October 12, 2012
Dear President Obama,
I was watching a PBS program with my
daughter and I started to reminisce about my early school years. She immediately told me about your female
“model” (Julia) and how Julia started her education in a Head Start
Program. I realized how similar my life
was to President Obama’s campaign “model” of how government implemented
policies can have a positive effect on people’s lives. It became clear to me that I was the real
life “Julia” of the policies implemented by Democratic Presidents Lyndon B.
Johnson and John F. Kennedy.
I was enrolled in a Head Start program in 1965
to get me ready for school. If I am not mistaken, this was the launch
of the Head Start program in the United States.
I was the youngest of 8 children and we lived in subsidized housing in
Nashville, Tennessee. I started this
program when I was 5. I entered first
grade already reading and I knew how to count. Because of the Head Start program, both of my
parents had the ability to work and they were able to save enough money to
purchase our first home on the South Side of Nashville and leave subsidized
housing by the time I was enrolled in third grade. I strongly believe had the Head Start
program been implemented a decade earlier I would never have lived in
subsidized housing. Skipping forward to
sixth grade, I was reading at the 12th grade level. I won numerous awards throughout my pubic
school education including being voted Most Studious in the 9th
grade. During my High school years, I
played team sports and ran track. I was
voted my high schools first female and first Black Senior Class President. I graduated with a 3.74 GPA. I enrolled into the Electrical Engineering
program at Tennessee State University in 1978.
I did not initially receive a scholarship but a visiting professor from Bell
Laboratories suggested that I apply for a scholarship at his company. I did and I was amongst thousands of
applicants from all over the United States.
I was the first recipient of the Bell Laboratories Engineering
Scholarship Program (BLESP) from the state of Tennessee. This scholarship was highly coveted by many
schools of Engineering throughout the United States. It included full tuition, summer internships
and guaranteed employment. While I was
in college, I was inducted into the Golden Key Honor Society, I served as
officers in many Engineering Societies and I was President of Eta Kappa Nu
(Electrical Engineering Honor Society). I
had many employment opportunities upon graduation. I worked in private industry and eventually
for the Federal Government. The bulk of
my Federal Employment was spent working for the Intelligence Community. During my first year of employment with the
Federal Government, I was accepted by both Georgetown and George Washington
Universities Law Programs. I chose to
attend Georgetown University’s Evening Law Program. I was selected by the National Society of
Black Engineers as one of the top black female Engineers during my tenure as a Federal
Government Employee. I received a top
agency award for revamping their computer systems. I was medically disabled by the Federal
Government because my insurance would not cover the intensive therapy I needed
to recover my ability to function in the work environment after a major auto
accident in 2000. I am quite sure had
ObamaCare been the law of the land at the time of my automobile accident I
would have been able to return to my job as a Federal Government Employee. In 2002 I was able to obtain a comfortable
lifestyle on Social Security which still pales in comparison to the lifestyle I
had obtained while working. My Social Security income was only ¼ of the income
I made when I was working and I was left in debt like many other Americans
after a lopsided divorce where my ex-husband was awarded all of our possessions
and I was awarded all the bills.
Fast forward to the present, throughout a “majority” of my life I have
been just as successful as Julia. Julia
and I have two major differences: Julia’s timeline did not account for divorce
and your health care reform had not been enacted in 2000 when I needed it. Just like Julia I was put on a path to success
at an early age in a Head Start Program and given opportunities that only the
wealthy could afford. Presidents Lyndon
B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy helped level the playing field and gave me the
opportunity to work hard and get ahead just like wealthy, non-minority, males. Unfortunately for my 8 other siblings the Head
Start Program was not implemented soon enough and they were not given a more
level playing field. America is so close
to having a level playing field and I am confident that if you are re-elected
and your government policies continue to be the law of the land there will be
millions more real life “Julia” success stories in the future.
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