Words from the Late Sister Trojan Pam.

 

 

TrojanPam says:

January 31, 2014 at 3:50 am

@ AJ

I agree that trying to raise healthy children who feel loved and valued is a difficult task for non-white people under the system of white supremacy. This is why it’s so important to share valuable information rather than present “feel good” information.

And that is a major problem, how we avoid unpleasant truths and issues — all while we are still catching hell in the real world. Of course, I understand this need, since I have it, too.

At the same time, I don’t see how we can solve a single problem we have be it economics, education, family, children, etc., without solving the problem of racism.

We can do our best to plan for and raise our children — and the system will derail those efforts — because it’s DESIGNED to do it.

And until we deal with that reality and oppose it with constructive thoughts, speech, and actions, nothing will change.

 

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Trojan Pam says:

April 19, 2017 at 7:08 am

I will be the first to leave a comment by admitting that I am also “guilty” — if that is the right word — for being MORE of a consumer than a producer. I tried many home-based businesses over the years — mail order, photographic business cards, flea market seller, A.L. Williams multi-level marketer of insurance (for which I left a good government job, bragging about not working for anyone else (and a year later I was relieved to find another “good government job.”)

My last “venture” so to speak was writing four counter-racist books which I sell and promote on this blog and to be honest, those types of books don’t sell very well SO I have to keep a job to make ends meet and a roof over my head.

Ah well… .

Over the years, I ran up credit cards for things I didn’t need (and some things I never wore or used). Things I didn’t have the cash to pay for meant I couldn’t afford it, but I ignored that nagging feeling that I was messing up and continued using cards to finance my lifestyle, knowing another paycheck was right around the corner.

A word to the wise and not so wise:

Anything that requires credit because you don’t have the cash to pay for it (other than big purchases like homes and cars) probably means you CAN’T AFFORD IT (and might not NEED it).

I finally got myself down to a small amount of debt but even that amount is like a milestone around my neck. I hate debt now, but I know that a shift in attitude could send me right back to using cards again, but I seriously doubt that will happen because it’s hard to owe so many people money when you hardly have enough for yourself.

Now, some of you may be able to afford a lot of debt due to your income but JUST THINK about how those dollars could be better put to use than buying stuff you don’t need.

II know it’s nice to live in a big pretty house full of nice things with a TV in darn near every room, and carry an overpriced I Phone (that cost Apple less than $20 to make using slave labor), and drive a really nice car, and wear clothes and shoes and carry purses with rich white people’s names on it (who don’t appreciate your business), and sit in nice restaurants feeling all prosperous among people who wonder what you’re doing there (??) and staying in nice hotels (i admit I love a nice hotel room!)

but at the end of the day, who really gives a flying (I won’t say the last word)?

People really don’t care what you wear and drive and live in (they really don’t)

And after you get those two to five seconds of envy you think you’re getting from strangers, nobody’s thinking about you or your car or your clothes or your house except those who are secretly hoping you lose it all.

Are those the people you are busting your butt trying to impress?

Because the need to impress is a sign of self-esteem damage and growing up BLACK will do a number on your self-esteem, making you super self-conscious of the image you present — good or bad — to the world. Totally understandable. I suffer from it, too,

What troubles me most is not JUST how we spend our money (consumers) but that we don’t PRODUCE anything and some of us never think about what a precarious and dangerous position that is.

That makes us a PERMANENTLY DEPENDENT CLASS OF PEOPLE who cannot feed or clothe or supply even our most BASIC NEEDS

and that is NOTHING to be proud of. In fact, it should scare the S out of us

but it doesn’t.

I hope that something Dr. Anderson says will be a spark to thinking differently. I am going to post more videos like his in the hopes that some seeds will be planted

We (and that includes ME) must stop being the planet’s biggest CASH COWS — meaning we are the most exploited and disrespected and disenfranchised consumer class on the PLANET — blacks who live in America.

We can do better. We built BLACK WALL STREET, an economic miracle of the early 20th century with our own movie theaters, homes and businesses (that WE built ) and this happened shortly after 400 years of slavery. We were totally SELF-SUFFICIENT. If you’ve never heard of it, google it.

Now, in 2017, we are trapped in a different kind of SLAVERY, one of mind, body and spirit that is guided by MATERIAL THINGS WE DO NOT PRODUCE.

IT IS TIME TO CHANGE OUR FOCUS from being CONSUMERS to PRODUCERS and to find a way to circulate our dollars among our own communities — which means black business people MUST LEARN HOW TO BE better business people who respect their customers and offer great service and products.

The same way some of us do for the white businesses we work for.

as my post is long enough, I’ll leave it at that