Your Credit

I never cared much about my credit; that is until Free Credit Report.com began airing these commercials….

lol. Honestly folks I have always cared about my credit. It may not have been evident when I was a youngin’,  fresh out of high school and being tempted by credit card companies but I did care. I knew better, I just didn’t value my credit enough, back when I was offered credit cards by those companies that prey on newbies. I had heard the “Stay away from the credit cards” story from my mom a million times, but of course I, like many of you accepted these offers and five years later owed them around $4500 for a line of credit of $1000. 

 I along with many other young adults was so tempted by the offers from these credit companies that we couldn’t and didn’t turn them down. Also the minimum payment of $20 a month made the deal even sweeter. I mean seriously, who can’t pay $20 a month?  Well obviously we couldn’t or just didn’t because if so we wouldn’t have received letters that said the following:

This is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

The above account has been listed with this office for collection. Our client has referred your account to our professional debt collection agency for collection. Please remit payment in full in the enclosed envelope. If you wish to arrange payment by credit card or bank draft, contact our office at the telephone number listed above.

Don’t those letters piss you off?  Well if you are anything like I used to be, you would promptly tear them up and toss them in the trash once you opened them and realized that it was just those people harassing you about money that you didn’t feel you owed. After all, you were a child (only 18 or 19) when they forced those credit cards on you. You didn’t ask for them, they basically forced you to take them,  knowing that you were fresh out of high school, had no creditable job or income nor the wisdom to realize that these cards were not a good idea.

Almost ten years later you realize that not only were those cards not such a good idea, they were a very bad deal and so were the payday loans. Now, you also realize that you could have done better at paying your other bills that also went into collection. You could have done without that new furniture set that you were taken to court over after you stopped making the payments and you could have got your car fixed and kept up the payments instead of parking it in your grandmothers yard and getting a new one, regardless of the fact that you still owed payments on the one sitting in granny’s yard.

I say all of this to stress the importance of credit. When we are young, many times having good credit isn’t such a big deal to us, but as we get older and want something in life we realize that all of those little things we forgot or neglected to pay really do add up. All of the little things you got on credit along the way and never paid now have your credit shot. No one wants to extend credit to you anymore because you messed it up so bad so many years earlier.

If you haven’t checked your credit please take the time to do so. Don’t just check one, check all three Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.  Why is it important to check all three? One good reason is that there may be different things listed on each report. When I checked my credit at Annual Credit Report.com where they allow you to check all three, I noticed that some things weren’t listed on all three reports. While one report had more in-depth information on each item listed on my report. 

If you haven’t been actively tracking your credit, start now. If your credit isn’t the best, do as much as you can to repair it. Maintaining a good credit rating is very important.

Black Mondays

Black Mondays

The sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

                                                      

A year after the death of the beloved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the same city where he held protest for equality, injustice was still brewing. But the people of Memphis held steadfast to the dream of Dr. King and decided that they would not be moved. They would stand up for equality and the dream would live on.

In 1969 in the city of Memphis, TN over half the students in the school system were black, so why was the school board all white?

Even after the NAACP got involved the school board that represented a majority of black students remained all white.  The black community’s dismay with the lack of black representation on the school board led to what came to be known as Black Mondays. The participating students and teachers knew that the boycotts were risky and some were torn about a potential outcome,  but they were adamant on seeing a change.  The school boycott campaign began in the fall of 1969 and continued for approximately 5 Mondays.  The first Black Monday took place October 13, 1969 and over sixty thousand black students participated in the boycott by being absent from school that day. Each Monday that followed black students and teachers boycotted by not showing up to teach or attend school.  The current mayor of Memphis, Dr. Willie Herenton, who was then a principal, was the only principal to ally with the Black Mondays protest and walk out of school.

Black Mondays led to other boycotts including those of black employees of St. Francis Hospital, black city workers staying home from work and a boycott of downtown businesses.  The Black Monday Boycotts drew much attention and finally in November of 1969 the boycotts were called to an end by a coalition of black organizations when the Board of Education filed a lawsuit against some parties involved citing contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The lawsuit was dropped, but the point of Black Mondays had been made. The school system receives state and federal funding based on student attendance and with over half the students in the system participating in Black Monday each Monday the impact was hard hitting.

Black Mondays resulted in the addition of two black non-voting members to the Memphis School board and indeed paved the way for future black school board members.  Currently the Memphis City School Board of Commissioners is majority African American. (Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners)

Link from The Commercial Appeal Black Mondays Signaled a New Day  written by Wendi C. Thomas

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February 28, 2009 at 2pm The Benjamin Hooks Central Library  in Memphis, TN will be hosting a discussion panel to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Black Monday. The panel will include Maxine Smith, Dr. Vasco Smith and Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis, all civil rights activists who will share their memories of the historical boycotts.

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Freedom’s Sisters

 

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN will be showcasing the Freedom’s Sisters Exhibition from  January 24-April 5, 2009.

The Freedom’s Sisters Exhibition displays 20 African American women who have fought for equality and justice. Included in the exhibit are historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou Hamer and a host of other great women of color.

The traveling exhibit will also tour six other selected cities after its run at the NCRM of Memphis.

The women chronicled in Freedom’s Sisters are women who fought for freedom and equality. These women are part of our history, our present living and our future. These women were not afraid to dream, they lived life not only for themselves, but for the hope of a brighter future.

More on the Freedom’s Sisters traveling exhibit