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    The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

    Beneath The Spin*Eric L. Wattree

    The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

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    The African American community controls more spending power than the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world, so why are we whining to the White man to provide for our needs?
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    Dr. James P. Neelankavil, a professor of marketing and international business at Hofstra University, says in his book, International Business Research, that "Since the output of a country is an indicator of its economic activity, the GNP [Gross National Product] is often used as key factor in evaluating a country’s economic strength. The five largest countries in the world based on their GNP are the United States, $7 trillion; Japan, $2.5 trillion; Germany, $1.1 Trillion; France, $873 billion; and China, $393 billion."
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    So based on Professor Neelankavil’s data, the African American community’s buying power of $1.1 trillion is equal to the economy of Germany, the third largest industrial economy in the world. We control $127 billion more than France, and $607 billion more than the gross national product of China. So why was it that in the 2014 midterm election people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West were running around suggesting that due to high unemployment in the Black community, Black people would be justified in sitting at home, not voting, and letting the Republican Party win governorships around the country, and take over the House and Senate? There’s something wrong there. Either they, and their ilk, are grossly uninformed - in which case, they need to keep their mouths shut and educate themselves - or they’re in active collusion with the GOP - the Black community’s worst enemy, and the domestic enemy of the United States as a whole.
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    It’s not President Obama’s fault that we have high unemployment in the Black community. We in the Black community need to educate ourselves to a few fundamental facts. Barack Obama is merely President Obama, not King Obama. The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. House of Representatives SOLE power over spending, and the house is controlled by the Republican Party. Thus, President Obama has to get permission from them to even pay the light bill, but the GOP has a vested interest in keeping the American people hungry, angry, and divided, so they’re blocking everything he tries to do. We saw the reason for that in the midterm election, because due to people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, and the entire Republican Party, they can convince the American people that it’s Obama’s fault, and win elections.
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    NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

    The very same thing is true of the nation’s high unemployment. The economy is doing better than ever, and corporations are making more money than they’re ever made in history, so the American people should be more prosperous than ever, and riding high. But the corporate/GOP coalition have vested interest in not allowing that to happen, so they’re sending what should be American jobs, overseas. Again, the reason for that is political for the GOP - they want the American people angry with President Obama so they can win elections. And for the GOP’s corporate partners, it’s a business strategy - they’re trying to soften the American middle class up to the point they will accept a lower standard of living. They want to lower the American middle-class standard of living to where it’s more in line with the global economy, where in some countries workers make less a week than many middle class Americans spend on lunch per day. So the bottom line is, even though Barack Obama is President, in a free society, there is nothing that he can do to force corporations to hire more American workers. So I find it quite strange that someone who is SUPPOSE to be as brilliant as Cornel West is laying all of our problems at Obama’s feet, and not saying a mumbling word about the corporate/GOP alliance.
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    Again, the Black community controls as much spending power as the GNP of Germany, the third largest economic power in the world, so we’re a nation within a nation, and there’s no reason why we have to sit around and wait for the White man to pass us crumbs. The reason we’re in this condition is because of our conditioning. As I’ve said many times before, we are products of the very same racist environment as White people, so some of us harbor some of the very same underlying bigoted attitudes toward other Black people as any barefoot, sheet-wearing, Hillbilly, as people like Clarence Thomas, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and a whole hoard of Black conservatives clearly demonstrate - oh, did I forget Boyce Watkins (It’s important that I keep mentioning these people, because with the exception of Clarence Thomas, the others are trying to influence Black people covertly).

    As direct result of many of our underlying attitudes toward our own people, Black consumers will drive right past Black businesses to give our hard-earned money to Walmart, a corporation that’s closely associated with ALEC (and Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, I might add), and an organization that leaves no stone unturned to obstruct Black people’s right to vote, support politicians who are dedicated to impeding any legislation or program designed to enhance the interest of the minority community, and undermine poor and middle-class American worker’s as a whole. For this reason, Black businesses are absent or barely surviving in the community, and can’t afford to hire Black workers, so we’re creating our own Hell. 

    The following statistic says it all:
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    "Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses"(http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/african-americans-1-1-trillion-do...).
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    But in spite of the $1.1 trillion passing through the Black community, there are many who still insist on coming up with the excuse that the problem is with the banks - they won’t finance Black businesses. That’s a lame excuse, and we really need to stop trying to make excuses for I condition, because by coming up with all of these excuses, we’re just giving ourselves an excuse for failure. With all of the money that passes through the Black community, if we came together we could establish our OWN banks.
     

