The Black vote is taken for granted!
Politics is economic war without blood. Politics must be based on, and a function of, economics. The best predictor of a politician’s actions, is their donor list. They act in the direction and interest of who gives them money. Money controls politics. Voting, without backing the vote with money, is just giving the vote away. That’s why the Black vote is taken for granted for the most part. We vote, but don’t back it up with money. Those who organize us to vote, without first organizing us economically, are not serving us well. The African-American community has money, but it is not organized. It is not circulated within the community. Money like blood must be circulated within the body of the community. If the money is bled away outside the body of the community, then the community is economically dead.
Most of our leaders are reactors, not pro-actors. They are for the most part after the fact alarmists. They alarm us to the obvious fact that the house is on fire, but they don’t know, or are unwilling to attempt, to put the fire out, and prevent it in the first place. A protest march is an alarm, not a solution. A march calls attention to the problem, but it does not solve nor address the problem. We must change our behavior in order to change someone else’s. If all we do after something happens is march and protest, it will not change much. It has not and will not. Protest is a function of frustration and weakness. Like a baby who cries because it can’t change or feed itself. If we had organized power, we would not have to protest, we could use our power to demand what we want. Remember, power concedes nothing without a demand.
We did not get on the front of the bus because of protest marches alone. We got on the front of the bus by boycotting. Creating our own way to get around. Controlling how we spent our money. Our lack of economic self-service, serves the economic interest, and fills the pockets of the same people who exploit us. The only thing White people seem to respect is money. Money is power in the White world. And it is written “that the love of money is the root of all evil.” You can march and protest all day long, but they don’t hear you till you mess with their money. We must cut off the money that we bleed to them.
They are addicted to our money like a crack head is addicted to crack. If we stop spending our money with them, and start spending it with ourselves, they will perceive it as an act of war. And we will see them act accordingly.
Begging and protesting for them to be just has not worked. What does the slogan “no justice, no peace” mean? Does it not imply that we are ready to disturb their peace with war? If we really mean it, then we must be ready to back it up. We don’t have to commit crimes so they can put us in jail. We can organize and recirculate among ourselves the one thing they respect and depend on, our money.
Let’s ask the question, what can we do for ourselves? How can we use what we got, to get what we want? If we were a nation (and we are whether we realize it or not) in terms of the amount of money African-Americans make, we would be one of the top nations in the world (1.1 trillion per year income). We don’t have a money problem, we have an identity problem. What if the Black churches in major cities instead of competing with each other, decided to organize and start a supermarket, bank, or a shopping mall for its members. Other groups have done this (China town). But we are a divided and conquered people. And no house divided against its self can prosper.
Organizing a march after someone gets killed is one thing. But organizing Africans in America economically, is another. It’s easier to organize a protest march after the fact, than organize for economic pro-action and self-action.
