By Dr. E. Faye Williams
By the time you read this message, we will already have said goodbye to 2023. It is my hope you have made your resolutions for 2024 that you really plan to keep! It is my experience that we make resolutions but forget them a few weeks later! I have counted myself among those who forget them, but I am determined to do better in 2024.
Times require us to be serious about keeping many of what I hope will be in your resolutions.
For example:
- Did you wish for the killing of our brothers and sisters who are still living in Gaza to stop immediately and may the hearts of those still living be healed?
- Did you wish for our brothers and sisters in Israel to have their relatives who’re hostages returned safely to them, and may their broken hearts be healed for friends and family they lost?
- Did you wish for all the broken hearts from 2023 to be healed?
- Will you do all you can do to prevent the senseless killing of our people, including our children?
- Did you pray for America to end homelessness?
- Did you pray for ending food deserts, and a way to feed healthy food for all to eliminate hunger?
- Will you take any steps necessary to truly make voting a right that is worth exercising?
- Will you work to make vot- ing easy and urge every citizen to know about and exercise their right to vote?
- Will you speak with your Members of Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act immediately?
- Will you contact your Members of Congress to urge them to make Rosa Parks’ birthday a Federal Holiday?
- Will you encourage your local, state, and National leaders to recognize the urgency of working on climate change?
- Will you work to get politicians to provide more support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities?
- Will you support efforts to continue taking down Confederate statues representing slavery and glorifying racist actions in this country?
- Will you support National and World Foster Care?
- Will you work to support women’s right to choose and take away that practice from politicians?
- Will you support efforts to find common ground for the U.S. and Cuba to work cooperatively?
- Will you work to end book bans and support educators who are taking a stand against banning books?
- Will you do all you can to improve healthcare for all?
- Will you work to end racism in every form and for all of our broth- ers and sisters no matter from whence they have come?
- Meanness against immigrants has got to stop!
- Finally, will you do all in your power to make this a kinder, gentler nation for all?
Inaction by our leaders has got to be called out and voted out if they can’t solve the problems. When I heard a seasoned politician like Lindsey Graham respond to Trump’s constant racist ranting about immigrants saying he wasn’t concerned about Donald Trump’s highly offensive rantings and poisoning the blood of this nation, I was shocked. Trump no longer shocks us, but Lindsey Graham is intelligent enough to do better. We have a lot of work to do in 2024, so no one is exempt from helping to resolve the craziness going on all around us. It seems these multiple cases against Trump will never be resolved, so we can’t help by wishing things away. Voting is more critical now than ever before and Black people can’t be mad and sit out the election because we don’t like one thing President Biden did. You need to vote!
Dr. E. Faye Williams is national chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. Contact her via www.nationalcongressbw.org.
