Giving A Voice to the Voiceless

Ten years ago I was a normal poor woman from the Hood. I worked hard to provide for my family and struggled all the time. I lived through worrying about my sons surviving the violence that was common in my hood and I worried about the temptation my kids would face with selling drugs. I also prayed that someone would save the hood. I knew that no one was listening to us and that we did not have a voice.

best friends Jen and Carol

I love Hillary Clinton and was excited she was running for President. It was the media's unfair treatment that angered me enough to start blogging on Hillary sites. It was on these sites that I realized that I had a voice one rarely heard. I began talking about Poverty and violence in the hood and discovered that not only did these women listen they cared. I met the White, middle Class Republican woman who became my best friend on a Hillary site. I talked freely about being poor and worked hard to dispel the myth that poor women were sad, long suffering victims but strong women who were mostly happy despite poverty. My other mission was to shed light on Community Violence.

Because my friend Jen was a Republican and not the racist boogyman that most people in the hood thought they were I figured she must not be alone so I began befriending Republican women on Facebook and I was right not only were there more Republicians who were not racist the vast majority were not. Like their Liberal sisters I found them to not only care about what I was saying about poverty and the violence in the hood they learned about what life was like living in the hood. They cared about poverty and believed their ideas would help. A lot of their ideas were actually good ideas that the hood liked. Carol was in this group. She is actually a real time friend of Jen. She has become what my granddaughter Aleara says is my second best friend.

I realized also that I was a voice that was rare and not often heard and I started talking about more issues like mass incarceration for non violent drug offenders and the problems of public education and how often times Educators ignore us and how many fall beneath the cracks.  Issues I wanted to see change.

I continue to work hard educating women on what impact things like Prosecutors and Public Defenders pushing Plea Deals on terrified poor people who are innocent. My nephew who is serving time in Prison for a crime he didn't commit, encouraging me to continue to be not only his voice but the voices of the men serving time with him. Its a tremendous responsibility but one I must do because the hood needs not only my voice but others like me.