(ThyBlackMan.com) Today, if you ask African Americans if they would like to see black owned businesses enlarge their footprint through employing a significantly large number of workers, the overwhelming majority would say, yes. This is, without a doubt, a shared vision of the African American community. African Americans largely, at minimum, would like to achieve the objective of business ownership commensurate with their population numbers.
Black people are not dummies; they know economic empowerment is based on them raising their profile when it comes to business creation and ownership. The current crop of black leaders in the private and public sectors have not been able to articulate a path to the black community, which leads to economic empowerment through business creation and ownership. They either lack the knowledge or will or both to build upon the foundation of achievements of the 1960’s and 1970’s when it comes to black business ownership. Thus, blacks as a race are floundering. Brothers and sisters are truly losing ground economically. There is just no shared vision or route of agreement when it comes to “how to achieve economic empowerment and business ownership.” However, it is the logical next step for blacks in their march to independence (https://thyblackman.com/2014/08/12/seeking-a-shared-black-vision-part-i/).
While economic parity is the ultimate goal shared by almost every black person in America, economic empowerment must come first. There are many within and outside the black community who believe economic empowerment can only be obtained through education. You see, the educational approach is favored by many well placed (those who are favored by whites and placed in positions of authority) and well heeled blacks (affluent blacks – those who have some money). Without question,
after the upheaval of the 1960’s and 1970’s, the educational approach was a favorite and logical course to advocate, as it took the best and brightest of the Baby Boom generation and placed them in organized learning centers.
It was the Baby Boom generation of young blacks that the federal government was concerned about during the 1960’s and 1970’s because they were the largest number of blacks at that time ever born in the history of this country. As a matter of fact, the black population between 1940 and 1970 almost doubled! This passive approach was understandably popular during that period of great racial disturbance within our country. It took young blacks off the streets. It additionally put the onerous on their backs when it came to academic achievement. All the federal government had to do was to make scholarships and financing to higher education centers available and the government did that.
Moreover, when it came to employment, it was President Richard Nixon, “a Republican,” who signed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act into law on March 25, 1972. The objective of this Act was to give some teeth or enforcement authority to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when it came to enforcing the rights guaranteed under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Act required that no one be rejected from employment based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin.
This Act gave the Commission the power to bring lawsuits in federal district courts to enforce the rights of petitioners. Thus, embracing the theory of a good education would lead to economic empowerment and the federal law to enforce equal opportunity in employment, advocates of education as the solution to economic parity carried the day in the 1960’s and 1970’s. To this very day, adherents of this approach continually advocate successfully that this is the answer to black economic empowerment. Because so many believed education was the final solution, you could hear the air or literally the life flow out of that part of the Civil Rights Movement dedicated to a radical and more active approach to achieve economic empowerment. Those who called for a more radical path were pushed aside in favor of the more passive approach of education. Many blacks back then and some today still believe education is “the only match” that will light the fire of black economic expansion.
Today, with the benefit of hindsight we can now conclude after fifty years of observation, that education was and is not the total answer. There is no question however, that there are some blacks who are doing quite well due to obtaining an education, especially those with advance degrees, such as doctors, some lawyers, professors, and those with specialty degrees, such as engineers.
There are also sports athletes and entertainers who used the route of educational opportunity who also have done quite well for themselves monetarily. Nevertheless, “it is an unquestionable fact” the black race as a whole is no closer to achieving economic empowerment and parity with the majority population than they were fifty years ago! Blacks as a race just do not have a shared vision of how to achieve economic parity! If they did, there is no question, ordinary blacks would set out energetically down that path, with many following them. Black people know what they want to achieve, which is to be unencumbered by the majority population in achieving parity in income, and business creation. If blacks were able to create businesses at or even near the same pace as whites and have those businesses enjoy the same success, this would go along way in resolving the issue of income disparity.
Business creation requires capital! Any successful road to the creation of businesses on a large scale when it comes to the black race as a whole must include access to seed capital (risk capital). This approach, that of acquiring a means to obtain seed capital, “coupled with education” holds the greatest promise! Reparations is one way of getting access to capital, but does not at this time stand a realistic chance of becoming a reality. If it were to happen however, reparations would cause capital or money to flow “directly into the black community” in billions of dollars each year.
This would be money paid directly to blacks bypassing the capricious nature of white racists. However, there is a plan “that does stand a better than 50% chance of success!” It too, just as reparations, would effectively create this flow of billions of dollars into the black community bypassing racist whites. That plan is highlighted in a book titled, “The Fix This Time.” You can get the “The Fix This Time” @ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M. The book explains in detail, how as much as $14.6 billion dollars a year can be placed directly into hands of African Americans. Read it and you will become a convert because at the end of day, the means to obtain economic independence advanced by the book makes common sense.
We all understand there are different ways to “skin a cat.” Why aren’t brothers and sisters wisely applying that wisdom and knowledge in this situation? If reparations is not available to create the cash flow within black communities to start viable businesses, isn’t it logical to turn to other avenues in seeking a solution? “The Fix This Time,” offers such a solution around which the black race can coalesce and regain much needed momentum and “a shared vision” going forth which will lead to success.
Staff Writer; James Davis
More information about JD and his Deficit Neutral Job Creation Plan can be founded at http://www.Jobcreationnow.com.
This most knowledgeable and talented “brother” latest book about job creation titled: The Fix This Time! can be purchased @ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M.
While there also pick up his book titled; Hey…God’s Talking To You The Study Book @ http://www.amazon.com/dp/BOOMI3VQW.