folks are seen as an archenemy, as maverick "property", and they want their "property" back. You too, white women...

Black folks and the way we move will forever remain under staunch surveillance by those looking to oppress or exploit our community. That which opens the door for us to prosper and move successfully, independent of control, approval, or manipulation external to our community, will be compromised or destroyed.

Again, I am loving the way we move.

We are moving in quiet unison, and we need to keep moving this way. While you may read this and say, "yes, those are victories, but they are small and insignificant". Do understand the power of first acknowledging even our small moves as victories and then, be propelled by the cumulative effect of our small victories to realign your thinking to imagine the possibility of our collective moves to impact our thinking, our spirit, how we see ourselves, and ultimately, our understanding of the power of moving in unison rendering us less vulnerable for attack, be it from within or outside our community. 

Celebrate small victories to empower us, to keep the dream and momentum alive, to be reminded of the Way We Were to Inspire the Way We Move...

Midterm elections are today. Move in unison Black people. Get to the polls and Vote!  

Cynically Hopeful

Having lost my Mother to breast cancer almost 40 years ago (1987) at the tender age of 26, she was only 45, and still there being no cure despite zillions of dollars being raised, I am numb to wearing pink and joining the annual October breast cancer frenzy. Please don't invite me. I am admittedly a cynic who believes that in a capitalistic society, there is little incentive for a cure as there is less money, fewer capital gains, in a cure...

No matter, breast cancer is real and Black Women are reportedly disproportionately affected. Recently, I even lost a Black male friend to breast cancer. Like it or not, the disease is real and poses a serious threat to our community. 

Be it October or any other month, please be proactive and be sure to get your annual mammogram. Request an accompanying ultrasound if you have a history. Ultrasounds seem automatic in some other countries. While in Panama a few years back, I paid a whopping $40 for a mammogram with an ultrasound. I did not request the ultrasound, it was standard procedure notwithstanding one's history. Good luck even seeing the doctor for $40 in the US. Yes, I'm a cynic... 

Between annual mammograms, actively conduct self exams. Be assertive with your doctors. Educate yourself and be knowledgeable about your condition, or detection thereof. Don't shy away from getting second, or even third opinions. Be open to exploring non-traditional approaches. Tell your doctor to treat you medically as s/he would treat their own Mom. We know that we are seen in the medical field as less human, and more dispensible. 

Unapologetically advocate for you and your loved ones. If she is too tired or overwhelmed, do it for her. If not you, who? Daughters, be prepared to do a role reversal. Mom will thank you later.

Most important, be a source of support to all women dealing with the reality of the disease. I have a very dear friend on this journey right now... Loan your Sis a shoulder, be her sounding board, allow her tears to flow, catch them and then build her up because despite there still being no cure, there have been advances in treatment and survival is not as elusive as it was in 1987. I am a hopeful cynic...

Breast cancer awareness is important year round. Be aware and take care of you from October thru September!

Miss Higgi Says 

Edited repost: October 25, 2023

Vote Black People, Vote!

The video, click here or see below, showing an elderly Democratic female voter in Georgia explaining why she voted for Senator Jon Ossoff, a white male candidate, and not Keisha Bottoms, the Black female gubernatorial candidate. They, like her, are both Democrats. She voted for the white male republican gubernatorial candidate who vows that he will "govern like trump" and be trump's "favorite governor"... 

This woman's sentiments, even thise not verbally expressed, demonstrate why Black folks, especially Black women, are disengaged from these protests and all other acts of political disruption being led by people who claim they are just outraged and demand change. They don't want change. They are very comfortable with status quo, betting on what and who they know even to their detriment. 

Not only do they know the white man, even when he is donald trump, they also know that they're not trying to help Black women specifically, succeed or achieve, certainly not before them, to include our white woman "allies". 

Black women are to ride the bus, not drive the bus. She is meant to be seen in the rear-view mirror...

I will never forget in law school reading about the white women feminists who were so upset that their white brother was going to give the Black man the right to vote before her. They said horrible things about my brother which only confirmed for me why I am not, and have never been, a feminist. I knew that I wasn't a feminist before that day in Constitution Law, but why I am not a feminist was confirmed after reading the words of those feminists.

These people will not overwhelmingly vote for a Black woman and many are probably not going to vote for a Muslim man either no matter what they say and do publicly. Keisha Bottoms, Angie Nixon, and Abdul El-Sayed are not shoo-ins for their elections and they should be. Vote, Black People, Vote!

