YOU! HAVE THE POWER | Dr. Ellen Brown

Democracy Prevails…What’s Next?

BY DR. ELLEN BROWN

Are you PROACTIVE? Enterprising, energetic, take-charge, making it happen motivated, driven, judicious, foreseeing, engaged. DOING.

Or are you REACTIVE? Responsive, sympathetic, receptive, reactive, listening, understanding. PREPARING.

As you can see, both are significant and incredibly important in the development and carrying out of action for change. The year 2021 is a new beginning for the change the majority voted for in 2020. Just as you need two forces to move forward in motion, two forces are required to move forward toward change. Now is not the time to high-five and celebrate the work that went into the change; it is time to plan the actions that must take place from this day forward. NOW is the time to create the model — one that the rest of us will follow to accomplish change and lead to a better America for all of us.

On the table for the ruling party? Higher minimum wages, universal health care, quality education, affordable housing, clean energy, economic development and job creation, to name a few. Civil rights for all includes closing the divide in the civil rights of Black and Brown people in particular where it fails: criminal justice reform, immigration and disability, to name a few. Knowing the issues that we fought to bring to the table through the Biden-Harris ticket, now is the time to stay “woke” and keep marching forward with voices that demand to be heard.

Let it be known that all is not yet well just because a change has come to Congress and the White House that promises attention to civil and human rights for all — including those who historically have been, and continue to be, targets for injustices.

In the November 2020 issue I shared a list of suggested actions you may consider to make a difference that changes circumstances. One of them is talking about your frustrations. Find outlets and individuals who are engaged in Change and have conversations. Go to public meetings, listen to radio talk programs to learn the topics of the present. Join — or create — talk groups within your families, churches, neighborhoods, work groups to find out the opinions of others. This is how change happens. Michael Jordan took an old quote and brought it forward: “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

Dr. Ellen Brown is an affiliate faculty member at Regis University, Denver. Contact Dr. Brown at ebrown.nci@gmail.com