The State of Africa America Remix: Cooperative Economics

By Heru Ammen

Currently there is much hype and media attention focused upon African Americans and the issues that we face. In doing our part to bring attention to the aforementioned issues, the authors of the Urban Village Blog & Commentary will re-post the series we authored in 2006 entitled "The State of Africa America." In this current media frenzy regarding "Black issues" we want to participate not only in the discussion of these issues, we believe it is important to discuss tangible solutions. All too often all that we hear are the same voices discussing the same issues and offering nothing but the same tired rhetoric. It is our hope that by re-posting this series, we can move the discussion forward and focus on what we can do to actually change the dynamics affecting the culture and socio-economics of African American communities.

"Let your countenance be cheerful during the time of your existence. When we see one departing from the storehouse who has entered in order to bring his share of provision, with his face contracted, it shows that his stomach is empty and that authority is offensive to him."

-Ptah Hotep-

Other cultures thrive economically in this country despite racism and discrimination. Yet Americans of African ascent have consistently lagged behind in terms of economic growth and achievement. There are several reasons for the above. However the primary reason is that we have failed to create and/or support an economic system that keeps and circulates our dollars within our respective communities.

Statistics show that a dollar earned by African Americans travels less than one time in our community before it leaves. What is even more tragic is that the money we do spend in our communities is spent with retailers and vendors that have businesses in our communities; many of whom do not invest dollars in or support the infrastructure of the communities that they do business in. Other ethnic communities do not embrace that same economic dynamic. In essence, African American communities are being economically pimped by the businesses that exist in them.

In contrast to the aforementioned, other ethnic communities are economically and culturally sound. For instance, Asian communities in America have established mechanisms in place to keep dollars in their respective communities indefinitely. Each dollar spent in these communities will circulate up to 30 times or more before it leaves. This creates a residual economic engine that is far reaching in its effect impacting all facets of the Asian community. These communities engage in what I term “cooperative economics.” The foundation of cooperative economics is built upon capital investments in commercial and residential development, banking, business development, retail/wholesale, trade, and communication (media; print, internet based, radio and television). This foundation supports, facilitates, and augments the cultural glue that binds these communities together so that they continue to grow and maintain their viability generation after generation. This same effect can be seen in all other ethnic communities in American with the exception of the African American community.

The breakdown in African-American communities resulted primarily from our failure to engage and embrace the components that have made other communities successful. We do not invest in our communities in terms of housing, businesses and communication and trade. As such, we’ve created an economic vacuum that has literally sucked all of the money out of our communities; and like a once proud lion that has succumbed to the infirmities associated with old age and has fallen dead upon the lush plains of the African Serengeti, the vultures (payday lenders, rent-to-own, easy credit/high interest retailers, pawn shops, liquor stores, etc…) are picking our bones clean.

If one were to offer a proverbial synopses of our condition one could write that our condition is not unlike the dry bones of Ezekiel fame. We are at the point now where African-Americans are beginning to realize that our condition is not terminal. In essence new voices are “making noises” and there is a “shaking” as we come together one mind to another for the purpose of our collective illumination and edification.

When we begin to create the conditions to engage and embrace a cooperative economic paradigm we will then be in a position to bring life to the place that worships death. We can bring peace where now there is violence. We can bring knowledge where ignorance now reigns and we can bring wealth where overt poverty runs rampant. These are Ezekiel’s “four winds” which are sent to bring life where there once was death. And once those winds blow upon us, we shall then rise and transform and stand upon our feet; an exceedingly great army!

Taking Down Obama: The Tavis Smiley Chronicles

By Heru Ammen

Tavis Smiley recently announced that he was quitting the Tom Joyner Morning Show for as Tavis put it "he was tired and has a lot of things going on, and he feels that now is a good time to leave the show." However as noted by this writer, the facts speak differently to this issue. Tavis has been an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton's and her campaign to become the next President of the United States. Unfortunately for him, the vast majority of African Americans and an overwhelming majority of Tom Joyner's listeners support Senator Obama and they have been very vocal about it on Tom Joyner's radio broadcast and on Mr. Joyner's website BlackAmericaweb.com.

