By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on November 9, 2024
An Editorial Opinion
The 2024 presidential election is over. Donald Trump won, decisively.
So, what is the best pathway for Black Americans to succeed in the new political paradigm? We must empower ourselves on a personal, familial, business, and communal level. We must also develop, operate, and grow a nationwide constellation of business networks.
We empowered ourselves once before in the Greenwood community of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1906 to 1921. We created and prospered on what is now known as "Black Wall Street."
Why We Lack Clout in America Today
Today, none of the Fortune 500/New York Stock Exchange companies are Black-owned. We are not major defense contractors. We do not own Wall Street banks and international financial institutions.
We do not own Silicon Valley-based international technology companies. We do not own international multimedia conglomerates like Rupert Murdock and John Malone.
There was a time when we manufactured cars, trucks, and buses. Today, we do not manufacture airplanes, trains, trucks, buses, cars, or yachts.
We do not own or run any major international oil and gas companies. We do not own or run global telecommunications companies.
We do not own major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, H&M, the Gap, and DSW. We do not own Cisco, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, PayPal, Cash App, and other Internet-based infrastructure and social media companies.
We do not own or operate any major airlines or space exploration companies. We do not own or run international solar, wind, and hydrogen powered clean energy companies.
We do not set monetary policies or the price of gold each day. We do not own skyscrapers in any of the world's major cities. We do not serve on the board of directors for the SWIFT organization that oversees international transfers of money between banks.
Except for two Blacks (Robert Johnson and Michael Jordan, former majority owners of the Charlotte Hornets basketball team), we have never owned major league football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, NASCAR racing, or yachting teams. We do not own any venue where major professional sports are played.
Yet, we have the power to change this paradigm.
The Road to Economic Empowerment
We must start empowering ourselves by living within or below our means. Too often, we get caught up on spending money on non-income producing things like house that are too large, over-the-top furniture, luxury cars, designer clothes, high-end watches, expensive purses, etc. These things dazzle and impress others who are less fortunate, but they rarely produce significant wealth.
Rather than wasting our hard-earned money on must-have gadgets, shoes and clothes, we should give our children and grandchildren a savings account and fund it regularly with the “throw away” money we can save from reigned-in frivolous spending. Gadgets, shoes and clothes come and go, but money will always be fashionable and hip.
The money we put in our children’s and grandchildren’s savings accounts will eventually become the working capital they need to launch their businesses and give them a meaningful chance in the new empowerment paradigm.
Many of us need to rethink the money we are spending on private school education (grades K-12) for our kids and grandchildren. Will this tuition money be more useful to our children in an interest-bearing savings account reserved for a future business venture (after high school or college) than it will be for them to rub shoulders with a bunch of rich kids from the suburbs?
We also need to focus our kids on owning businesses, as opposed to becoming a permanent class of job seekers. We must break the generational cycle of shying away from the opportunities, responsibilities, and difficulties of business ownership. We must think about creating jobs and not simply applying for one.
Additionally, we must expand the definition of success beyond our obsession with professional athletes and entertainers. Only 5,000 or so of the 34 million Blacks in America will find financial success as professional athletes and entertainers. Even then, very few of these athletes and entertainers possess the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to properly control, protect, leverage, and grow their money and other tangible assets.
We must create our own wealth to be respected and treated fairly. People of color around the world are doing it. Black Americans can do it too.
Epilogue
As Black Americans, we must invest in ourselves and in each other. We must network with each other. Every ethnic group in America has found economic empowerment and success this way. We must follow suit and harness our economic power.
Once we start producing money and wealth for ourselves, America will pay attention to us.
We must also treat each other with dignity and respect. When this occurs, we will be treated with dignity and respect by other ethnic groups.
In the final analysis, we must become our own cavalry. There is no "savior" in the political world who will protect us and advance our cause for economic empowerment and financial independence. We must create, advance, and protect our own economic security.
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