Stay Black!

Hey, People. What up and what’s going on wit’cha?

Me? Well . . . more about me in a later post. I do have my own blog, but if this is your first time reading me, I hope this post provides some insight into my thinking. I do like to spell things out. Especially if I have a larger point I’m trying to make. I’m all about discussion and collaboration. Whatever we do to advance our collective cause, we have to do together. I’m also still quite open-minded about learning new things and new ideas. Though, it doesn’t take me long to sniff out a bad idea, and I will address it.

Now, this post is about economics, not culture. Staying black is about staying literally ”in the black,” as well as supporting black businesses. Now, the way I see it, this crisis we’re in presents danger and opportunity - yes, I’m ripping off the Chinese. The danger, as I see it, is that we don’t take advantage of this opportunity. See, I know that this crisis is having a disproportionate effect on our community. It’s exacerbating our unemployment numbers and the already disturbingly wide wealth accumulation gap. So, I am aware of the mess we’re in.

But. Some of the most profitable stock is as cheap as it’s been in a while. If ever there were a time for the black community to marshall all our moneys together and buy the country, it’s now! Then we could rule THE WORLD!! Bwahahahahaha!!

Okay. So that dream is a bit wild, but I like it. Don’t get me wrong. There are more practical things we can do and more practical reasons to do it.

This economic crisis has pressed me to learn and study up on economics. So, think of this as sort of econ 50.5, half of 101. From what I can ascertain, what keeps communities and countries poor is when money stops flowing within the community. What’s happened in our current crisis is that money isn’t flowing normally. I mean, think about it. Imagine there’s one bank in a 75 sq mile area, and everybody saves and borrows there. dN Bank. Now, you own a car dealership. The only one in the area. Having done well for yourself, you take out a mortgage from dN Bank. And someone else borrows money from dN Bank to start a construction business. AfriBuilding. You hire AfriBuilding to build your house.

Now, for the sake of this explanation, we’re gonna give the money, $250K USD, a name - cabbage.  All the money that’s been deposited in the dN Bank - cabbage. The bank gives you “cabbage.” You take “cabbage” to pay the owner. He puts “cabbage” in his account in dN Bank. He uses this account to pay his workers their “cabbage.” The workers, say 10 of them, deposit “cabbage” in dN Bank. With some cash now, they all decide to buy a car. From you, of course. They all take auto loans from dN Bank. So, dN Bank gives them the same “cabbage” to buy cars. They pay you “cabbage.” You put the cabbage back in dN bank.

So, the bank had the cabbage, loses the cabbage, gets the cabbage back, loses it again, gets it back again. And everytime the bank gets it back, it actually gets back a little bet more. Right? Interest. But at the end of the day, it’s the same cabbage.

And so on and so forth. If you don’t understand it, then, just except that for a community to stay prosperous, essentially, you have to have money flowing back and forth within the community. You have to have people buying and selling from each other. The thing is, though, it’s all the same money. It’s all the same “cabbage.” And if there is a kink anywhere in the chain, the community loses money. If you decide to hire a construction company outside the area and thereby send the cabbage outside the area, then those 10 workers can’t buy cars from you. Since they can’t buy cars, you can’t make your house payments. So, they lose out, you lose out, and dN Bank loses out.

Or, let’s imagine even though they do buy cars, they don’t buy the cars from you. You can’t make your mortgage payments, and the system breaks down again. If AfriBusiness hires workers from outside the area, and these workers buy their cars from you, we do have the necessary flow of cabbage. But, the workers don’t use dN Bank, so the bank loses SOME money it would’ve otherwise had. Not a big deal. It still makes a profit. But what about the 10 workers in the area who are now unemployed? No matter what you do for them, it’s gonna have a negative impact on the overall community. Right? Now, giving them unemployment is better for the flow of cabbage than giving them nothing - they still have to eat. But they can’t afford the things the would’ve otherwise had, and so forth and so on.

So. Have I confused you? I hope not. The whole point is that what’s going on in poor communities is some chink in the money chain. Somewhere along the chain, the community loses money! But lets say someone outside the community spends in the community or invests in the community, the community as a whole gains money!

So my point for you, a dN reader? Stay black! Support black businesses. Hire black people. Invest in black business. And if you have the funds, just invest period! Bring new money into the community. Oh, I know this isn’t new. This isn’t your first time being told to stay black. It’s just the first time I actually understand why it’s so important that we do. I want to share with you why it’s so important that you do. It’s a big deal. And yes, I know the white man’s ice is colder - and please understand, I actually believe that is potentially true. Water frozen at 12 degrees is colder than ice frozen at 28 degrees. It’s not going to melt as fast. At the end of the day, it really isn’t true that ice is just ice. But! If you never support the black man’s ice, the white man’s ice will always be colder! Cause you’re not keeping the money in the community. Because you’re not helping the black man out, he’ll never be able to buy a better, colder freezer.

Get it? You have to buy black. Stay black. Even if you think the product is inferior, and it just might be. You need to buy black. Hire black. The money needs to stay in the community.

And you need to stay in the black in your own personal finances. Don’t get me wrong. Studies show African Americans save at the same rate as everybody else. We’re not the spendthrifts we’re made out to be. But it doesn’t matter. We are in such a bind collectively, that we need to do more. We literally can’t afford any chinks in the chain. Do you realize that prior to black communities in places like Chicago and even Durham, NC being destroyed, that they all had thriving business districts? That discrimination and segregation forced us to buy from and sell to and hire each other? That we were doing pretty good, considering the discrimination and segregation! We need to get back to that! Not the discrimination and segregation, of course, but the buying from and selling to and hiring each other. If there’re enough of us with enough money, we need to open our own banks. I’m pretty radical. I wouldn’t have a bit of a problem with an entirely seperate black economy. Of course, that’s something we can build to. But, I hope I’ve helped stir up something you probably already knew, already sensed: we have to stay black!

I have more to say, but I’ll save that for a later post. Please give me feedback. I need to know what’s important to you. I want to know what questions you have, what info you’d like to know. If there’s something going on in the world that you don’t understand, get at me. Or, if there’s some myth about the black community that seems true but doesn’t quite ring true, get at me. And I’ll get back at you.]]>