Being a dedicated listener of Tom's show for many years I can write with certainty that Tom's listeners and African Americans in general have no problem with Tavis' support of Hillary's campaign. The problem is that he consistently and unfairly (emphasis: mine) criticizes the "O" man while giving Senator Clinton a free pass and free publicity." Many listeners feel that Tavis has gone beyond the normal boundaries of critical analysis of the candidates positions into the realm of becoming a shill for Senator Clinton and they resent that, and have let him know in no uncertain terms that they will not tolerate it.

Tavis' resignation from the Tom Joyner Morning Show is the latest episode in what has become the normal template of Obama bashing and dissing that is being utilized by noted African Americans that support Senator Clinton. Earlier this year BET founder and Charlotte Bobcat owner Bob Johnson suggested that Senator Obama was a drug dealer in his youth. The venerable Andrew Young pretty much tried to write off Obama by saying that "Obama was too young" to run for President and intimating that Senator Obama wasn't black enough. Then he went onto say that "Bill Clinton is as black as Barack... and he's probably been with as many black women as Barack, too." Although Tavis didn't stoop as low as these two gentlemen in their criticism of of Obama, he has been just as relentless in his criticism of the “O” man. Now he wants to “take his ball and go home” because the majority of African Americans don't want to play the game by his rules.

What Tavis and other noted African American Clinton supporters either don't or refuse to recognize is that Senator Obama is a legitimate Presidential candidate with a powerful resume. For Black folks, the fact that Senator Obama is an African American brings a sense of pride that is felt throughout all of our communities. However that sense of pride is secondary to the fact that it has been his character and his unique ability to articulate his vision of change that has thrusted him into frontrunner status. The American people believe Senator Obama is committed to bring Americans together to effect change and they have said so with their votes and their financial support. Senator Obama is able to articulate a vision that obviously connects with Americans of various ethnic backgrounds more so than any other candidate and that should be celebrated instead criticized.

The Obama Speech: A Spiritual Epiphany

By Heru Ammen

Racism, class, tribalism, religious bigotry; i.e., "my god and the people who believe in him are better than your god and the people who don't" and other divisive "isms" are divisions predicated upon fear. Conservative White academia and punditry have a fear of a black, brown, and yellow planet. African Americans who embrace a de-facto Black nationalist and old guard civil rights activist mindset have a fear of the now mythical white power structure that seeks to disenfranchise all African Americans. Evangelical Christians fear and believe that their value system is under attack by non-mainstream Christian beliefs, Islam, and secularism. If the truth be told, Americans of all political, ethnic, and religious persuasions have preconceived fears and beliefs that precludes many of us from experiencing and embracing the commonalities that we as humans (and Americans) all share.

We have been feeding upon fear for too long in this country. Politicians, ministers, and pundits have built their empires upon the dissemination of fear. We are pounded day after day with some type of fear; the fear of a black, brown, and yellow planet, the fear that secular values are encroaching upon Christians values and destroying America; the fear, justified or not that we did not get that job, raise, or promotion because we're black, white, female, male, gay or some other classification, the fear that most Muslims agree with and support Islamic jihadists, the fear that the mythical white power structure is out to get all black people, and the latest fear fad - the fear that Mexican immigrants will pour into this country like roaches and change America into Northern Mexico.

In reading some of the commentary, comments, and opinions in the blogosphere and MSM on Senator Obama's speech on race in America, it appears to this writer that both sides of this much needed debate missed the point. Many conservative pundits and bloggers either dismissed or denigrated what the Senator spoke about. One conservative blogger even suggested that Senator Obama literally threw his grandmother under the bus when he spoke about her comments regarding the fears she experienced regarding African American men. Left leaning blogs and commentaries generally praised Senator Obama's speech. However their praise was primarily limited to the political implications this speech will have on the Presidential race.

