Freedom is not just won on the streets. 

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By Dennis Parker, Executive Director

Did you know August is National Make a Will Month?

For many people, wills evoke scenes where moneyed white families sit in wood-paneled lawyers’ offices awaiting news about what share of the deceased’s estate would be theirs. The scenes are removed from anything I experienced personally.

I grew up in a working-class family in Mount Vernon, New York. My dad, a World War II veteran worked two jobs, one that involved training white newcomers to be his bosses, to provide for my brothers and I. My mother, who dropped out of school before completing high school to work as a maid, also worked while eventually completing her GED in her sixties. Despite numerous obstacles, they were able to purchase a home and do a degree of financial planning that helped pave the way for me to attend college and law school.

As my mother began suffering from the effects of dementia, I learned that she had given me the power of attorney, which made making decisions about her care possible. Unfortunately, too many people in my parent's economic status fail to take the same steps.

Many people think that only people of enormous wealth need to make a will.

Nationwide, 55 percent of Americans whose annual household income is $75,000 or greater have a will, but only 31 percent of Americans with household incomes of less than $30,000 have a will.

The practice of making a will also varies by race. There are entire islands off the Georgia coast that were once property of descendants of slaves, which were lost because paperwork was never filed. Twenty-eight percent of non-white adults are likely to have a will while 51 percent of white adults do.

Of course, estate planning involves far more than who gets what assets.

Comprehensive planning includes a broad range of steps which serve to help build safety and security for families now and in the future. This includes granting power of attorney to a carefully chosen person and appointing a health care proxy, so that individuals and families maintain control over their most important life decisions.

Not taking those steps can be damaging for people at every economic level but is particularly harmful for lower-income families. Not having a will places decisions within a legal system which was not created with the interests of disenfranchised individuals and communities.

I will always be appreciative of my parents' foresight. My family benefitted from being homeowners but that benefit was diminished by the impact of a long history of discriminatory practices.

Imagine two families, one white and one Black, who start off at the same place: purchasing property in the community they grew up. Years later, government investment and disinvestment, in schools, in parks, in jobs, contribute differently to how the property appreciates. All of this is part of the long arc of white supremacy that pervades every system in this country.

Sadly, laws continue to be stacked against low-income and communities of color. Planning is one step to take back a little agency.

It is also Black August, a time we remember freedom fighters and civil rights martyrs and take note that freedom is not just won the streets. Freedom is also won by those who take quiet, modest steps to assure the stability of Black families and communities, now and in the future.

I hope that you can start the conversation with your loved ones, knowing all that is at stake.

JOB ALERT: Do you have 3-6 years’ experience in impact litigation? Are you proficient in Spanish or another non-English language, and also have a passion for workers' rights? We would love for you to join our team to support economic justice cases around the country. Apply today: [link removed] ([link removed])

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