Even the establisment, old guard, Democrats are still angry that Mamdani won in New York City against their wishes. He did not kiss the ring. He and Angie Nixon are Democrats who won tough primaries, as per the will of the people, but still deserved party support evaded them, financially and otherwise. The extreme right slept on the possibility of Barack Obama but they are awake now. They're angry and they vote. Enter, donald trump...

White women will agree with everything these candidates say, know that a vote for him or her is in her best interest, get on TV or social media and say all the right things in support of the candidate, but she will get in that booth and vote for the person who she will later complain oppresses her. Remember, she birthed, raised, and sleeps with said person. He is familiar to her. He is her. She will continue to vote for and be complicit in his oppression of her, as she promises to show up as our sister in the struggle...

The first time I saw this play out first-hand was when I moved to Virginia in the late 80s and campaigned for Doug Wilder, the first Black governor of Virginia. We knew when we went home on election night who had won on the ticket from the lieutenant governor down. What we did not know was who had won the gubernatorial seat. 

What that said to me, essentially as a neophyte in politics, was that Democrats went in that booth, they didn't vote for the republican candidate or go against their party, but they didn't vote for the Black guy either. It was quite a telling lesson to learn for a young person just actively getting involved in politics but the lesson never left me. 

When we went to Governor Wilder's inauguration in Richmond, I remember that some people were so upset that he'd won and/or that Black folks were so happy and celebrating the victory, some of them actually came to the hotel we stayed at and cut tires on cars. That was 1989, this is 2026...

This is America y'all. It always has been and it always will be, which explains the tolerance of donald trump, he is white and he is male. No matter how incompetent, corrupt, or grotesque, they know him. He is in their tribe. Many will protect and excuse him even when he brings harm to them and the rest of the tribe...

Don't stay home relying on other folks to do it for or with you, get out there and Vote, Black People, Vote! Your vote is powerful and it matters which is why some folks will stop at nothing to diminish or deny your right to exercise it. 

12 Days until midterm elections. Vote early and take someone with you! 

~ Miss Higgi Says 

The video: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DNUrpLkQo/

She's Not A Lawyer

 

trump's new press secretary has gotten caught with her pants down in her claim that she is an attorney. As she has not passed the bar, she is not an attorney, not even in China as she has also presumably claimed.

When I was a student at Howard University, I had a brilliant professor. She holds four impressive degrees including a JD. She has it all. So when I failed the bar the first time I was devastated and of course, I sought her out for comfort. That's the beauty of attending an HBCU, the ties are strong, always available, and never broken, they are for life! So, of course I reached out for encouragement. 

I had failed only by a few points which made it just that much more devastating because I've got to do this shit all over again for maybe three points, I don't remember exactly, but it was miniscule. 

So, when I called my brilliant professor, I couldn't believe my ears when she told me that she, too, had failed it the first time. After processing the shock of her admission, I felt less ashamed, and less critical of myself. I appreciated her being forthright and felt consoled knowing that I was in good company. 

My professor went on to tell me the only person who never passes the bar is the person who stops taking it. She told me to take it again. I heeded her advice, took the bar exam again, and rode that horse right across the finish line to victory. 

Failing the bar, however, was a humbling experience because it is so very public. Everyone who goes to law school is thought to be "smart", if for no other reason, because you got in. It doesn't help that law school culture feeds this stereotype. 

Wallowing in embarrassment and self-pity, one can easily lose sight of the significant accomplishment of having survived law school and forget that you are smart and capable. Now you have to contend with everyone knowing you did not pass the bar, your law shool professors and colleagues, your family, friends, and all too happy enemies, and anyone else who wants or needs to know. Membership in the bar is public information and all too easy to access which makes it even more bizarre that this woman would not be forthcoming about not passing.

I never did pass the Pennsylvania Bar, however, which was the one I really wanted. Taking the bar is an exhausting experience. You have to really want to do it. I guess I didn't really want to do it...

Sometimes I admonish myself in self-talk that until I actively engage in the practice of law, I shouldn't allow me to call myself an attorney, figuratively because literally, of course, I'm an attorney and have the bar number to prove it. I beat myself up because I truly believe that not practicing is a disservice to my community, not to mention to myself because I'm still paying for this shit. But my community needs people like me to vigorously practice law and I know that. 

This chick, however, makes me wear my Esquire badge even more boldly. Yes, I'm an attorney, practicing or not, I completed law school, passed that stupid ass bar exam, and I should not take those successes lightly.