What both sides missed or overlooked was the spiritual message this speech was predicated upon. Senator Obama asked us to embrace our commonalities as we move forward in a national discussion on issues of race. He asked us to join with him in addressing the real concerns that we as Americans all face. He asked us to talk about inequities in our schools, the health care crisis, the war in Iraq. He reminded us that we are as strong as our weakest and most vulnerable citizens. He asked us to look at race and begin to honestly process why we feel the way we do. This spiritual message is a fundamental precept of the Christian belief system that the Senator embraces; i.e., feed the poor and teach them how to rise and transform, provide the opportunity for those that are ill and diseased to be healed, educate our children so that they will not choose a destructive path in adulthood, and love your neighbor regardless of their color, religious affiliation, or ethnic background.

This union of African, Asian, European, and Latino citizens that we call Americans are all a part of what makes America great. We are the progeny of ex-slaves and ex-slave owners, immigrants, pioneers, explorers, and indigenous natives. We are business owners, employees, inventors, athletes, scientists, and teachers. We are Muslims, Hebrews, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. No other country offers what America offers in terms of freedom and the liberty to pursue our dreams and despite our differences, idiosyncrasies, and our imperfections we are the greatest nation in the world. This reality of America is what Senator Obama is asking us to embrace and now is the time to begin the journey to a higher plane of dialog and debate so that we can continue the process of perfecting this union of an American people.

Faking The Funk, Huxtable Style...Redux

By Heru Ammen

Please don't take my criticism of what I term “The Cosby Generation” as an indictment against those that fought, bled and paid with their lives during the civil rights struggle. I will always give props to people such as Dr. King, A. Phillip Randolph, Malcolm, Huey, Stokely, Dubois and all of those that made it possible for me to be sitting here today at this time writing this blog. Without the sacrifice of the aforementioned individuals, I may have never had the opportunity to communicate to my readers as free person in America.

I was born in '58 and although I was born and raised in California, I was intimately aware of the civil rights struggle because my father played an integral role in securing rights for his co-worker's in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded by A. Phillip Randolph. My perspective on the civil rights struggle was shaped by that struggle. My Father fought for the collective rights of all of his co-workers to achieve the best and his sacrifice afforded all of them equal rights so that they could work in conditions that allowed them to achieve excellence in their profession. My father helped to build a platform and an infrastructure that promoted excellence, good pay, and respect for a job well done.

There are a great number of individual success stories in Afrikan American history. However my contention is that when the greater Afrikan American community was finally allowed the freedom to choose either to live in and build up our traditional communities (like our Asian and other ethnic brothers and sisters) or embrace the de-facto rugged individualism found in the suburbs, most of us choose the latter. We did nothing to collectively ensure the health and well being of our traditional urban communities. Once we achieved equal rights, the vast majority of attorneys, doctors, nurses, educators, griots, and entrepreneurs left urban America for the suburbs and all of the resources they provided went with them. What was left was essentially nothing; and nothing from nothing leaves nothing. Or in the case of urban America, nothing from nothing equaled a void that was filled with overt poverty, ignorance, and government mandated dysfunction called welfare and aid to dependent children.

The African American exodus exacerbated what was already (due to slavery, segregation and discrimination) a fragile cultural ecosystem and it eventually collapsed upon its own weight. If the greater Afrikan American community had taken the approach that my Father had taken in ensuring that his "community" of porters, cooks, and dining car waiters had the infrastructural support mechanism to achieve success, we would not have totally dysfunctional urban communities today.

So when Bill Cosby or any other Afrikan American gets upon the proverbial high horse and lambasts those that their generation socially and culturally abandoned, I take issue with that. All of us (including myself) need to look in the mirror of blame for the reasons why urban America is failing - and we also need to sit down at the table of reasonable dialog and develop solutions that will allow those that want and desire to succeed the opportunity to do so.

Any culture and/or socio-economic system that does not materially support the fundamental right of all of its people to at least have an equal opportunity to pursue excellence through education, employment, and entrepreneurship within their community disenfranchises the vast majority of those that could have possibly achieved at a high level and disproportionately handicaps (both mentally and socially) those that achieve despite the lack of support.

What Bill Cosby and the Cosby Generation is complaining about is akin to parents raising a male child from a baby to be a female and then when that male child becomes an adult, they blame him for acting like a woman. Urban America did not happen in a vacuum and the problems in Urban America will not be solved until Afrikan Americans look in the mirror and recognize the culprits of its demise.