    Black Community Opens Its Own Market, and Creates Its Own Jobs

    The Black community of Greensboro, North Carolina has seen the light. The African Globe reports the following:
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    "Winn Dixie and other large grocery chains had divided up market territory, resulting in the closing of some stores despite their profitability. The loss of this Winn Dixie turned Northeast Greensboro into a food desert . . . For more than 15 years, there were many efforts to lure a new grocery store into the space. However, while the store would be profitable, it wouldn’t be profitable enough to satisfy the demands of the shareholder-based economy of a large corporation. Fed up with essentially begging for access to affordable, quality food,  residents of this predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood decided to open their own grocery store.
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    "After learning about cooperative businesses, they decided to open a community-owned grocery store. The store would meet local residents’ needs for access to quality food and dignified, well-paid jobs. And now it’s going to happen. When the Renaissance Community Cooperative opens in 2015, it will be a conventional grocery store (like a Food Lion or Kroger) where wages start at $10 per hour."

    The Black Community Must Rid Itself Of Poverty Pimps

     

    If the Black community ever wants to be a viable entity, we’re going to have to follow Greensboro’s example, but in order to do that, we need an organized community, and a big obstacle to that is the self-serving poverty pimps among us who benefit from our suffering. We’ve got to eliminate these people. These are the ones who are primarily responsible for the plight that we currently find ourselves. When Martin and Malcolm were alive, the only thing they wanted from the White man was for him to leave us alone and allow us to live our lives in peace. My grandfather had a little verse that reflected their attitude. He used to say, "The only thing I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife, and a good foundation." I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that one little verse he was teaching me the meaning of life - and he had that, and more.
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    But after the death of Martin and Malcolm, the poverty pimps swooped in to try to take their place, but both their philosophy, and their agenda, were much different. They convinced the Black community that we couldn’t make it on our own. They convinced us that we were incapable of such a monumental feat. They told us that we needed the White man’s help to move forward, so it was incumbent upon us to hire them as our official emissaries to the White man. That was in the late sixties and early seventies. But since that time, the "emissaries" have all profited greatly, while we’ve been sitting on our hands suffering, whining, and begging for the past forty years - and still waiting for the White man’s response. Sure we want our piece of America's pie, but the only way to get that is by organizing and making ourselves a strong enough political force to DEMAND it, not pay poverty pimps $30,000 an hour speaking fees to talk about how unjustly we're being treated. First, we already know that; and secondly, the only one it's benefitting is the poverty pimp. We're actually PAYING him to help spread the word, and profile us, as an hopelessly inept culture.
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    So it’s time to bring the poverty pimp hustle to an end. We don’t need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice. We also need to re-embrace our self-esteem, and begin to recognize who we are, what we represent, and the dignity of what we’ve managed to overcome. We're not puppies who need to be defended. We are a strong and vibrant people. One of our number has risen from the very bottom to become President of the United States. That's one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of a captured slave rising to become the emperor of Rome, and it also speaks volumes about the American people's respect for excellence. But the poverty pimps have a vested interest in playing that down. They have a vested interest in playing you down.

    The Community Must Control The Way We Are Being Portrayed

    The Black community is also doing itself a huge disservice by just sitting back and allowing ourselves to be portrayed in a distorted and negative fashion. It sends the wrong message to our children. When they sit around for hours on end watching the antics of Lil’ Wayne and others flaunting the very worst of who we are, it sends the message to our young people that they have a moral obligation to be stupid in order to demonstrate their Black pride. They’re, literally, being instructed in what it means to be Black by sources other than ourselves. They’re being taught that being Black means wearing pants saggin’ off their asses, engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior, scarring their bodies with ugly tattoos that can prevent them from obtaining employment, and giving priority to chasing "bling," momentary pleasure, and superficial trinkets over pursuing education, knowledge, and investing in themselves as individuals.
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    If we’re tolerating these things in our homes, we have no right to complain when the rest of society refuse to hire us, and profile us a superficial and irresponsible idiots. But the fact is, we’re not only tolerating it, we’re making people filthy rich by supporting an industry that thrive on producing videos that are nothing short of ten minute commercials being circulated around the world saying that the very womb of our culture are sluts and whoes who are only good for abuse, and that Black men want everything out of life but a job - and will do anything to get it.
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    That’s not who we are as a people, but that’s the way we’re being portrayed. That’s who our young people are looking up to, and that’s the way the rest of the world sees us. So if we allow this to continue, whose fault is it when the rest of the world believes their lying eyes? No wonder unemployment is so high among Black people. I wouldn’t hire anyone like that either - would you?
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    So the Black community needs to come down on the media like a sledgehammer, and stop them from slandering our community. We also have to start letting our children know, in no uncertain terms, that stupidity’s not cute. We can't start to disseminate that message too soon, or too early in a child’s life, and since kids tend to gravitate toward those things that they’re rewarded for as "cool," it’s not enough to simply address this issue as individual parents - we might as well be spittin’ in the wind. We have to address this issue as a COMMUNITY.
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    We’ve got to let BET know that if they want the community’s continued support, they’re going to have to change their call letters to stand for Black Excellence Television, and their programming is going to have to reflect that. We have to make it clear to BET, MTV, and the rest of the media that if they want the support of the Black community that they’re going to have to air programming that’s consistent with our agenda as a community - programming that reflects manhood as having the character to face and defeat adversity, and strength as being tender enough to sooth the wounded feelings of a baby girl.
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    And we should also encourage the promoters of these awards shows, like the Soul Train Awards, to be more responsive to the needs of our community. We don't need yet another parade of swaggering millionaires staggering up on stage, snatching microphones, and acting a fool. We need to start placing more emphasis on honoring young scholars, educators, and the people in the community who are helping to move Black people forward. That isn't to say that celebrities and entertainment shouldn't be involved in the shows (I'm a musician myself), but they should be the "help," not the honoree. After all, if all our young people ever see the community honoring are singers, movies stars, and athletes, why should they aspire to be anything else?

