THE BLACK CARD: BIG MAMA SAID: “KEEP ON LIVING” AS YOU SEEK YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING!

I am fortunate to have many hats I wear. Over my lifetime I have been blessed with many roles: educator, manager, reporter, entrepreneur, mentor and event planner.

The hat I am proudest of wearing is my Big Mama’s Baby Boy hat. That hat never fails me or others as we continue to pivot from the global effect of the health and racial pandemics.

Without fail, Lucille Big Mama” Allen would quietly utter some mighty words that were steeped in her faith and her understanding of her own mother, Mary Bowdy’s biblical meaning of “Keep on Living.”’

I was told by Big Mama that when others did two things 1) blamed everyone but themselves for what was going wrong and 2) thought they knew everything and had no need for advice—she would utter- “JUST KEEP ON LIVING.”

Well, she was right.

It came straight out of scripture, “And he said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.’” Luke 12:22

So as Big Mama uttered. “Keep on living,” she was giving her family a second chance to look at things from a broader perspective in this case, a God perspective.

So how does keep on living work for you? You have to use your spiritual wisdom over your conventional wisdom and apply that to our businesses. Here are a few tips to continue to do.

1. Consumers need to know you created a safe space for community engagement.
2. Use signage to show stake-holders you created a healthy environment.
3. Churches please know that church is not just a location. Visibly display distance spacers, post wipe downs cleaning schedule so members know you care.
4. Beauty shops, restaurant owners, medical professionals, be in control of your crowd.
5. As we return to in-person you must show us that you want us to “keep on living.”

Those of us who, in Big Mama’s words, fight disinformation, racial violence, and dismantling institutionalized supremacy that threatens to weaken our parity as well as take our moment to rise out the ‘Woke” impact of George Floyd and make it a movement.

So this note from Big Mama’s playbook is telling us to think like a nation. It is saying prepare your current life for a “keep on living” situation.

Use this to navigate the pandemic and keep on living. Call me at the paper or email me at terryallenpr@gmail.com and tell me that you will keep on living Big Mama Style.