It's amazing to me that so many people who have never taken a bar and who probably couldn't pass a bar if their life depended on it, sit in judgment of those who don't pass. That some of us respond, internalizing not passing as a failure that somehow negates or discounts that they've just completed three rigorous years of law school, which is no easy task, is sadly, also amazing. Block out the noise, which is probably mostly in your head, stand tall, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done, and take the exam again! 

I was so impressed to read in Michelle Obama's book that she had not passed the bar the first time (Becoming, p. 154). I had to read it again. With that admission, I was even more sold that our forever First Lady, is a strong and confident Black Woman. Society has taught lawyers, no matter our success, to not talk about not passing the bar. 

Passing the first time has ridiculously been equated to some status of honor. Law schools use first try passage results as a marketing tool. Lay people, who again, have never sat for a bar exam, will sometimes ask the question too, as if an attorney who had to take the bar more than once is somehow less competent or less qualified. Make that make sense...

The bar exam, as with most standardized tests, in no way predicts one's ability to apply the skill and perform the profession. The tests are often criticized for being culturally biased and some folks have been trained to test well. These exams were implemented as barriers to keep certain others out of said professions. The bar exam is intended to keep the practice of law white and male. Blacks nor women were welcome. 

trump's press secretary got ensnared in the net cast by men like him, her brethren, if you will. 

Until she passes the bar, according to the rules of her tribe, she cannot call herself an attorney. She simply holds the title of JD, which, by the way, is a very impressive title and degree that opens many doors affording one several distinctions of credibility. Deserved or not, one is stereotypically assumed to have a capacity for intellectual and mental stamina and the ability to think quickly, logically and critically in many subjects, even beyond the study of law. It's actually quite fascinating to witness.

Folks also get stuck on which law school did one attend, as if that matters. It's just another ridiculous qualifier that, at the end of the day, is less relevant than believed. You're a lawyer! Nobody much cares where you went to law school when you win their case. 

If you didn't pass the bar, take it again and again until you conquer that last hurdle in the game of becoming a lawyer but don't hold yourself out as an attorney unless and until you pass the bar.

This woman does not appear to be the sharpest knife in the drawer and she took one of the hardest bars. The California bar exam ain't no joke, ask kim kardashian who might consider attending law school first since passage credentials are not for sale, no matter the bidder. I digress... 

trump's new press secretary omitted a truth that is too easily discoverable, which makes her obviously incompetent, even at lying. So far, she's just another "dumb blonde" who will fit right in with the trump administration.

~ Miss Higgi Says 

Happy 10th Anniversary NMAAHC!

It's 10 years y'all. I was there for opening day. Were you? I saw so many people I knew. We showed up and showed off in honor of us! It was a fantastic day! People were very happy, excited, bursting with energy, joy and pride, Black Pride. Ungawa! ✊🏾

This rogue administration is trying to erase us and our history, which we know can never happen. We're not going anywhere, nor will our history be erased, distorted, or rewritten. We will tell our story. Poke your chest out far and tell our story loudly and proudly. Tell it far and wide and every chance you get. 

Make a donation or get a membership. Support the Museum! 

Be sure to get to DC and visit our beautiful building before they destroy it. She is the swan of the Smithsonians. 

Miss Higgi Says, thank you Mr. Bunch. Enjoy your retirement. Job Well Done!!! You made us proud! 

✊🏾❤️🖤💚✊🏾

¡Mississippi Goddamn!

 

Photo Source Unknown 

Mississippi is STILL Mississippi...

Emmett Till's murder trial took place on September 19, 1955. After 67 minutes, the all white jury delivered a "not guilty" verdict on September 23, 1955. 

Protected by double jeopardy, defendants roy bryant and j.w. milam openly confessed to the brutal murder of the teenage boy, four months later in a January 1956 interview with Look magazine. 

Ironically, or maybe not, seventy-one years later, in the same state, and almost to the day of acquittal for Emmett's murderers, on September 21, 2026, in keeping with tradition, a presumably all white grand jury declined to indict anyone in the seemingly deliberate death of Nolan Wells. 

Despite issuing 132 subpoenas and hearing 43 witnesses, the grand jury concluded that there was insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing, racial motivation, or foul play and found the physical evidence consistent with drowning, in absolute contradiction of initial reports ruling out a diagnosis of death by drowning by TWO pathologists.

How many of those 43 witnesses lied in this matter as did carolyn bryant, the unscrupulous, untruthful "victim" in the Till trial? Same state. Same mindset. 

Mississippi is STILL Mississippi...

