by William ReedUP YOU MIGHTY RACE! The keys to success are all around us in this capitalistic society, all we have to do is put them to use. For example, "Every investor should have a variety of investments," says a major stock firm. If Black Americans adhered to this pure, and proven, American capitalist principle, more of us would have full economic and, probably social, parity with White America. Although down from the 1980s, the median family worth for White Americans is $40.000. For Blacks, it is 10% of that for Whites, or less than $4.000. In fact, in too many instances in Black America, we have a negative net worth, meaning that we owe far more than we own.
According to David Swinston, Dean of the School of Business at Jackson State University, "In general, the current status of African Americans has not really improved over the last decade. In terms of the relative inequality, that is the position of African Americans in comparison to the position of White Americans, the degree of inequality increased since the 1980s. In essence, Blacks have lost ground." But for Blacks to make up lost ground, we don't need to continue the same old, "Somebody done done me wrong," song. We need to stop letting our collective preoccupation be focused around whether the Confederate flag flies atop the state capital building and whether the Jewish community doesn't like words some Black speaker says. We need to start processes of self-sufficiency to a level where we won't give a damn about what another racial group says, or feels, about us.
We need to invest in each other, and in our collective needs. Black enterprise and collective capitalism are not new concepts to us. They are just untried to any meaningful extent in this generation of our race. Note the words written on this subject decades ago by Carter G. Woodson and then those of Frederick Douglass. "At this moment, the Negro must begin to do the very thing which they have been taught they cannot do. They still have some money, and they have needs to supply. They must begin immediately to pool their earnings and organize industries to participate in supplying social and economic demands," said Woodson. "We must become mechanics, we must build as well as live in houses; we must make as well as use furniture, we must construct bridges as well as pass over them, before we can properly live or be respected by our fellow men," said Douglass.
Members of our race should stop dancing around the subject and address our collective need for wealth, head on. In this country, wealth is something you: work hard to attain; marry into, or inherit. While we've created a significant Black middle-class in the last decades, the current generation of African Americans has not accumulated any amount of wealth to pass on. When you take a real look at our ownership of America, you'll note that we've more often than not exhibited more flash than we have cash, toward gaining real power in this country.
Our mighty race needs to lift itself up through investments in each other. Neighborhoods in each of our cities need super markets and convenience stores to feed our people. We need shoes, cars, coats and eyeglasses that could be sold to us by Blacks in shopping centers built by us. our brothers and sisters who travel, and those who attend meetings and conventions, need hotels owned by Black investment groups to stay in.
Marcus Garvey said: "Up you mighty race." Black economic development will not start by Capitol Hill making a law for Blacks to be rich. It will start with groups of us coming together to build and supply the demands of our own people.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS WORKING TOGETHER TODAY,