(ThyBlackMan.com) What was conspicuous by its omission at the Million Man March anniversary rally was a clear detailed action plan that would positively affect the dismal economic condition of the African American community. To lay this accusation only at the feet of the Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan however would be wrong and unjust. He is not the only African American leader who lacks a clear vision of where to take the African American community in conceivably it most desperate period since the Great Depression.
The blame for a lack of vision can be laid at the doorsteps of civil rights organizations and political pressure groups around the country including the NAACP, Operation Push, the Urban League, the National Action Network, and any number of other organizations and movements including the Black Lives Matter campaign. As has happened in the past during the 1960’s and 1970’s, Dr. Martin Luther King and his cohorts had a clear vision of where they wanted to take the African American race and was able to legislatively articulate that vision. Current black leadership is bankrupted of ideas and plans that will move blacks to the next level.
The United States, with all its sham, drudgery and racism in innumerable areas, such as law enforcement, housing, jobs, business development and entertainment is a country of great resources. That’s right! I will venture to say, there is no other country on this earth that offers more resources than can be found in the United 
States. How do we know this – people come from all over the world, ignoring the racism which is real, and take advantage of those resources and succeed.
Some of the resources which are available and applicable to the African American experience are a first class educational system, a free press, the ability to move around freely and organize, the ability to pursue ideas and organize around those ideas, the ability to articulate grievances in organized rallies such as the Million Man Anniversary March, the ability to present solutions to power and the public, the ability to negotiate when it comes to those solutions, and the ability to partner with others to make those solutions a reality. These are just some of the resources available to African Americans in this country.
Here is what is puzzling; not only do we have the above resources at our disposal but we have witnessed first hand (well most of us) the successful utilization of those resources in the persons of Dr. Martin Luther King and his supporters and yet we as African Americans find ourselves in this current economic predicament of high unemployment. We literally have Dr. King’s examples to study and follow along with others such as Frederick Douglass. Here is what Dr. King said about the need for action and solutions when it comes to dealing with power in America. He said this in 1957, about economic freedom, “For integration is not some lavish dish that the white man will pass out on a silver platter while the Negro merely furnishes their appetite. If we are going to get it, we are going to have to work for it, and we are going to have to give our money for it.” And Frederick Douglass, who knew a thing or two when it came to struggling for the freedom of African Americans said exactly 100 years earlier in 1857 this; “Power concedes nothing without a demand (solution). It never did and it never will.”
The subject of Minister Louis Farrakhan’s protest rally was “Justice or Else.” When objectively examined, the amorphous title begs for clarity. Justice in terms of what specifically and for whom? There are any number of injustices being heaped upon African Americans today. To which was he referring? Was he referring to the official 10 percent unemployment rate that African Americans have endured over the last seven years, which was the highest rate reached nationally by the country back in 2009. The national rate has since receded to 5.1 percent while the African American average of 10 percent has persisted. Perhaps he was referring more specifically to the State sanctioned killings of African Americans by police and their agents. Mr. Farrakhan deliberately left his protest rally title vague because he did not have a detailed plan to attack or resolve any of the aforementioned problems. Generalities are usually used when you don’t have detail plans as illustrated by the Million Man March’s title.
Let me be different from Mr. Farrakhan and the current crop of civil rights organizations and leaders. Let me identify specifically what it is Africans Americans are demanding. African Americans are demanding money, jobs and the ability to create their own businesses! That’s right, that’s what African Americans want … more than anything else is money that is not subject to the capricious nature of racists, the ability to provide for their families and start successful businesses of their own. And they want to see a plan that will accomplish those objectives.
This brings me back to Dr. King, Frederick Douglass and their companions. What is different from these men and the leaders of today is that these past leaders articulated the desires of the AA community during their time. They set about structuring detailed plans to accomplish their goals that could be later reduced to legislative initiatives. Douglass’ fight for blacks to be freed from slavery led to the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. King’s fight for equal rights led to the civil rights movement of 1960’s and 1970’s which resulted in among others the following legislative achievements, the Civil Rights Act; The Voting Rights Act; and the Job Discrimination Act. Mr. Farrakhan and others need to challenge this administration which happens to be headed by an African American president with “specific solutions” that will favorably alter the allocation of resources of this country. Douglass and King and their band of brothers and sisters were able to successfully do this. Their solutions in common with the majority population were reduced to legislative initiatives which benefited African Americans. Today, such a solution I am reasonably confident is detailed in the book, “The Fix This Time.”
Staff Writer; James Davis
This talented brother is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University(FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is also author of three books, among them are “The Fix This Time,” Expanding Social Security Benefits to Create Jobs and Spur Demand( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M ) and “Hey…God’s Talking To You,” The Study Book ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYI3VQW ).
He can be reached through his blog @, (http://www.thefixthistime.com).
