(ThyBlackMan.com) In part one of this series I discussed how there are many similarities between rural towns and our African American concentrated inner-cities. I discussed how certain “grow your own” business strategies have led to stabilization and even growth for some of these towns that have experienced decades of decline. Finally, I talked about how this model is one that needs to be used to bring our inner-cities back to life and our African American brothers and sisters back to wealth. I know that I mentioned the next article would be on Black power and Black business, in relation to this subject but I want to build two more foundation of knowledge to sit that topic on top of before I do. So in this article I briefly want to touch on the concept of space, an economic only view of an area, and place, a social relationship view of an area. I want to convince you that because of our sense of place and the passion we have for it, if we focus on entrepreneurship development strategies as opposed to social band aid strategies we can transform our communities very fast. Then, in the next article I will introduce to you all two key economic development concepts called monetary velocity and leakage. FINALLY I will be able to write the fun article on how Black Power is Black Business! So ride with me a little longer.
One of the things I discussed in the last article is how so many of us are emotionally and psychologically attached to the areas they grew up in. Our 
hood, our block, etc. In my city it is North Omaha. Folks love North Omaha who are from there, in spite of the fact that it has one of the highest per capita rates of homicides in the nation, one of the highest rates of poverty, and other ills associated with those stats. If a person was looking at my area of the city from purely a business standpoint they would say get out there are better “financial and social” opportunities elsewhere. This is where the distinction between what is known as ‘Space’ and ‘Place’ comes in. According to Hudson in a 2001 book titled, Producing Places, space focuses on an areas capacity for generating dollars and profits. On the other hand, place is how people view the same area from social perspective based upon our relationships, social networks and families and friends.
So many of our inner cities and neighborhoods have been disinvested in, and left to decay and die because the larger community looks at it from a ‘space’ perspective and says, “Ain’t no money there”. We get so damn frustrated by the larger community turning a blind eye to our neighborhoods because we are viewing it from a ‘place’ perspective. We see all the positive relationships and social networks that we have. We see the things that we love and value and cherish about our community. They see the assets and opportunities that we don’t have and make economic decisions around dollars and profits accordingly.
One of the reasons that I strongly argue for a rural entrepreneurship approach to developing our inner-cities is because of our love of the ‘place’. This allows us to define an area of our city and literally view it the same way as many individuals in rural areas view their town. So even if our “Black area of the city” sits within a larger metropolis, to us we identify it as our own town and have place based feelings that go along with it.
This strong sense of place can serve as the key foundation to building Black wealth through an entrepreneurship based strategy similar to rural towns of success. The reason this is so is because our attachments to our Black towns within cities (as I like to call them) is so powerful that we are willing to make sacrifices that others will not make to see it improve. We will stay when other would leave. When others say it isn’t worth it, we say it is! Even when we move away or to a suburb, we still want to see it grow and become better. We can, and do gather great amounts of energy around the love of our Black towns.
So what we have is this great psychological concept of ownership of our place. Along with this we have great love of our place. As a result of this love we have a lot of energy gathered around making our place better. So what is the problem you ask then? Why isn’t change happening? It is because of the focus of our energy. We focus on non-growth oriented things. We focus on anti-violence and crime. We frame everything as a social justice issue or an inequality issue. All of this positive desire and energy for change in our Black towns is expended on things that DON’T provide for us the change we want to see.
The reason rural entrepreneurship strategies have been able to transform some of these rural towns is because of what it represents. Entrepreneurship represents growth, community pride, as well as economic and employment opportunities that create wealth. It provides folks a reason to come back, a greater sense of community and culture, as well as political power. If you create a strong entrepreneurial and ownership culture and environment, the crime and violence problems as well as the lack of hope problems will take care of themselves.
We need to take the energy around our Black ‘places’ aka our Black towns within cities and create a laser beam focus on the things that will make that love manifest into economic growth, community growth, and power. That is the creation of entrepreneurship and an ownership culture.
In part III we will talk about monetary velocity and how to get a whole community PAID!
Part 1 here; Rural Entrepreneurship Development, etc…
Please feel free to communicate with me any way you want, I love to hear your thoughts, comments, criticisms, and reactions –
Staff Writer; Dell Gines
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