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(ThyBlackMan.com) The blogosphere is abuzz with talk lamenting the Pew study that found that African-American households lost about 53% of inflation-adjusted median wealth during the Great Recession. Most of the articles focus on the fact that white people only lost 16% of their wealth without acknowledging that African-Americans are adults, have power, and can make wise decisions.

There is a mentality amongst many African-Americans that white people are “out to get” us. Though there are systems in place that have historically kept African-Americans from sharing in the benefits of being an American, many of the missteps that have kept us from benefiting socially, financially, and emotionally are due to our own choices.

I can’t tell you the number of articles, blog posts, etc. that talk about predatory lending as if unscrupulous bankers are forcing people of color into horrible loan products. I see very few articles, blog posts, etc. that admit that not only are people of color, sometimes, uneducated in the arena of personal finance we aren’t even interested in learning about it.

The sooner we learn that being African-American doesn’t automatically grant you clemency for making bad choices, the better off we’ll be. It’s never been about blacks and whites as much as haves and have-nots. The only color that matters today is green. The golden rule, she that has the gold makes the rules, has never been more true. We’d better start making wise financial choices, creating generational wealth, and imbuing our children with the skills to manage and grow that wealth over time because now, the only color that matters is green.

Written By Shay Olivarria

Official website; http://www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Deeann D. Mathews says:

August 6, 2012 at 5:55 am

While I agree in principle with this article, I have strong variance with the idea that the only color that matters is green — with the idea that the difference comes down to how much money we possess and keep. That is the world viewed through European materialistic standards to a T, but a world in which the only color that matters is green will not satisfy. If it did, people of European descent could be the happiest, well-adjusted people on earth compared with just about everyone else… but have you noticed that to soothe the emptiness of the materialistic soul, the people with the most green, relative to the rest of the world, have turned to the religions of the east (even Christianity, little as the West wants to admit it, is of Eastern origin with heavy African influence) and the “Southern” music of Africa and her descendants?

I agree wholeheartedly that Black people desperately need to get a handle on the principles of finance and wealth creation, and to start applying the principles. But there are values that have differentiated Blacks, who have a legacy of collectivism and community support coming from Africa and through our expression of Christian faith in this country, from whites — a full spectrum of things that SHOULD make us different for the better! If we do not put greater wealth into those contexts, we will merely be setting ourselves up to do greater harm to ourselves in future. We should not (continue to) trade our heritage away for things we do not need — I appreciate this article for pointing that out. But at the same time I put down this cautionary note against going to the other extreme: we also should be careful of thinking that stacking cash, devoid of any higher goal, is any better. Green is NOT the only color that matters; we ought to think of how we can turn it into the all the other colors, energies, we need to support the whole of our lives.

A parting thought: It is dangerous to misquote a counterfeit rule. The true Golden Rule was not uttered or formulated by Europeans: that privilege belongs to a Man who had not an ounce of European blood in his human line of descent and hence genetics He took on in the flesh: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That matches with the values our people practiced in Africa and practiced here to get us to the point that we would even have wealth to use (and tragically misuse) today. But, for the record, the folks that made up the counterfeit rule clearly said, “HE who has the gold makes the rules.” “She” ain’t in it, despite what is written in the article … so if we concede that the classic European viewpoint of what matters is correct, then we are also conceding that women are NOT going to have anywhere near an equal share. Those who first wrecked the whole world to get the gold and then the green that they thought was the only thing that mattered used women as their chattel at home and abroad, and only married so they would have “legitimate” sons to carry on the work — and the women supported the reproduction of this kind of a culture! That was the behavior of the people who first worked out upon the whole world the idea that having money is the only thing that matters. Take warning accordingly!