A Solution For Socio-Economic Impotence

By H. Jerome Williams, II

Urban communities in American are being destroyed. Poverty, ignorance induced-mental atrophy, crime and violence has penetrated, permeated, and obliterated what were once culturally enriching and economically viable areas. The reasons for this deterioration are many-fold. Economically, urban areas lack the commercial infrastructure to support economic growth and vitality. In nearly all urban communities, commerce beyond food, guns, alcoholic beverages, illicit drugs, hair care, and entertainment is virtually non-existent. Financial institutions in most urban areas are limited to check cashing facilities, tax return storefronts, and high interest charging pay-day lending "institutions."

Educational opportunities are limited at best. In most urban areas, less than fifty-percent of the majority population of African Americans and Hispanics are homeowners. Additionally property tax values in urban areas are ten to thirty percent less than property tax values in the suburbs for comparable housing. This disparity contributes to the lack of adequate funding (tax dollars) for schools in urban areas, which directly affects the quality of education in urban areas. Employment opportunities in urban areas are scarce as businesses have left/are leaving and relocating to the suburbs only to return when urban areas go through the process of gentrification.

Many African Americans from academia, religion, and politics have discussed and continue the discussion ad infinitum, of "what to do" about urban America. As they talk (and posture I might add), the problems in urban areas get worse. A few organizations and individuals have actually developed successful programs to combat the lack of education and economic opportunities in urban areas. Unfortunately funding issues hamper many of these programs and severely limits their scope of operation and outreach.

As our educators, clergy, and politicians continue to discuss, preach, have meetings, and attend seminars pontificating about the problems that exist within our communities, African Americans continue to die, continue to be incarcerated, continue to be abused, continue to be under-educated, and continue to live in poverty stricken and systemically violently communities. If hot air was a commodity, our so called black leaders would be some of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Unfortunately for our communities, hot air is less effective and worth less than cheap air freshener in a greyhound bus station bathroom.

What we need is less talking and more action focused upon eliminating the causes and effects of poverty. This can be accomplished through cooperation and collaboration among groups and individuals from academia and business at the community level. One needn't look no further than the web to see the effectiveness of a group engaging in actions that are focused in solving issues to reach a common goal. The world wide web is an excellent example and a direct result of (mostly) voluntary based cooperation amongst large groups of people. Common Based Peer Production is a term used to define this type of cooperation. In the PDF formatted book "Common Based Peer Production and Virtue" written by Yochai Benkler and Helen Nessenbaum, "the hallmark of this socio-technical system is the collaboration among large groups of individuals...who cooperate effectively to provide information, knowledge or cultural goods without relying on either market pricing or managerial hierarchies to coordinate their common enterprise."

Paraphrasing Mr. Benkler and Ms. Nessenbaum, the hallmark of addressing the socio-economic and socio-technical disparities (if you will) found within our urban communities will be the collaboration among groups of African American educators, technophiles, entrepreneurs, and clergy, and motivating them to cooperate effectively to provide information, knowledge, funding, and goods and services to our communities without relying upon traditionally ineffective black leadership and group think hierarchies to coordinate their common enterprise.In other words, we must disengage ourselves from that which has proven to be ineffective and embrace a system of cooperation and collaboration that relies upon the unfettered dissemination of knowledge, goods and services.

We cannot continue to support the so called black leaders and organizations that are ineffective in addressing and fomenting solutions to eliminate poverty within our urban communities. They've had forty years to "talk" about solutions. African Americans communities need tangible solutions now! Quite frankly, I'm tired of watching the impotence exhibited of our so called black leadership. We have the resources, financial and otherwise to bring change to our communities and it is time we put those resources to work for the betterment of our communities.

The State of Africa America Remix: Eliminating the Status Quo

By Heru Ammen

Currently there is much hype and media attention focused upon African Americans and the issues that we face. In doing our part to bring attention to the aforementioned issues, the authors of the Urban Village Blog & Commentary will re-post the series we authored in 2006 entitled "The State of Africa America." In this current media frenzy regarding "Black issues" we want to participate not only in the discussion of these issues, we believe it is important to discuss tangible solutions. All too often all that we hear are the same voices discussing the same issues and offering nothing but the same tired rhetoric. It is our hope that by re-posting this series, we can move the discussion forward and focus on what we can do to actually change the dynamics affecting the culture and socio-economics of African American communities.

