Goin' In: Respect is the Word

Dr. Joyce Brown

I respect people who step up, step in, and keep moving forward through complex problems to make positive changes at all levels of the community. These are people who assess situations, the actors involved, the potential outcomes, and determine if their skills and energy can help achieve real results rather than adding to the noise and dysfunction.

Our current political polarization has set most people up with ideological solutions—left versus right, black versus white, males versus females— and the list goes on. This simplistic analysis forces people into boxes that leave little room for analysis, engagement, or alternatives, leading to never-before-thought-of solutions. Real change doesn’t emerge from silos.

The truth, for me, is that real changes require adding to knowledge and skills to achieve a new result. My best-case scenario is reflecting on the impact of the last sixty years of my life. At the beginning of the sixties, a young black woman, if she was lucky, could expect to attend college to obtain a teaching degree and maybe a husband.

Careers in engineering, medicine, and technology were deemed achievable only for the most persistent, academically talented, and elite female students. After years of advocacy, with new employment policies enacted and changes in attitudes about women's roles in the household and the world at large, the life trajectories for countless women have expanded exponentially.

The results of changes to educational and employment policies demonstrate that black women have now attained higher levels of education and employment opportunities than anyone believed possible at the beginning of the twenty-first century. By no means have we reached the pinnacle. Yet, we are still climbing.

I respect the countless advocates who keep calling out how much more needs to change beyond the status quo for ALL communities to thrive. Attempting to revert both policy and education to a state from an entire century ago will result in a more polarized and untenable governance model. Eliminating other supportive mechanisms only exacerbates a fragile economy and encourages chaos in all areas of life.

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Dr. Joyce Brown

Joyce A. Brown is a motivational speaker and author who uses her creative energy to give voice and meaning to the challenges women face in all walks of life. She grew up in Rockford, Illinois, in a household of strong women, but her professional career expanded her reach into Peoria and Battle Creek, Michigan. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and has served as a direct services worker, executive director, program director for a major foundation, and entrepreneur. Joyce has experienced many uplifting moments as a professional and a dedicated parent, and she strives to bring those events and lessons to life through the characters in the contemporary novels she writes. Visit her Author’s Page