On Anne's Mind

Greetings from a very snowy, SE Michigan. The snow here is up to my knees and a daily ritual is chipping snow-packed, icy "platform shoes" off the bottom of our horses' feet.

But that's nothing compared to the millions who are facing bitter cold with no electricity or heat and dwindling food and water supplies in multiple southern states overwhelmed by historic winter storms. I hope you will keep them in your thoughts and help if you can. 

As discouraged as we all are by the pandemic, the political divides that have torn so many friends and families (mine included) apart, and now this winter weather crisis, my spirits have been repeatedly lifted by numerous examples of inspiring Black women rising up to help heal and lead us at this critical moment of national vulnerability.  

February is Black History Month in the United States. 

When I take time to reflect, I think of Stacey Abrams. After narrowly losing her 2018 election bid for governor of Georgia, she poured her energy and skills into raising millions of dollars to organize and register hundreds of thousands of voters. She is now the leading voice on voting rights and a formidable political power. 

During the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer, I discovered how many of the growing numbers of women leading U.S. cities are African American, including the mayors of Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington, DC. Seven of the 11 female police chiefs in major cities are African American. 

The fact that the first woman to finally shatter the elusive vice presidential "marble ceiling," Kamala Harris, is a woman of color is just more evidence of the growing wave of black women rising. 

And my last, but most definitely not least, compelling example is 22-year-old, youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman who both challenged and inspired us on Inauguration Day with her stunning poem, "The Hill We Climb."

Time magazine put Gorman on the cover this week and featured an in-depth Q&A conversation with the equally inspiring Michelle Obama. How can you not be inspired by a 22-year old who has already learned enough about her capabilities and gifts to tell a former First Lady, "I'm learning that I am not lightning striking once.  I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon." 

The events of 2020, from violent deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police witnessed by millions, peaceful protestors supporting Black Lives Matter tear-gassed and beaten, and the disproportionate toll the pandemic has taken on African Americans have all impacted my feelings this year about my country's black history to be remembered and being written today. 

One of the ways that I'm trying to have the backs of these impressive leaders who are helping our country at this moment of pain, conflict and vulnerability is by using my POWER UP WOMEN podcast to amplify the voices of other fantastic black women leaders making a difference, including my new co-host Dana Harvey.

Here are a few of our favorites POWER UP WOMEN podcast episodes of particular interest this month: 

Sybil Morial, a legendary Louisiana civil rights activist and author of Witness to Change: From Jim Crow to Political Empowerment and mother of Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League.

Robin Terry, CEO of the Motown Museum and great niece of founder Berry Gordy, on the untold story of the Women Who Helped Make Motown Great.  

WNBA athletes from the Atlanta Dream who defied their team owner and used their collective voices in support of Black Lives Matter and Georgia political power. 

You can listen to all of these POWER UP WOMEN podcasts episodes and lots more wherever you get your podcasts or through my website. I hope you'll listen, subscribe and share it with your networks. 

Stay safe, stay kind, and get vaccinated as soon as you can! I'm still waiting. 

July 3, 2020     Auburn Hills, Michigan USA 

This weekend is usually a joyful celebration in my country. The 4th of July is a national holiday, full of fireworks, flags and patriotism to commemorate the signing, 244 years ago, of America's Declaration of Independence from Britain. 

But I don't feel like celebrating. Instead, I feel a combination of shame, horror and fear. 

Shame, for my country's history of land theft and violence against the Native Americans who called it home for centuries before Christopher Columbus allegedly "discovered" it. 

Shame, for the way this country was built on the backs of slaves and the violence, terrorism and rampant discrimination against African Americans that continues to this day. The USA's moment of reckoning over racism, which has triggered weeks of Black Lives Matter public protests and confrontation with police, is long overdue, with 15-26 Million Americans taking to the streets. 

Horror, for the aggression and violence by police and white citizens toward unarmed black citizens. It's been going on for centuries  But now, incidents such as a Minneapolis police officer pressing the life out of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds are being caught on cell phones for all the world to see. It's horrifying. 

The images of black American men being violently beaten, shot in the back or suffocated are horrifying and heartbreaking to watch. But they are only symptoms of the disease that is eating away at America's soul. All you have to do is to consider three recent incidents, now witnessed by millions throughout the world, to know that there is something very wrong with America. 

First, Amy Cooper, a young white woman in New York's Central Park was asked to put her dog on a leash by a black man (who was bird watching). Instead of following the park rules and complying, she called the police and played the desperate damsel telling them, "I'm being threatened by an African American man."  She knew exactly how to play our culture's racial cards. Click here to watch. 

Second, unarmed Black Lives Matter demonstrators marching through a gated community to protest at the home of the mayor of St. Louis, Missouri were threatened with weapons by a husband and wife guarding their mansion.

The third incident occurred less than 10 minutes from my home in Oakland County Michigan. An irate white woman, irritated over a verbal dispute, jumped out of her car with a loaded revolver and pointed it at an unarmed African American woman and her teenage daughter. You have to watch it to believe it.  The woman and her husband have now been arrested and charged with felonious assault.  It could easily have been murder. Click here to watch. 

But most of all I feel FEAR. First, because the COVID-19 pandemic is out of control in the United States with no solution and no national leadership in sight. Partly, because too many Americans are refusing to wear masks, because their distorted idea of freedom is more important than any responsibility to other human beings. 

Finally, I'm fearful for the future of American democracy.

 Our problems didn't begin with our current president. The kindling has been piling up for decades. Our 45th president simply lit the match and continues to fan the flames of hatred and fear. 

I think of my country these days as that of an alcoholic on a self-destructive path. For those who love her, it is paintful to watch the USA stumbling toward rock bottom, as the world observes, in stunned disbelief. 

But here is what gives me hope. Throughout its turbulent history, the United States has re-invented itself several times.  Each re-invention was ignited by crisis. 

My country is in the grips of a health, economic, racial and leadership crisis. I believe there are better days ahead, because we are a resilient nation that has lost its way, not its heart. I guess that's worth a few fireworks.