The DA's office delivered news of failure to indict to the Wells family via text message on the evening just before making a public statement. The audacity! They are cold and heartless beings which is why I have no doubt that releasing the news so close to the anniversary of the Till acquittal was intentional and deliberate...

There is no statute of limitation on murder. May the Wells family ultimately finds peace and the Black community ultimately find justice in Mississippi and the rest of the United States...

🙏🏿  Emmett Till, 14

🙏🏿  Nolan Wells, 18

!Mississippi Goddamn!

Say their names:

🙏🏿  Medgar Evers 
🙏🏿  Fannie Lou Hamer
🫶🏿  James Meredith 
🙏🏿  James Chaney
🙏🏿  Andrew Goodman
🙏🏿  Michael Schwerner

Real Talk: When Does America See Herself?

Given her present state of dysfunction and absolute turmoil, I honestly do not know how America goes through this and does not stop to do some real serious introspection of herself and her "why". Really I don't...

As much as we claim to hate donald trump, and trust me I do, he has mostly exposed flaws that have been historically accepted and tolerated in a system that is, and has been, broken for a very long time. 

donald trump exposed, exploited, and took full advantage of America's most vulnerable weaknesses. He exposed and took full advantage of America's innate opposition and undeniable aversion to goodwill and humanity, as is proven by her history. Who didn't understand the meaning of "making America great again"? Of course, you knew. We all knew...

This country was built on racism. It is at her very core and freely flows in her DNA. 

Racism is as American as baseball, apple pie, and The Star Spangled Banner (Higgi-Ism). Believe it!

Racism trumps all for America, pun intended. White People will endure and suffer the worst of deprivation. As long as that suffering is in the interest, in name of, and supportive of racism, anti-Black racism specifically. She will spite herself to uphold racism, it doesn't matter. trump understood that and took advantage of it. 

Racism is a mental health disorder... 

The republicans have effectively been consumed by the beast(s) they fed. They energized their base by feeding them flames of hate, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia for years. Their party has now been consumed. They are no more... 

The Democrats sat back pretending that still we are in days of decorum and civility where statesmanship matters and dignity  has some value. They pride themselves on taking the lone traveled high road, traversed by only them. The repugs' aren't up there as they could give a damn! The Dems allowed the republicans to play with fire as though it wasn't a dangerous game and no one would ever truly get burned. They proceeded as though the beasts being fed were harmless pet [issues]. 

So here we are, the whole damn country is being consumed by distractions of the beasts, multiple fires are ablaze, and everyone put in place to save and protect the nation, is sitting on the sidelines, scatching their heads and other parts, pretending not to know how to contain the beast or put the fire out...

Again, how does America go through this and never stop to assess what the f*** is wrong with her? When does she ask herself why so many Americans were so willingly drawn to this level of hate and corruption? What is to be said about those who so easily caved, didn't resist, or who rationalized away America's return to the worst of her sins? 

How does America not examine her own pathologies that she has assigned to others so to avoid seeing herself? 

For America to see humanity in her victims, Black Americans specifically, it requires that she see the inhumanity in herself (Higgi-Ism). She will never be ready to do that and will therefore maintain her tolerance of those hell bent on distorting, erasing, or rewriting her story and that of her victims, no matter the cost.

It speaks volumes that America could not ward off an internal attack effectively rendering her destroyed from within. It is proof that she was never a super power but perhaps instead, a super bully with no real bite to even protect herself. The lies we will tell ourselves...

They say that there's nothing they can do about maga and the likes of donald trump. Trust me, if donald trump was a Black man or even a white female, they would have stopped this s*** a long time ago. He is the epitome of deplorable in every deplorable sense of the word, but he is white, he is male, and he will, therefore, be tolerated...

White people, including white women, will always tolerate and protect the white male. The white woman gives birth to the white male, she's married to him, he's her daddy. She's not going to turn her back on him no matter how bizarre, morally and/or emotionally bankrupt, no matter how corrupt. donald trump is all of that and more, but he is white, he is male, and so he is...

Every person who supported, enabled, and dare I say, who voted for or cheered him on, should be held accountable. At a minimum, they must never be forgiven or allowed to forget...

We stand where we are in 2026 because America has never reconciled or acknowledged her past. Unless and until she does that, in a way such that she is brutally honest with at least herself, we will remain or be here again in the future, if in fact, there is a future left for America to be had. Certainly, she will never be the same. Be that good or bad, how does America not examine herself? 🤷🏾

~ Miss Higgi Really Wants to Know... 

Photo Source: Unknown 
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