Financial Growth

This post is off the top of my head, so walk with me as I think...aloud.

My best friend and I just started having "meetings" via yahoo IM to discuss life. Life goals and how we are to go about accomplishing these tasks. Most of my goals are financial. At 27, I am nowhere near where I want or hoped to have been financially.  The beauty is, I am young enough to change that.  I want to share my financial journeys in hopes that it will not only help keep me accountable but help somebody that needs to help themselves financially.

I searched for financial blogs geared toward Black women....... didn't find any.  Funny.  An article I read recently put the average net worth for today's sista at a whopping $100.  Add our cars, if we own one, and it may go up to $5000.  Now, if $100 is the average, how many of us have a negative net worth?  So why don't we have any financial blogs for us?  If there are some, please point me in their direction. This sh*t is making me nervous but they say being nervous means you're doing something right, right?  Do what scares you.  Putting myself on a budget scares me.  So much so, I asked my friend if I can call it a "spending plan" just to make me feel better.  Hope that works. 

They say the best way to become financially fit, to straighten up these tangled wires in our finances is to seek advice.  I've found some quotes that I am going to use to keep myself in check.  Even found a net worth and budgeting worksheets that I will share with you.  I don't know if I will give y'all the details of my finances but... I will definitely share the journey.  Maybe I'll call the posts "Mind on My Money" with whatever subtitle works for that day. *shrug* Who knows?  I will be sharing some of my goals, starting with becoming financially stable.  I'm not as bad as I was (and trust me... I was horrible with money) but nothing is planned.  I spend as I go and when it's time to look at where it went, I don't.  That makes me still kind of bad with the green.

My ultimate goal is to make sure my children's children's children have nothing to worry about.  Other races pass money down from generation to generation. Not enough black people do that.

So take this ride with me to a future of prosperity and wealth and FREEDOM!!!

Next time on My Mind on My Money... DEBT! (yeah, I said it.)

Community: Who Do You Think You're Fooling?

**I wrote this this past weekend after hearing some disturbing info on the Aiyanna Jones case.  Excuse the delay in posting.**

One of my biggest pet peeves is having my intelligence insulted.  I can't stand when men do it, go off when the job does it, and find myself pissed beyond relief when "authority figures" (i.e. government and police) insult the intelligence of a race.  The police... this whole Aiyanna Jones issue is getting out of hand and I just want to know who in the hell does the Detroit Police Department think they're fooling?

If you haven't heard about Aiyanna Jones, I am not surprised.  The media, at least nationally, doesn't cover this story.  You won't see this innocent child's face on Nancy Grace either.  Don't worry, I'll break this down as briefly as I can.  The incident happened early, extremely early, Sunday, May 16th.  Detroit Police raided a duplex in search of a suspect in a murder case of 17 year old, Jerean Blake.  During the raid, seven year old Aiyanna Jones was shot and killed.  At first, all of the info was sketchy.  It was said in the beginning, that police had a struggle with Aiyanna's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, resulting in the accidental discharge of the officers weapon.  Then the truth came out.  First 48, a series on A&E, was taping the Detroit Police Department the night of the raid.  There was no struggle at all with Ms. Jones.  The DPD had been caught on tape attempting to cover up this crime!  Blame grandma.  Then it came out that the DPD had the wrong apartment/unit.  The suspect was apprehended upstairs.  The tape recorded by First 48 showed DPD throwing a flash grenade through the front window onto the couch that Aiyanna and Ms. Jones were sleeping on.  The tape also showed an officer firing a shot before even entering the apartment.  That shot killed Aiyanna.  After an autopsy, it was concluded that the bullet entered Aiyanna's neck and exited her neck.  Now, sources (most likely sources at DPD) are naming Charles Jones, Aiyanna's father, as a suspect in the Jerean Blake case.  So, again, who does the Detroit Police Department think they are fooling?

Blame it on the grandmother.  The first excuse of the DPD was to basically say, 'If grandma hadn't jumped up her grandbaby would still be alive.'  Struggle or no struggle, are you trying to tell me that this officer is not capable of controlling his own weapon.  Ms. Jones would've been tackled as soon as she touched the officer.  I mean, they shoot before entering the house, it makes sense to believe that a struggle would've been halted before it even jumped off.

Charles Jones is now a suspect in a murder case in which the desired suspect has already been arrested.  I'm going to tell you exactly what this is.  Another cover up!!!  One more attempt to blame the death of this child on anybody but those responsible, THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT!!!  Please know and understand that the police have probably pressured the original suspect of Jerean Blake's case into cooking up a story involving Charles Jones.  If this works, DPD will say Mr. Jones was an accomplice, that's how they ended up at the wrong unit, and that's how Aiyanna ended up shot.  This blatantly disrespectful and dehumanizing. Who do y'all think you are fooling?!?!?! 

US.  That's right.  The police and media know that a large majority of us will ignore this tragedy because it isn't us.  It isn't being blasted on BET.  It's not your child.  As long as it isn't on our front door, then it's all good.  And as long as we continue to have that mentality, we'll continued to be fooled... and ignored. If you haven't, sign the petition to release the video recorded by First 48.  It takes two minutes, if that, to go to http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/aiyanajones and sign this petition. 

We have to stop letting the media, police, and government pull the wool over our eyes.  There is something brewing, it's going to be ugly, and if we don't stand now, we will not be prepared.