Sisters,

Happy Labor Day! Many of us are fortunate to have a day off from work, yet millions of Sisters are at work today, or at home wishing they had a job. Let’s take a moment and consider that we are all in this struggle together, no matter your situation.

Welcome back! I hope you have all been well and enjoyed the summer break. WE CAN is raring to go and looking forward to the months ahead.

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I have a confession to make. I am hard-headed. The kind of hard-headed that got me a soft bottom sometimes when I was a kid. Most of you will know what that means. My hard-headedness means sometimes I’ll stick with something until it no longer serves me. Until I hurt to my core. Some of you are in this place right now. You are angry and hurt about what is happening in our country but not yet ready to get involved. Civic engagement or ‘political activity’ that doesn’t bring about immediate change seems even worse than complaining to anyone who will listen or worse doing nothing.

Other times my hard-headedness means I’ll fight to the death for someone or something I care about deeply. Some of you are here. You are marching, calling, writing, signing petitions, posting to everyone, and doing what you can to get your family and friends to join you in your civil disobedience.

No matter where you are on the hard-headedness scale, if what happened this past week doesn’t cause you to rise up and do something, we need to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting, and you need to wake the hell up!

The time is long past for customs and courtesies of a more gentile past. The dark side is showing us almost daily that they are not here to play. Our advocacy must meet the moment and counter the forces seemingly hell-bent on rolling back our civil and human rights.

For the next several months, I intend to write about all the reasons why you need to up your game. If you are already civically engaged, I hope I don’t annoy you too much. If you are not very active, I intend to try and convince you to get in the game.

Think about the events of just this past week. How is your life directly affected by the actions of the Texas State Legislature to take away a woman’s right to choose? Think the Supreme Court’s decision not to stop Texas from violating the right to an abortion doesn’t impact you? Have you wondered how bad it must have been for the prosecutor in the Ahmaud Arbery case to be indicted for misconduct? Are you concerned about climate change, as evidenced by the massive storms like Hurricane Ida and the lack of collective action needed to save freaking humanity? Did you see the news report about the Social Security Trust Fund running out of money sooner than anticipated? Does it concern you that Social Security is the ONLY source of income for more than 25 percent of Black women?

On this Labor Day, please embrace an ‘each one, teach one’ type of attitude. Be the change that you want to see in the world. The change WE NEED in the world. Because if we don’t, we could find ourselves in deeper trouble.

Please join the WE CAN Facebook Group so you can stay up-to-date on any actions you can take and find other Sisters across the country. When you visit the group, let us know what city you live in and what types of civic actions are taking place where you live. If nothing is happening, let us know that too, so WE CAN help you get things started!

Join me in the hard-head club, and let’s draw a bold red line in the sand and let the dark side know that we mean business!

In solidarity,