My Sisters' Keeper: Planting The Seeds

I am compelled to talk about being my sisters' keeper, i.e., having their backs; helping them carry a load; speaking on their behalf when they are unable or powerless to do so; or simply just being there because in numbers there's power, etc., etc., etc. I'm talking about women of color, black women, African women, African-American women, African and mixed-blood women--all my sisters.

I was raised to and I live my life in the service of others; and at times, it can be a lonely, time-consuming, extraordinarily brutal and painful existence. But nevertheless, I continue to do so. I exit [some] battles scarred and raggedy, but grinning--if you can imagine--because I won and survived, and got a rush from it, really! Steady and ready for the next round or an entirely new battle. If this is what I have to do to make or keep situations/circumstances smooth and accessible for my sisters, then I accept the challenge. (I've known this about myself since I was a little girl. For the meek I use to fight bullies in the "Deep South" if I couldn't reason with them. Game over! I have a profound intolerance for injustices of any kind--it's in my DNA.)

Why do I feel this way?

Because always there exist a need. Let me repeat that several different ways : There is always someone, somewhere who needs assistance, somehow for whatever reason. Women need support: Be it emotional, financial, or simply encouragement or validation--we got to have it.

There are those of us who draw strength and courage from adversity, and I'm one of those women. I fear nothing except my OB/GYN (for whom I have to open my legs); my dentist (for whom I have to open my mouth); and the IRS (for whom I have to open my whole financial history)--and I HAVE TO TRUST that they know what they are doing to the most vulnerable aspects of my being. Beyond that, bring it!

There are those of us with access to resources (human and otherwise) to remove obstacles from the paths to economic or social upward mobility, and I am one of those women. I utilize every resource I have access to to assist anyone I encounter or who is referred to me with a need (problem/issue)--even when I don't have the time, I find it. I owe this to my people.

I know God prepared me for service to mankind because it started early on. He put me in path of some of nation's greatest planners, bankers and financial experts, economists, lawyers, politicians, judges, people in law enforcement, business owners, ministers, and neighborhood mothers--the most important of them all. I sucked the life-knowledge out of every last one of them. If/when any of them shunned me, I'd show-up again anyway, call everyday, even approach their friends, family, and colleagues in my efforts to get them to help me help somebody else. Some of my greatest friendships that exist today started-out this way. One judge (federal court Judge Blanche Manning) stated to me one day: "I let you in my life because I knew you were not going away." I was quite amused.

I've seem every kind of problem a person can face--from the alley to the White House, literally; and I've used every resources I have--from the alley to the White House--to help resolve those problems/issues.

Unfortunately, women like me (who are willing to go beyond the extra mile or fight to get it right) are few and far between. But those of us who possess the know-how, resources, and the courage to trail-blaze, must not let-up--not for a minute. We cannot afford to get tired. (I'm not going to say "discouraged" because I don't know what that is.) We have to connect our networks, select the best-qualified leaders, and keep it moving.

On a lighter note: People ask me all the time: "How did you get so smart? How did you learn so much? What makes you tick?

My response was/is always the same: "From getting my butt kicked!"  I learned a little something from every shellacking (i.e., "easy or decisive defeat") I'd ever been on the receiving end of. Then I set-out to seek inclusion into those individuals' circles. I told all of my defeaters that I was impressed by the manner in which they defeated me, and would very much appreciate being mentored by them so that I could learn how not to make the same mistake(s) in other areas of my life. I recognized all of them as vital human resources that one day will be needed to help me help others.

Nothing Ventured. Nothing Gained
A lady I met at my hairdressers' salon--with whom I became friends with--contacted me one day in blubbering tears about having been turned down for the home equity loan at Bank One--where I had referred her. She also informed me that the loan officer located at a Wisconsin Bank One location was not only insensitive and rude to her, his vitriol at his colleague (the branch manager at the Bank One Chicago-based branch) and my friend /human resource was glaring. (My friend needed the loan because her daughter was graduating from grad school, and her [paid-in-full] home was in disrepair.)

We were baffled by this because through one of my human resources, her credit report(s) were completely sanitized, clearing the way for her to purchase a new car without a co-signer.

The Wisconsin-based Bank One loan officer said to her: "You have a lien on your home, and it will take to at least 120 days to get that cleared up. So for now, your loan is denied. Call me in 120 days." Then he slammed the phone down."

Well that rang my bell.

I got on the phone to the Recorder of Deeds office and asked one of my [human resources] what we needed to do to get a resolved lien removed from her property. Within 5 minutes, the lien was removed. We called both the Chicago-based Bank One branch manager and the Wisconsin-based Bank One officer to advise that the lien was just removed. But the loan officer scoffed: "Bullshit! Then hung-up the phone. He could not believe we got a lien removed within 20 minutes of his last call with my friend and his colleague.

By now, I'm in my "Let me slap this white boy out of my way" mode.

I composed and faxed a 3-page, well-articulated letter to Bank One Chairman Jamie Dimond. First I established that I am a tenured Bank One customer--all the way back to First National Bank of Chicago and now Bank One. A customer with an impeccable track record regarding [paid-off] loans, banking, etc., who had never so much as bounced a check, or made a teller-assisted withdrawal. In chronological order, I explained what happened with my friend's loan and how she was treated., as well as the Bank One branch manager.

The following day, I received a call from an Executive Vice President working directly under Mr. Dimond advising me that Mr. Dimond was in receipt of my letter, and was "on top of the matter."

Later that day, I received a call from the Chicago-based Bank One branch manager [my friend/human resource] telling me that Jamie Dimond showed up at the Jeffery Manor branch and told everyone they "were not going home until they pull every loan application at that branch. Then he called loan officer Mr. Scott Peterson at the Wisconsin branch, cussed him out and fired him over the phone. Then he personally instructed my friend, branch manager Diane Thompson to approve my friend's loan at a 4.00% APR, as well as authorize a credit card with a $35K line of credit." Diane indicated that Mr. Dimond was enraged that a customer would be treated that way. She even told me that the black man [I had sent to her] who owned a McDonald's "also received the $250,000 loan he was seeking."

The point is this: Never, ever allow an obstacle stand in your way when you trying to climb the mountain. And if you need to call your friends to help you, call  them! Become or return to being your sisters' keeper. We are in crisis mode--around the world--and our sisters need us.