3/12/2021

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Congratulations on your speech last night. I appreciated your Hemingway quote about “being strong in all the broken places.” I wondered why you had to evoke violence by talking about being on a “war footing” & worried that by talking about “learning loss (LL)” you are stigmatizing our students. Learning is not something you can lose. No one has stopped learning this year, so let’s stop using the LL phrase.

            I was excited to learn about Kenneth Frazier, & his success in leading Merck to team with J & J. I love that he characterizes J&J as his “colleagues” rather than his “rivals.” I wish we had more CEOs with his life experience. Grandson of a person born into slavery, child of a single dad who convinced him he could do anything, part of a team of lawyers that got a guy off of death row – those are credentials I can get behind. Perhaps when he retires in June you can find a spot for him in your cabinet.

            It looks like your “Quad” meeting was a success today. I was surprised to hear PM Modi calling the group, “excellencies.” I’m afraid his caste mentality might have been coming through there. I am obsessed with “castes” these days because I am reading Isabel Wilkerson’s book. It’s unsettling, but a must-read. But I digress. Since your squad of Asian-Pacific leaders are all “united by democratic values,” I hope you considered how you might support the group of 10 Ethnic Armed Organizations that’s trying to figure out how to protect the people from the military junta in Myanmar.

            As we come out of our CV nightmare, let’s turn our attention to the water crisis afflicting many of the poor municipalities in our country. Jackson, MS would be a good place to start. There are folks there who haven’t been able to take a shower in weeks. Please give Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba a call to see how you can help.

            BYBS,