In a world divided by race, class, and ideology, it can become very easy to get distracted by the noise. Some of us become intoxicated with the memories of the past. Most of us are engrossed with the urgency of the present. Few of us see the vision of hope for the future.

As the younger generations say it best, “Life be Lifin’…” Everyone has value, and wisdom can come from the most unexpected and difficult-to-understand places. My moments of momentum and elevation come directly from Millennials and Generation Z.

This year, I transitioned my career 100% into academia. This transition was easy for me because of a part-time role as an adjunct professor. I accepted a part-time Adjunct Professor role in 2023. Now that I look back over the past 12 months of my life, this was a “Life” transition meant for me. I had to heal from the battle scars of my tour of duty in corporate America. This was the perfect place for me to heal and grow, and I am grateful to God for this transition.

The year 2025 has been quite dystopian for many people like myself. The unreal, dehumanizing, and shocking turn of events that have been taking place in America this year have left many of us hopeless and grasping for a life raft among a sea filled with racism and hate. The assassination of DEI was a hit below the belt and was intended to knock Black and Brown people out of the ring of humanity.

We may be bruised and bloody, but we are not down for the count. The unemployment rate among Black women is 7.5% and the unemployment rate among Black men has risen considerably from 5.6% to now at 6.9%. The current US unemployment rate is 4.4%. In a Time magazine article in September 2025, they stated that the rising unemployment rate among Black women is a bad sign for the economy.

The Time article calls the state of unemployment among Black women “the canary in the coal mine on the health of the economy.” Black women have disproportionately concentrated in economically drought sectors like retail and services. Because of the retail and services sector’s rising unemployment, which disproportionately hits Black women, it indicates that the rest of the economy will soon follow in peril.

History always seems to repeat itself because America never corrects the errors of the past. Look at the COVID-19 recession. In March of 2020, the US unemployment rate was low, but the unemployment rate for Black women began to soar in February 2020. By May of 2020, the unemployment rate among Black women was 16.5%. Soon after, the entire country began to experience very high unemployment rates.

Recently, the US Government shutdown of 2025 has had a significantly negative effect on Black and Bown people. During that shutdown from October 1 to November XX, approximately 42 million people lost their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. Many of those people were low-income or older Americans. This loss threatened food access for low-income families, and especially those within the Black communities.

In addition, during this shutdown, the Government seized an opportunity to illegally fire thousands of workers from the federal payroll. Beyond issuing RIFs (Reduction in Force), this administration has also stripped these federal workers of their collective bargaining rights over wages and benefits — a move recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Our current federal administration has been laser-focused on undermining and hurting families and communities, especially within the federal government. And of course, this focus has been targeting Black workers. Within Black communities, federal government jobs were an economic ladder that lifted families out of poverty and placed them solidly in the middle class. The ladder has now been blow-torched by our own federal administration. Before the shutdown, 19% of the federal workforce was identified as Black.

The news has fared far worse for our Black and Brown families, who were not born and raised in the US. It is sickening to hear that families and communities have been torn apart by ICE and Border Patrol raids, which have been kidnapping people off the streets, harassing, incarcerating, and deporting men, women, and even children. Many of whom are lawful, law-abiding citizens.

These actions are executed by our government to create fear and division among the races, as well as draw a hard line between the haves and have-nots on the economic ladder. Now is the time to use your voice. Economic boycotts have been successful and have provided opportunities to cultivate belonging.

I use my classroom as a platform to inform and influence Millennials and Generation Z students to wake up and notice what is going on around them. In my Human Resources Management and Principles of Business courses, I speak of economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. I display our National Debt Clock (U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time) and tie it to their futures as citizens, parents, and homeowners.

No matter how small and insignificant this information may be to young people right now, I hope it will resonate with them as they pay their rent and purchase their combo meal at McDonald’s.