I STAND for Opportunity…
I believe Lincoln can display compassion at its finest
and foster the dignity of those in need
by fighting for equal opportunity
not by forcing equal outcome!
We live in a land of great opportunity!
We are a people of great generosity!
Either can be taken advantage of.
One definitely leads to a chance at prosperity!
The other potentially leads to the chains of dependency!
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Whether to help people in need,
be they domestic or from overseas,
there is no argument or debate!
The question on the table
is how to do it and not enable
while helping them put food on their plate!
Although some strategies are controversial,
there is one that is transformational,
and that one should be at the top of the slate!
By it, Frederick Douglass went from slave to statesman,
and Liz Murray went from homeless to Harvard!
Education is THE central component of a transformational strategy
that changes lives
and profoundly shifts the trajectory of families
from surviving to thriving!
Just ask Dr. Yvonne Thornton and her sisters
whose uneducated, under-resourced father understood the transformative power of education, sacrificed to put his daughters into a position to learn, and in the end, saw most of them earn MD and doctorate degrees!
He dramatically shifted the trajectory of his family in one generation… through education!
As did my own parents… who didn’t own a toothbrush until they graduated from high school. Raised in a small, under-resourced community in South Carolina. Dad enlisted in the Air Force and worked part-time jobs on the side while Mom worked factory jobs at night. All to put me and my siblings in a position to get the education we needed to build a different life than what they grew up with. They too wanted to shift the trajectory of our family!
And it worked… in one generation!! With a sister graduating from Chicago University Law School; a sister earning her Doctorate, becoming a professor at Washington & Lee University; and a third sister earning her CPA. And you know my story.
My heart for Lincoln would be to see us raise the bar in our care for our neighbors in need from enabling them to survive to empowering them to thrive, taking full advantage of the opportunity our country provides!
As mayor, I would seek to engage all sectors of our city in a collaborative effort aimed at unlocking what I will call “transformational compassion!”
And in the years to come, we would, together, be able to celebrate our own “homegrown” stories that compete in splendor with the ones shared above!
When there is a failure to thrive, I believe it comes from one of three issues! “Want to issues!” • “How to issues!” • “Able to issues!”
Want to issues!
- stemming from a lack of character
- addressed through accountability
How to issues!
- stemming from a lack of competence
- addressed through education / training
Able to issues!
- stemming from a lack of capacity
- addressed through temporary, targeted resource supplementation
If elected mayor, I would bring a deep conviction that together, we can figure out how to become a city where people come to thrive!
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Oh, one last thing, if you are unfamiliar with the stories I referenced…
“Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” by Frederick Douglass
“Ditch Digger’s Daughters” by Yvonne S. Thornton, M.D.
“Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard” by Liz Murray