"Inspire not men with fear, else The Creator will fight against you in the same manner. If any one asserts that he lives by such means, the Creator will take away the bread from his mouth; if any one asserts that he enriches himself thereby, The Creator says: I may take those riches to myself. If any one asserts that he beats others, the Creator will end by reducing him to impotence. Let no one inspire men with fear; this is the will of God. Let one provide sustenance for them in the lap of peace; it will then be that they will freely give what has been torn from them by terror."

-Ptah-Hotep-

Racism, bigotry, and discrimination will probably be a part of the American culture forever. Unfortunately the African American community has been and continues to be stymied by the above whereas other communities in this country thrive despite it. The above has affected us to the point that we're now experiencing an African American cultural and socio-economic implosion.

Effectively dealing with the effects of racism, bigotry, and discrimination requires the development and implementation of a socio-economic system within an infrastructure that will act as a buffer against future discriminatory incursions. Without the above, any solution proffered to counteract the cultural insurgency prevalent within our communities will fail.

The success of other ethnic groups in this country has been remarkable considering that they too are subjected to the same impediments to life, liberty, and freedom that we face. The Asian, Latino, and Afro-Caribbean communities thrive in this country. All of these cultures are victims of the same type of European aggression, assimilation and/or colonialism that devastated the African continent. Yet they succeed despite the everyday reality of racism and discrimination. A question one must ask is why do African American communities fail when other communities succeed? Let's discuss a few of the issue that I believe to impede our progress as a people.

A. Embracing Victim-hood and/or Victim Worship

I define victim worship as the inability to move beyond the pain, suffering and trauma that was perpetuated against an individual or group. As such, victim-hood becomes a de-facto religious experience complete with its own dogma and tradition of suffering, self-hatred and self-imposed limitations. We should never forget our past. However our past did not begin in America. It began at the dawn of great African civilizations in Kemet (misnomered Egypt) Nubia, Sumer, Ethiopia, and Indus Kush and continues even to this day throughout the African Diaspora.

In fact, the perpetuation of victim-hood is a direct proponent of self-hatred, which leads to violence, abusive behavior, and general mayhem. Once we begin the process of knowing who we are in terms of our history prior to the Euro-Arab hegemony, and how that hegemony affected us, we will then be able heal those wounds and move forward as a culture. Real solutions require strategies designed and implemented outside of the box that are contra-posed to the status quo of indifference and self-hatred that we now embrace.

B. What is The Status Quo?

Part of the African experience in America was our forced introduction to what I term Euro-Christianity. From an European perspective, Euro-Christianity was used specifically as a tool of European aggression, colonialism and assimilation. Initially Africans were compelled to become Christians. Many of our Ancestors complied and accepted the Euro-Christian religion as a means of survival. Those who did not were beaten, tortured or murdered as an example of "Gods will."

As the generations passed and our ancestors forgot the old ways, Euro-Christianity became the only religion that the African in America knew. Unfortunately what was offered to the slave as Christianity was designed and taught to the slave to keep him/her in bondage. We know this to be true because a people that will beat you, rape you, kill you, assimilate and enslave you are not a people that will teach you how to become free. Especially when the condition of slavery served as the primary engine that propelled economic growth in the southern states.

Those conditions still exist today. Even when the slave was freed, he/she continued to embraced and perpetuate the Euro-Christian religion and dogma that was taught to them as a slave. The main thesis of many African American churches today is still focused upon instilling fear through the worship of Satan as the enemy of God and the reward set aside in the eternal fires of hell for those that do not comply with the will of the Euro-Christian God. I believe it is time for African Americans to define Christianity (and Islam as well) from an African-Historical perspective and define it through our our thoughts, our culture and our vision of what God would have us to do for humanity. Continuing to teach the theology of a religion that is based upon fear, punishment and religious servitude will only perpetuate the slave mentality that exist within many of our people today.