I am an Advocate for Public Education Part 2

 So here we are again my peoples. I have been away for far too long and I apologize for abandoning you during this ongoing Pandemic, but self and family care took priority. 

I am revisiting an earlier Blog several years ago where I discussed public education vs private education. I did take a little heat for saying that you could send your kid to a public school and rather than pay the high private school tuition, use less money and supplement your child’s education with additional resources and opportunities, and by doing so could get your child in the same elite colleges as the private schools.

Well, today, I can let you know that I was right. I have one daughter who went to one of the top women’s colleges in the country and another who is going to an Ivy League college. These schools with their billion dollar endowments are unmatched for the resources and opportunities they can provide to your student. They both attended public schools and trust me they got no pass or benefit for the color of their skin. As most of you know now, middle class black kids get no breaks unless you are first generation. I did put them in sports like golf, tennis, swimming. They excelled in all three and learned discipline and resilience. What I found out along the way is that even after the William Sisters and the Woods, this sports are still 99% white. The movie “King Richard” does not over exaggerate the obstacles or the elitism in these sports. Everyone is nice until your kids start beating theirs. It is mainly about access and changing our mindsets from the traditional avenues to forging new ground. As I always say during this time, the best gift a black parent can give their kid is a golf membership and some lessons. It will change their whole perspective. Trust me. You can blog back at me and I can guide you through the process of all three sports because no one will help you, except maybe a few Asian parents. Now, I am not stereotyping just speaking from experience. 

I have to put up some Christmas lights and the Little Free Library that I built( I am becoming a true New England Granola eating Liberal). I will blog more later. I have many topics about the economy and money to catch up on so get ready 2022.

Frugal Frank from the Blackside

Being Black in the time of Trump

Hello my peoples,

I don’t know about you, but I miss President Obama. During these times, we need to remember that we are still living in Obama’s economy.
The jobs growth- Obama
Healthcare- Obama
Stock Market- Obama
Minimum wage increases- Obama
Green economy- Obama

We need to also remember that we will feel the full effect of Trump’s policies in the next 4 years going forward. Just think of the Bush years. Clinton left a booming surplus economy and it only took Bush 4 years to destroy it. Remember, that’s why we got Obama., a republican President drove the economy into the ditch. The sad thing is, he was smarter than the present dude.
I am not here to bash President Trump, because it just waste energy and history will always uncover the truth.

I have been slow reading the new Frederick Douglass biography by David Blight and it helps me appreciate and understand the times we are in now. Just think about it, Fred saw all the progress made during abolition and reconstruction only to see so much ground lost during the beginnings of Jim Crow. In reading the book, I saw that white supremacy takes no vacations and will try and rewrite history because most of the populists takes the path of least resistance. Fred never stop living as a man and continued to speak truth to power. I don’t want to give a summary of the book, so I suggest that you make this your holiday read and come back and discuss it with me.

So, with the holidays amongst us, what should we discuss? Beyoncé, Jay-Z or Kanye? As Whitney Houston once said, “Hell to the no!” We see a lot of this mindless material on television. I think it should be finances. Why? Because money issues shorten our life span, leads to divorce, unhappy retirements and unhappy relationships. As a black man living in New England, I have learned that weekends are great for biking, tennis, golf, and farm to table eating. Weekends are not meant for Mall retail shopping, fast food eating, and any sedentary activity possible. I also love the Lord, but have found many ways and places to worship not always in the traditional church structure. I sometimes attend church with my white brethren when I want a short service with the word, but I also go to the black church for spiritual renewal. There is just something about a white choir singing Negro spirituals that is just not right. So, I will be attending my black church during the holidays with my people. You know, “Silent Night” with the Motown twist can’t be beat at Christmas.

So back to finances, as I read Frederick Douglass, one of my takeaways is that blacks after Reconstruction were involved in educating their children and were trying to make impacts on society. As, I look at  the Jay-Z’s, Will Smiths, Kanye’s and multiple wealthy celebrities, I wonder if they are producing future doctors, scientists, and lawyers or future consumers of mindless materialism? Is it the ultimate goal to be on E!News every night? Is that what our people fought and died for? You know the ironic thing about this whole college admissions scam involving celebrities? There were no black celebrity parents. They will buy kids $200,000 cars and throw the biggest birthday bashes but are not trying to get their kids into elite colleges, even illegally. I will give George Foreman some serious credit, none of his kids are boxers; but they are lawyers, doctors and dentists even though their father is worth $300 million and they could live off his wealth.
Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. During this holiday season, don’t overspend. Your kids should still love you if they don’t get the latest new toy and if they have issues check your parenting skills. Trust me I am raising two strong sisters who are woke and self conscious. Maybe it’s the parenting or because they have a frugal dad, but this year they want gifts after Christmas when stores give the greatest markdowns. They are giving me my greatest Christmas gift, Frugal Kids on the black side.

So, during this period of holiday joy and political turmoil, get your finances in order so that you can bear the economic down turn coming, and believe me, it is coming. We may have one or two years of breathing room. So do these during the holidays:

1. Pay off as much debt as possible
2. Build reserve funds
3. Build retirement
4. Educate your kids, if A’s are not coming home, some serious shit needs to get restricted.
5. Join Planet Fitness instead of buying a Peloton
6. Upgrade to a used car instead of a new car
7. Stop drinking all soft drinks and switch to Perrier
    This and reduced bread intake will improve health and weight loss
8. Buy a subscription to Consumer Reports
9. Subscribe to SiriusXM for Urban Talk-get woke
10. You still need to get your kid a junior golf membership to a nice golf course plus lessons
11. For the  HolidayFive Black Movies to Watch this Holiday

Peace out for now,
Frugal Frank on the Blackside