Community Speaks!

Brenda Jones Holmes: Please encourage our youth to embrace the educational opportunities available to them. Be aware and informed. Develop critical thinking skills and adopt a worldview that includes you. Go forth in love, contribute and make a difference. The United States is not perfect, but we have more opportunities to make individual change than anywhere else on the planet.

Shelley Fisher: Teach our young people the meaning of character, grace, and the importance of family and education.

Troy Keller-Houston: People better start listening to parents and grandparents. They have been through this before, and survived it. A lot of us aren’t built for what we are getting ready to go through. Listen — and be obedient — to those who have been there before you.

Abriana Tuller: Now is the time — more than ever — for the black community and other minority communities to unite and and work together on the challenges we share. We cannot stand against a potential threat if we ourselves are fractured.

Bruce Milam Jr.: Moving forward, we should open more businesses, make real-estate investments, support more black-owned businesses, start corporations, and get more financially literate. The saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Therefore, with Donald Trump as President of the United States, do as Americans do. President-elect Trump owns businesses, has real-estate investments and corporations. He will make it easier and put fewer taxes on these items because he also benefits. Why not get a piece too?

Angel D. Washington: Black people must push forward to make huge strides in their personal and professional lives, like they have never had to before. This should encourage us to sharpen our focus on being better and doing better — professionally and personally. Make moves, shift players in order to get to one’s destination while things are still the same. We have no idea what change is coming.

DeLisa Macklin: Pray. This is going to be a challenge. All that we know to be true behind the screen is no longer hidden — although it never really was. We need to stay focused because your whole mind will be required — not the relaxed and free mind. Many nationalities do not agree. We all can relate with the concept of “painting all with the same brush.” All will continue with distorted power rearing its ugly head. We must remember God has the only final word. But I will say, “When will we wake up as humans and address the madness in numbers?” A closed mouth won’t get fed. You might be surprised who supports fairness and equality. There has never been progress without sacrifice.

Mary Cromwell: Pray for President-elect Donald Trump. He is still human with a family and children of his own. I would hope he doesn’t do or say anything to jeopardize our lives including his own family. As a people of color, we have gotten comfortable with the baby steps that the government presents to us. Then, when we get knocked back down with an unjustified murder, some sit back and wait for someone to save us. We have become brainwashed cowards waiting on one person to follow. It’s time for people to understand who they are and what they are capable of. The government is very calculated.

E.J. Miller: We must understand two things in order for us to make progress in this country. Business and emotions don’t mix. Even though we often face issues that cause emotional pain, we must push past it and become more strategic instead of reactive. Secondly, we need to realize that President-elect Donald Trump is not the target. He is only a puppet for the masters that sit behind the scenes and make the real moves. So we must stop losing valuable time being distracted by him and all the other racist propaganda. Have we not yet learned that protests and the boycotts are not even close to being effective these days?

Patricia Wright Snowden: In all things, acknowledge the Lord — and everything else will be added.

Mike Jackson: The black church conglomerate should drop its sinful pride and publish Bibles, Sunday school books and literature that is relevant to black Christian history and its future. Although the black church remains relevant, many Biblical truths are still hidden. Black professional athletes, musicians and entertainers: consolidate and use your resources. Own something at the highest level, so that the world is your consumer — and you’re not being consumed by others who “own” you.