    And finally, we've got to demand more responsibility from our churches. We've got to make it clear to some of these preachers that if they expect to take collection money out of our community on Sunday, they’re going to have to do more than just flap their lips; they need to be prepared to put some kind of service back into the community during the week. Our churches should be serving as low-cost childcare facilities for working mothers during the week. They could then employ unemployed mothers, and at the same time hold classes in child rearing. So the community should send the following message to our preachers -"Don't just preach me a sermon, live me one."
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    Eric L. Wattree
    Http://wattree.blogspot.com
    [email protected]
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    I know many wonder why you constantly point out Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. Tavis tells "Negroes" (his words) that he will respect the President, protect the President (from attacks from White racists, but correct the President on important issues. In an appearance on "HuffPost Live", Smiley laments that we have lost ground under Obama. Every other group has made demands under Obama except "Negroes". As an aside, Smiley notes that it is not all Obama's fault. It is almost as if GOP obstruction is a small thing, gutting of the Civil Rights Act is a little thing, and voter-suppression is a little thing. Smiley never fully calls out the forces running counter to the President. 

    Here is a clip from Smiley on HuffPost Live

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/tavis-smiley-black-people-lost-ground-dur...

    Brother West was recently on "Real Time with Bill Mahrer". West had a good time with his good sister Mary Matalin. Matalin praised West for truly walking the walk, unlike Al Sharpton who only shows up for a photo-op. Her statement was made more hilarious by the fact that Cornel West stated that he went to Ferguson, Missouri to "get arrested". It was a good photo-op.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/cornel-west-arrested_n_5977870....

    Neither West or Smiley have solutions.


    Thank you for these links, RM,

    I point out Tavis, West, and Boyce Watkins because they are Judas Goats in the Black community, which makes them very dangerous to not only the Black community. I can't help but wonder how many people didn't vote in the midterm election because of them.  West showed us how dangerous he could be in the 2000 election. He and Nader were the deciding factors in Bush's election as President.

     


    You are welcome 

    Here is a chronology of Ralph Nader making it clear that he wants to punish Democrats even if results in the election of Republicans. Nader believes there is no difference between the two parties. Romney would have made the same SCOTUS choices as Obama. Romney's AG would have fought voter suppression as hard as Eric Holder. Romney's AG would have decreased federal drug penalties. Yeah, Right.

    http://www.hereinstead.com/QUOTATIONS-FROM-RALPH-NADER.htm


    Thank you for this link, RM.
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    I have a feeling that it's going to come in quite handy, because the key to getting the message across to the people is to document beyond the demagogues' ability to refute.


    Mr. Wattree... Right on... Right on... Right on...

    If you recall, in a past comment I told you that I was born and raised in LA. My wife of 45 years recently retired from teaching SpecEd for 35 years at LAUSD.

    And... the following Opinion piece you authored after our recent local School Board election of Dr. George McKenna versus the "Judas Goat" Alex Johnson is also..

    Right on... Right on... Right on...

    An Open Letter to America’s Black Journalists - DagBlog

    As black journalists, our job is as important as Dr. McKenna’s. His job to educate our children. Ours, to educate their parents. Between now and next June's general election, we must give the people a crash course in power politics, demographics, and political manipulation.

    That is what the charter school movement is about. Charter schools are being presented to a desperate community as an opportunity for the minority community to obtain a better education for their children. That sounds good. Demagoguery always does. We must get the people to understand the bottom line behind charter schools is to eliminate the public’s control over the education of our children. They mean to  hand the minds of our children over to conservative mind-twisters.

    Charter schools will reinstate segregation in a routine, legally justifiable way. They are a slippery slope. Once the charter school industry gets a lock on our educational system, they will start to charge fees that will lead to a society where education will be available only to those who can afford it. They have all but completed that mission at the university level.
    Our job should not be difficult to achieve. We must get the people to ask themselves, "When was the last time that rich, out-of-state billionaires showed interest in the education of black and minority children?"

    We must help the community to understand that those black politicians in league with the charter school agenda represent a 400-year tradition of black Judas goats out to feather their own nests at the expense of black people.

     

    Thanks for your continuing EDUCATION of the masses.

    And it make no matter if they like to hear it or not.

    ~OGD~

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    Thank you, OGD.

    And thank your wife for her service.


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