A LAMENT FOR MY GRANDFATHERS' WORLD

Only in the last decade of my life have I begun to fully realize what phenomenal men my grandfathers were.  

They were the sole bread-winners of their families, but both of them lived and died without credit cards, payday loans, or second mortgages. (Grandpa Anderson never even had a 1^st mortgage.)  To their combined 16 children, my grandfathers both left land, not debt. 

They bought property, built homes, raised children, and sent many of those kids off to college.  And they, Black men, accomplished all of this in south Mississippi during the years of overt, violent segregation.

Neither of my grandfathers had any specialized skills, professional certificates, degrees, or even a high school diploma.  They weren’t inventors, investors, financial geniuses, or marketing gurus. 

They were honest, strong men who worked hard and didn’t do a lot of stupid stuff with their money.

That’s it.  They worked----- hard and they didn’t do a lot of stupid stuff with their money. 

I had two epiphanies about my grandpas’ financial lives:

1st. What they did in their time was totally--- ORDINARY.  Most of the men (the Black men) of their generation in my hometown whom I knew had similar educational levels and left similar inheritances to their children.

2^nd. What they did, they could not do today.

Barring an oil strike in one’s backyard, a winning lottery ticket, or a highly successful lawsuit; what are the chances that a 8^th grade dropout with no investment portfolio and no specialized could acquire a 16 lot subdivision and keep it ---debt-free.

Wait.  Don’t just repeat that American dream stuff about hard work and dedication.  Stop and think through the scenario of an uneducated man, a regular guy, starting off right now in this economy.  Run the scenarios in your head and tell me how he ends up.  I’ll wait.

……..Well?

Exactly. 

He’ll end up homeless, addicted, imprisoned, indebted, dependent on charity, and/ or dead at a very young age.

Here’s the reality:  It’s not enough anymore to just be an honest, hard-working man who won’t do stupid stuff with his money.

And that means that most of the approximately 39 million adult American citizens who don’t have a high school diploma ARE SCREWED ---- unless they get some other educational or professional credential.

Yeah, yeah.  They should’ve stayed in school.  Too late.  They didn’t.

Riightt.  They ought to go get their GED’s.    I teach GED classes.  It’s harder than standard high school graduation exams.

And really, the fact that when you think of a “solution” it involves acquiring some new educational credential is pretty much my point.

It’s not enough to be an honest, hard-working citizen who doesn’t do stupid stuff with his/her money.

But that’s what tens of millions of Americans are.  They couldn’t (or didn’t) succeed in our educational institutions but they are decent, honorable people who just want to work. 

40-50% (depending on the study) of college graduates can’t are unemployed.  And as of 2012, 284,000 college graduates were working at or below the minimum wage.

So, who’s going to hire someone with an 8^th grade education when they can hire somebody with a master’s degree for the same pay?

The Bible says that If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.  (2 Thessalonians 3: 10)

But what about those who will work, but can’t?

You can’t just walk off into the woods with an ax and a rifle and start clearing land and hunting game.   All of the land in America is either privately owned, municipally zoned, or protected by the office of something or other.

You can’t just walk into a store with a help wanted sign, give the owner a firm handshake and good eye contact, and start working.    The manager has to do a background check, a drug screen, and e-verify your citizenship; and that's only after you complete the application online and IF you make it through the automated screening process.

And if you have any of the following items on your record, it doesn’t much matter how much you’ve matured, changed, paid your debts, or proven yourself---- you’re screwed and burned.

·         felony conviction

·         revoked/ suspended driver’s license

·         drug use in the last 14-90 days (depending on the sensitivity of the screening instrument)

·         no current permanent address

·         no email address

·         bad credit report

·         no credit report

·         any conviction for “any offense other than a minor traffic violation”

·         less than 3 verifiable references

·         absent or spotty past job history

Doesn’t matter how hard you WILL work.  If you have to check “Yes” to any of the above boxes, you probably CAN’T work.

Contrary to the opinion of many, the chronically unemployed can’t just “get a job.”  And when the economy improves it won’t improve or the people whose resumes look like the resumes my grandfathers never had to write.

My grandfathers were decent, dignified, and dedicated men.  They went to church. They were married to the same woman all of their lives.  They owned guns and they paid their taxes.  They were all that an American is supposed to have to be.

But if they started off today, my grandfathers would be unemployed, or homeless, or criminals.

Now, this is the place where I tell you my solution.

This post is not a solution.  It is a lament.

Woe!  Woe unto the American who is JUST honest, hard-working, and won’t do stupid stuff with his money.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

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