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 a 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 comfort and 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 my lesson, 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 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 my success 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, again, people who 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 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 
Content: Converse Print Ad

Anti-Black Racism is Profitable

Photo Source: Unknown

Here we go again... 

Anti-Black racism is alive and well and must be damn profitable.

How many people sat around a marketing table and thought long and hard that an image requiring little imagination to visualize a white klan hood and dangling feet of a lynch victim was an appropriate image to use for advertisement or sale of anything, especially a product widely marketed to and consumed by Black folks? 

How many Black voices were seated at that table or have they all been fired because diversity no longer matters? 

Who thought it an appropriate ad at any time, but especially at a time when Black folks are turning up as strange fruit hanging from trees across the nation? All who, by the way, are deemed suicides requiring no further investigation. Case closed. 

For the record, Black folks don't engage in the klan's favorite activity. Black folks are not lynching ourselves. Lynching, call it by its name...

Who thought this an appropriate ad? 

The company has since pulled this Converse ad but why was it ever released? 

In case you didn't know, Nike owns Converse. 

I don't know the numbers, but I'm going to very comfortably guess that very large segments of the consumer group for both brands are Black people globally. 

When I first saw the ad, my immediate thought was, this can't be real. I had to Google it to be sure. By that time Nike/Converse had cleansed the internet of all visual proof of the ad. Fortunately, social media had already captured and shared it. It will not just go away. 

Kamala Harris, a Black female candidate for president of the United States, organized an entire political campaign strategy centering Converse sneakers; 'Chucks and Pearls' was her slogan, undoubtedly boosting sales. Has she released a statement about this? 

Let us not forget just a few years back when Black people rewarded Nike with our loyalty spending our dollars on their products over other brands because of their very public business decision to support Colin Kaepernick who, at the time, was being blackballed for taking a knee in the interest of the Black community and protection of hard-won civil rights. 

While other folks were burning or discarding their Nikes, Black folks were buying Nikes in significant numbers. Giving the appearance of standing with Colin, therefore the Black community, proved quite lucrative for the company. They made billions playing Black folks then, and they're 'Just Doing It' again now. Of course, they're "sorry"...

The Congressional Black Caucus is meeting this weekend. Will this matter be discussed? Will they release a statement? 

There is no wonder about what would or will be the response of this present administration whose rhetoric and policies have served to incite heightened anti-Black racism. We can expect that any statement from them would be a celebratory high five. 

I remember as a kid, my first pair of name brand sneakers was Converse. My mother had five children, all who wanted a pair of Converse sneaks. Of course, she couldn't afford them. I remember going to the knock-off section in sporting goods stores to buy "slightly irregular" sneaks at deeply discounted prices. That's how more than a few of us got our Chucks in the 70s. They were the hot sneak that all the kids just had to have. 

This is not the first time Nike has swam in the dirty pond of racially charged water. They swim not alone, however. Numerous retailers can be cited that have blatantly insulted the Black community, pulled the ad, offered an apology along with a scholarship, or gave some Black person a prominent and highly visible job with no real power to appease the community, only to turn around and do it all over again (i.e. H&M, Dove, Prada, Gucci, and more recently despite an ongoing and highly effective boycott, Target). 

It is estimated that between 70 and 72% of the National Basketball Association (NBA) players are Black. These highly influential players drive huge sales margins for whatever products they simply mention or wear, much less endorse or brand. 

Nike is a main supplier of apparel for the NBA. Prominent players such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James have shoe lines with Nike. Have they released a statement?

Nike is a major supplier of apparel throughout the NBA and likely other sports. Has NBA leadership released a statement? 

How about the Black players? Have they released a statement, threatened a boycott, or are they being obediently quiet as they just dribble?

It must be profitable to insult the Black community, offer the obligatory oops', realize profits, extend a "heartfelt" apology, until they 'just do it' again. 

Obviously, there is no accountability or real consequence for offending Black consumers, who like Black lives, just don't matter...

Again, who thought this an appropriate print ad, now or even during the infamous postcard days of jim crow? 

Anti-Black racism is alive and well and seemingly remains pretty damn profitable.

Corporate Response:

On September 18, 2026, Converse issued a formal statement apologizing for the material, telling media outlets: 

"We're sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better."

(Source Google AI)

~ Miss Higgi Says,

#apologynotaccepted

What To The American Worker Means Labor Day?

There's something hypocritical about celebrating labor here in the United States. Our government and the 1% has never valued or respected the American worker upon whose back they earn their wealth and whatever level of productivity realized in the US.

America is a nation built on free or cheap labor. From the days of back breaking chattel slavery, to creation of American unions, which historically discriminated against Black workers denying them union membership, therefore the ability to work and feed their families, to the forced labor of children, exploitation of the workforce has always been the name of the game in the US.

Capitalism, also the name of the American game, depends on cheap or free labor. It also depends upon division of the masses between the classes and the races. The 1% lives to manipulate each these factors.

Recently, donald trump declared that American workers have too many holidays and should work more, as he golfs on more days than we can count.

We have a legislature that earns a healthy salary for working six months or less per calendar year for which they receive full healthcare benefits that they regularly vote to deny American workers. They are a body that never fails to grant themselves frequent raises while simultaneously voting to freeze the federal minimum wage at $7.25 since 2009, well below a living wage in the year 2026.

The American government further disrespects the American worker by repeatedly moving the goal post for the age of retirement presumably because American workers are not dying fast enough, surviving to reap the benefits of their investment reducing the government's ability to take risks with their money. Fifty used to be the retirement age. The government now thinks that 70 is closer to the appropriate age for the American worker to retire and collect our money they hoarded in the name of social security.

The same government has decided that not before 59 1/2, is the American worker capable of making decisions about what to do with the money they were forced to put in a 401K instead of the 1% employer providing a guaranteed pension.

I could go on but the point is clear. America could give a damn about the American worker. So it's kind of ridiculous for workers to celebrate the hypocrisy of Labor Day, a day the government gives American workers while exploiting them on the remaining 364 days of the year.

Labor Day simply marks the beginning of the end of a season. I hope your summer was good!

They Removed the Mask and Walked Away

A Facebook friend, Rodney Barnes, is The Mastermind behind this AI image which so accurately depicts the fallacy behind the facade of DEI. 

The way these corporations and other organizations walked away from DEI, so quickly, absent resistance, little to no pushback, tells you that their gestures were performative and the ability to stop pretending spelled R-E-L-I-E-F. They were getting paid megabucks to pretend so they tolerated the performance. Many performed well...

Their leadership teams and the make up of their rank and file told their true story. Why are all the Black Children in the Cafeteria Sitting Together? Why are all the secretaries and low level employees not white and all too often, the least paid no matter their position? We conveniently pretend to not know the answer to these questions...

Although DEI has become the buzz word for Black people or people of color, what most people did not know was that more white people were holding DEI positions than Black folks, and getting paid handsomely to do so.

So, when this administration decided to destroy all that is DEI, they displaced more white employees from that line of work than other folks. Maybe they did know the impact of their actions and saw this injury to some white folks as a utilitarian deed, minor casualties to be absorbed by some in the interest of the greater good to make America great again. 🤷🏾

Companies avoided backlash and public scrutiny by being performative in their commitment to DEI and making public declarations of said commitment that their private actions did not support.

It was probably killing them that they had to put up the pretense. So, when they were given permission to walk away, that's what most of them did. Without a fight, they picked up their toys, snatched off their masks, and simply walked away happy to have to pretend or perform no more...