Where do I begin? I will begin with two deadly forces threatening the black community and go from there.  Before I delve into my thoughts about these forces, I just want to share my thoughts about the memorial service and the home going service for George Floyd.  I do not like funerals or memorials.  However, I was drawn to these services because I was connected, just because I am a black sister who felt the pain, the anguish, the humility, the cause.  It was a conglomerate of emotions.  Thus, the need to write.  Need I go further.  If you black and your reading this, there’s no need, you know!  I begin with the Pandemic, and then the killing of my brother George Floyd, where do we go from here, and what are you going to do about it?
 
How many of us have felt the isolation, the fear, and questioned the uncertainties of our future because of an entity that we had very little control over, the Covid-19!  The Pandemic.  Wow, it hit the black community, like a storm out of hell.  We were not prepared for an attack so fierce that it literally took our breath and lives away.  A storm that swept through our communities without remorse.  It claimed thousands of black lives.  Lives that should not have been taken but were taken because of the disparity caused by a systemic intersectional race of people who are afraid of anyone who looks different and believe it or not is different than them. A race of people who were taught to hate. Who systematically created a society of injustice, and inequality to foster their own idea of a superiority?  My brothers and sisters unrighteously died from an unproportionally number of cases of the virus due to the inequality of poverty created again by a race of people who just don’t give a damn about black people. Where do we go from here?  We must lobby for better health care, which includes prenatal care, infant care, and gynecological, women’s care, up to and including geriatric care in our communities.  Fight to keep our hospitals and medical care facilities accessible. Educate our communities about nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle to combat those conditions that create obesity and cause diseases that unfortunately adhere to the onslaught of the viruses such as Covid-19, and other life threatening illnesses that eradicate our communities.
 
And so here we are dealing with again the injustice of a white man killing a black man, because he felt the need to demonstrate his false superiority, which is really a fear of a black man.  How many times must we cry out, get your knee off my neck, take that rope from around my neck, call off the dogs and put away the hoses, I can’t breathe. What about the mental abuse? How many times have you heard, you're not smart enough, educated enough, you just don’t fit, you're not what we are looking for, you come across as an angry black person? We were told you're lazy, shiftless, not motivated. Yet, we got an education, got a better job, voted, prayed and became a better person, yet you still kept your knee on our necks, and found new ways to keep us oppressed. 
 
We want to thank You.  It was humbling to see all races for marching with us, for showing compassion, and trying to understand what we have been screaming for over 400 “Damn” years.  But where do we go from here?  Are you willing to bleed, or die for the injustices that we have endured?  Are you willing to educate your sons, your daughters, your co-workers, your friends, clergy and anyone you know to change the injustice, or will you be content for now?  Hoping that this will all go away, so that you can be complacent once again and ignore the ugly truth, and go back to what is your “American Dream?”

Where do we go from here?  This has to be the question on all our minds.  But more than where do we go from here, the question should be, but what can I do? Can you step out of your comfort zone and contribute to the cause, or be the cause? My question to you, where do you go from here?
 

Written By 
SUE Contributor 
Deloise G. Y
dloisgg21@gmail.com

Collaborations, Joint Ventures and building relations can be a good thing
What good is it to cross the finish line & win if no one is there to celebrate it with you.
 
Let’s define a few things:  Collaboration: is the process of two or more people or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is like cooperation.
 
Joint Venture or Teaming:  Is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to access a new market, particularly emerging markets; to gain scale efficiencies by combining assets and operations; to share risk for major investments or projects; or to access skills and capabilities.
 
There are so many businesses that have failed due to the lack of stepping out on faith and trusting your gut to work with others.  Me, My and I are a thing of the pass for the is NO I in the word TEAM.  In this century we must learn to work together to meet a common goal or the BIG GUYS will chew us up.   Even if you must learn while being a part of the subcontract crew or working on the inside to get to know others and a way of doing so it works for you and them.   

In the biblical sense faith comes by hearing and work comes by knowing.   You can’t do what you don’t know, and you can’t be all you can be if you don’t learn to try.  

Case in point in my construction business, I have collaborated with my other GCs – General Contractors to offer our services yet learn their way of approaching projects.   Which is benefited the business in the long run.  Yes, there are many software programs they help along the way, yet there is nothing like being on site and learning firsthand.
 
So, I emphasis standing on the sideline and not even trying or attempting to at least take a step towards the goal or a leap of faith you will never get there or on the course to success .