A two-part post from the front porch of Mother Ruby Sales. This is part I, originally posted to social media on January 31, 2020.

My young friends you have often stated that my generation should pass the baton of leadership. Well the ball is in your court as the Republicans take this nation down further into an abyss that chokes democracy to death.

I am listening to the roll call in the Senate, and it is clear that Republicans believe that Trump is above the law & they think that they are above your rebuke.

Let me once again say to my younger Black friends what your Black elders know from lived experience and historical memory. In periods of extreme White lawlessness, White leaders target Black people and unleash White mob violence against us. This is on your watch because many elders have become ancestors or are facing debilitating illnesses. History will ask the same question of you that you asked of us. Why did you not fix it? I agree we did not fix it for good because we gave you up to desegregation where Whites controlled your education and formation. If you do not seize the reins of power and put your virile body selves in a non violent campaign you will allow events to continue that will control your lives for years beyond the lifetime of your elders.

Let me encourage my younger White friends to break with a corrupt culture of Whiteness and show that you stand for a different world. In short put your bodies where you say you stand. History beckons you!

It is not too late to turn this train around. However building movements means that you, the young, must be willing to move with little notice without the encumbrance of material possessions or demands. The guardians of Whiteness passed out credit cards to you in college which halt your ability to act in the moment!

The guardians think that they have checkmated you. However show them that they can use materialism to try to repress you , but they cannot break your freedom spirit. Move with the speed of youth and protest! Congress is breaking for the weekend before a vote on acquittal. Use it well. Our future is now in your hands. You have the torch of freedom. We need you to shine it now loudly and brightly!