Okay readers, before you deep dive into the paragraphs below, have photos of your loved ones – parents, grandparents, children, domestic partners, friends, etc., – nearby or at least images of them in the forefront of your imagination. Now we start with the following lyric:

“Makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands…” – Inner-city Blues, Marvin Gaye

Chances are, you’re old – or maybe too young – enough to remember lyrics from the 1971 song and singer referenced above. Well, in terms of its relevance today, it has withstood the test of time.

Truth is, the Marvin Gaye was not necessarily a visionary; he just described the injustices he witnessed around him. His famous song is an indictment on the widening gulf of inequality, racial instability and social hardship endured throughout urban America that are as potent now, nearly 50 years later. “What’s going on” Gaye’s companion piece to Inner City Blues looked at the forces shaping American culture at the beginning of the 1970s.

So here we are some five decades later and many – correction, millions – of us are “throwing up our hands” in response to what’s happening today. Just pick up your daily newspaper, dial into your favorite social media site or tune into your TV station and cringe inducing stuff staring you in the face can lead to uncontrollable cussing, let alone depression. If it’s not wars, it’s the politics of immigration, asinine book banning, domestic terrorism, I could go on and on. 

And on top of all that, it seems that everyone in the universe has an opinion on whether or not President Biden should brush aside one bad debate performance and exit stage left to a stress-free life of retirement in his beloved state of Delaware. His opponent? He and his laughable Hogans Heroes’ Sargent Schultz “I know nothing” line about “Project 2025” is another story.

Which takes us to a one-word evocation of our national urge to throw up our hands about what’s going on in our world today. That word? Unbelievable! Just, wow….unbelievable! What else can I say when I thought that I’d seen it all when the aforementioned “Project 25” infiltrated the news.

Alright, for the time being – before you’ve read this narrative – go to your favorite search engine and research and read “Project 25.” Go ahead, we’ll wait. Now for those unwilling to sift through 900 plus pages of “Project 2025,” perhaps the following summary and snapshot will suffice in lieu of the TLDR (Too Long Didn’t Read) document. 

Summarily, “Project 25” is a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican nominee win the 2024 presidential election. It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with loyalists more willing to enable the next Republican president’s policies. And that’s just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Project 2025 Snapshot (Partial)

–             Cut Social Security

–             Cut overtime protections for 4.3 million workers

–             Stop efforts to lower prescription drug prices

–             Limit access to food assistance, that more than 40 million people in 22 million households rely on

–             Eliminate the Head Start early education program which serves over 1 million children

–             Restrict access to medication abortion

–             Push more of the 33 million people enrolled in Medicare towards Medicare Advantage and other worse, private options

–             Deny access to student loans

–             Roll back civil rights protections across multiple fronts, including cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion-related diversity programs and LGBTQ+ rights in health care, education and workplaces

–             Cut Medicaid and Medicare

–             Put 10 million “illegals” in detention camps before deportation

–             Abolish the Department of Education

–             Eliminate the $35 a month cap on the cost of insulin and increase it back to $400 a month

Now if that Project 2025 snapshot is not enough, then perhaps the recently released “Peoples Guide to Project 2025” may be useful.  https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-05_Peoples-Guide-Pro-2025.pdf

“We read Project 2025’s entire 900 plus page “Mandate for Leadership” so you don’t have to,” wrote the guide’s authors. “Project 2025 is a radical playbook that presents a profound threat to the American people, our freedoms, and our democracy. It is a ruthless plan to undermine the quality of life for millions of Americans.”

Okay, there you have it. You get the picture. Although success of the project, or lack thereof, remains to be seen, the draconian motivations surrounding it will amount to more confusion, fear, angst, finger pointing and…“throwing up your hands!”

In the end, a thoughtful understanding of the implications of the “Project 2025” manifesto – and its companion, “Peoples Guide” – should, hopefully and prayerfully, lead to serious reflection, soul searching, and preparation if any or all of “Project 2025” becomes reality. And while doing so, think about its potential impact on the world you want for those you love and care about, the ones we asked you to envision at the outset.

“Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” – Bob Marley

So, whatcha gonna do when they take away your Medicaid, Medicare, or either yours or a family member’s Social Security check?

Whatcha gonna do when they deport your farm workers, construction workers, landscapers, sanitation workers and restaurant workers?

And come this November, election day, whatcha gonna do when presented with a choice of two levers to push, your vote in determining which way America?

Terry Howard is an award-winning trainer, writer, and storyteller. He is a contributing writer with the Chattanooga News Chronicle, The American Diversity Report, The Douglas County Sentinel, Blackmarket.com, recipient of the 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, and third place winner of the 2022 Georgia Press Award.