On Student Loan Debt and System Design

The student loan debt ruling was shared with the masses this morning. You can likely guess the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling without having to go and look it up.

🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♂️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏽‍♀️

And there goes the possibility of millions of U.S. Americans being able to break cycles of debt and poverty in their lifetime and generations to come. And all because they wanted an education to improve things for themselves and their families. That's what we were told to do, right? Take out loans that have grown increasingly more predatory over the past thirty years with little to no governmental checks and balances to go to college to get degrees that we might barely earn a living with, if we're lucky, just enough left over to spend the next fifty years of our lives trying to repay them while trying to eat, pay our bills, take care of our mental and physical health, and save money to help the next generation seek an education without the shackles they witness us unable to break.

The beat goes on.

And it's all by design in a country whose decision-makers have openly let it be known how they feel about the masses being educated, especially the poor and underserved, the melanated, and those whom the original sins of this unceded land have rendered invisible and subhuman.

I guess most of us best get back to budgeting. September will be here before we know it.

On Looking Both Ways and Frog-Based Evasion Maneuvers

I look both ways when I cross the street. Even when crossing a one-way street, I look both ways. Why?

Because some of y'all think you're driving in the right direction until you run someone over. Then you expect the instant gratification of instantaneous forgiveness for doing the bare minimum to atone for your actions. And when you don't get instant gratification, your sincere apology devolves into blaming the person you ran over for being in your way and getting run over.

Some of y'all know you're not driving in the right direction, and don't skip a beat in your forward movement when you run someone over. And when you're asked to atone and do better in the future, you can't help but unleash anger you feel is justified toward those you've run over. Hell, sometimes y'all hit reverse and run those you've already hit over again.

And some of you realize you're not driving in the right direction but think you can go the wrong way just this once. You know that no one will notice or hold you accountable for your actions. You’ve got privilege on your side. Besides, it's not that big of a deal, right? So what if you go the wrong direction and graze a few people? They'll be fine. The people you've hit? They need to get over it. And if they don't want to "get over it" and expect you to be accountable for your actions? Well, they're blowing things out of proportion. It's not like you killed them or anything, right? They can walk it off!

And many of y'all are going in the right direction and still running folx over. And instead of staying with the person you've run over until help arrives, y'all put the pedal to the floor and get the hell out of dodge. I mean, you've got a reputation to maintain. You're a good person. You donated to causes last year and marched in your city after George Floyd was murdered. You're one of the good ones. You can't have people out here thinking you don't care if you harm others. So what if the person you just hit is trying to get back to their feet and looking your way, expecting you to take responsibility for your actions? If they only knew the kind of person you are, they would understand this was just a mistake. Never mind that you did the same thing a week ago. You're a good person, dammit!

So, of course, I look both ways when I cross the street, even when crossing a one-way street. What kind of fool do you think I am? Do I look like Boo-Boo the Fool to you? What do I look like stepping off the curb just because the light turned green and expecting some of y'all not to run me over after centuries of watching people like me, people who are just trying to cross the damn street, getting run over and receiving no justice?

Some of us spend our entire lives trying to get across the street with as many of our parts, emotions, and faculties intact as possible.

And some of y'all are out here playing Frogger.

Some of y'all need to change more than just a dollar for four quarters.

A Sunday Thought for White People

A Sunday thought for white people: If you've spent the last 3-5 years or more going to “diversity” and anti-racism and white supremacy dismantling trainings while reading a zillion books on these topics, yet you still automatically jump to defensive maneuvers, white fragility and violence when you or another white person you know is called in or out for their conscious or unconscious hateful words or actions then you need to call it a day because you haven't or are unwilling to learn how not to be a perpetual danger to Black folx, melanated folx, and the Global Majority.

You're not learning or integrating anything you're exposed to or reading into your daily life. All you're doing is inadvertently making yourself more dangerous to Black and Brown folx, to melanated folx. Because you’re enmeshed in white supremacist ideology and scared of acknowledging and processing how you do and have harmed melanated folx, all you're getting from all the books and trainings are additional weapons to wield against the Global Majority when you feel “in danger” and a false sense of superiority over other white people. Until you’re willing and able to do the work, you're going to need to digest the fact that you are going through the motions for kudos and clout. And you expect melanated folx, the Global Majority, to provide you those kudos and co-signs. And that kind of performative nonsense is for you, not for me and mine like so many of you like to claim it is.

Do me a favor: don't do me no favors.

Go read a Nicholas Sparks novel or something.

On Genus, Species, and Names

It has never been lost on me that white people will name their kids after the scientific name of a plant species or animal genus, yet act like correctly pronouncing my name is akin to climbing a snow-covered mountain with no equipment.

White people: if you can correctly pronounce the names of your favorite strains of cannabis and mushrooms then you can pronounce the names of melanated and Global Majority folx.

P.S.: My name is pronounced ˈferō or ˈfārō. I prefer the latter over the former, but I ain’t mad if the former happens because some regions of the world pronounce my name as such. There you go, white people. No excuses now. You’ve got a full-on cheat sheet. You get it wrong after this? You might as well gon’ head and admit you’re deeply entrenched in your white supremacist colonial ideology.