By Terry Allen
Texas Metro News
https://texasmetronews.com
Fannie Lou Hamer once declared, “If this is a Great Society, I’d hate to see a bad one.”
The Mississippi sharecropper turned voting-rights warrior understood something my grandmother, Lucille “Big Mama” Allen, understood too: America cannot measure its greatness by what politicians say. We must measure it by how ordinary people live.
Big Mama was born in 1906. She lived through Jim Crow, segregation, economic hardship and generations of Black people fighting for freedoms America had promised but too often failed to deliver.
Big Mama taught us that when something did not add up, you had better pay attention.
Today, something isn’t adding up.
Americans are being told that things are getting better, but many families are still feeling the squeeze. The latest verified federal data show consumer prices were 3.5% higher in June than a year earlier. Food prices were up 3.0%, while energy prices were up 15.7% and gasoline prices were up 26.7%.
Those numbers aren’t simply statistics when you are standing in a grocery store deciding what you can afford to put back.
And the pressure isn’t only at the checkout counter.
Changes to Medicaid and other health-care policies are expected to leave millions more people uninsured over the coming years. KFF reports that Medicaid changes associated with the 2025 reconciliation law are projected to increase the number of uninsured Americans by 7.5 million. KFF also notes that Medicaid and SNAP populations overlap significantly, meaning changes to one program can affect families navigating both.
Then there is the elephant in the room:
Democracy itself.
The Trump administration has pursued changes affecting mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterms. A federal judge recently blocked implementation of part of the administration’s executive order, ruling that the executive branch had exceeded its constitutional authority over election administration. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Fannie Lou Hamer understood that democracy means little if people cannot exercise it.
Big Mama understood something else: freedom wasn’t something our ancestors fought for so we could sit quietly while somebody else decided its value.
That lesson came back to me during our “Elephant in the Room” conversation about Black men in public relations and communications.
The elephant is not always something we cannot see.
Sometimes it is the very thing everybody sees—but nobody wants to name.
We talked about what happens when perception becomes policy, when stereotypes become professional barriers, when representation is missing from the room, and when people who have earned a seat at the table are still expected to prove they belong there.
That conversation reminded me of something Big Mama taught without ever using the language of public relations:
If the story doesn’t match the reality, examine the story. Then examine who has the power to tell it.
Public relations is about perception. Democracy is about participation. Leadership is about accountability.
And all three require us to recognize the elephant.
So when somebody tells you everything is “great,” don’t simply listen.
Look.
Look at your grocery receipt.
Look at the gas pump.
Look at access to health care.
Look at who has access to opportunity.
Look at voting rights.
Look at who is being protected—and who is being asked to sacrifice.
Then ask the question Big Mama would have asked:
Does this add up?
Big Mama Said:
“Don’t just listen to what folks tell you. Watch what they do.”
That is more than grandmotherly wisdom.
It is a civic responsibility.
Our assignment is clear:
Pay attention.
Speak up.
Organize.
Protect your neighbors.
Check your voter registration.
And vote.
Because democracy isn’t inherited once.
Every generation has to defend it.
And sometimes defending it begins with the courage to name the elephant standing right in front of us.
Terry Allen is an NABJ award-winning Journalist, DEI expert, PR professional, and – Vice President at FocusPR, founder of the charity City Men Cook, and Dallas Chapter President of NBPRS.org
