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Commentary v
Practicing Black Economic Development
by Patricia Smith-Dcering
With the advent of the holiday season ministers, rab
bis, priests, and other members of the clergy worldwide
are preparing eloquent sermons on the meaning of the
season. Members of the Black community will listen
attentively as their ministers deliver messages concer
ning "peace on earth, good will towards men" and
"love ye one another", while choirs make a "joyful
noise unto the Lord." Va"ous church groups will spon
sor fundraisers so that food, gifts, and money can be
given to those less fortunate than themselves at such
a giving, caring, festive time of the year. The beauty
of Christmas and the traditions to which we have
become accustomed will be preserved and sustained.
But, look deeper at those preparations and traditions
and all the consumer dollars being spent by our Black
communities. Of the $230 billion income that Blacks
annually earn and spend in America it is a distressing
fact that we return only 7% or a paltry $12 billion to
our own communites. As often as these statistics have
been publicized and discussed on hundreds of radio
and television shows and at numerous conferences,
meetings, and conventidns concerning Black economic
development or Black issues, the message is still not
getting through to the Black community as a whole.
Why not? We do as we are taught, and as noted Black
journalist, Tony Brown, so aptly put it in describing the
successes of rjther ethnic groups recently arrived in this
country, "These new immigrants learned 5,000 miles
away that Black Americans are a rich cultural market
that has been trained to behave as a poor minority."
Who are our teachers? A perception many share is
that more powerful than the educational system respon
sible for the formal development of Black minds, more
powerful than the majority community with its en
ticements, are our Black churches. Their might, if there
is any doubt, was seen in the '60's when Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and other Black churchmen brought
the South, and subsequently other parts of the coun
try, literally to its knees with economic boycotts. That
omnipotence still exists in our churches. There are
some forward-thinking clergy who see the handwriting
on the wall for Black minority development in a coun
try where it is projected that the toal population of all
ethnic groups ten years from now will outnumber the
current majority community, but Blacks will still be on
the fringes. However, more ministers are needed who
preach and teach the gospel of our economic survival
as a group while we seek individual spiritual salvation.
While some may view such thinking as bordering on
blasphemy or heresy, few can deny that Black America
is, as hirley Chisholm expressed it at a recent New
Jersey conference, "on the verge of a moral dilemma,
asking the government and white Corporate America
to do what we don't do and can do for ourselves." We
continue to sing and march to "We Shall Overcome",
yet 93% of our consumer dollars go to businesses many
of which do not support the Black community's
economic structure or have hiring practices that are
detrimental to our advancement.
Our sermons and other preachments this Christmas
must emphasize that loving one another goes beyond
th spiritual felling we get in church or when we give
that basket of food and the presents once a year. It
means sharing our billions of dollars of economic
wealth with our own businesses, as well as those
businesses in the majority community which return
money to the Black community through their consis
tent hiring of Blacks at all levels within their corporate
structure or their expenditure of dol lars to support Black
institutions, businesses, organizations, and other com
munity activities.
We are losing ground, not believing in and acting
on our ability to succeed on our own. Henry Davis,
president of Highbeam, Inc., the only 100% Black-
owned photocopier sales and service firm in America,
wisely perceived the problem when he surmised that
it is difficult to look at yourself as a Black person who
can do, then look at another Black person and avoid
doing business with him or her because you have
automatically concluded that he or she cannot.
But, we do as we are taught, and as an influential
and integral part of the Black community, our churches
owe their Black congregations the message that if we
are truly to survive economically as a people, we must
be the masters of our own economic fate. Those of us
who own businesses must be ready to do business in
a professional, competitive manner based on the moral
and ethical beliefs our churches preach and teach.
Black businesses not operating that way must be
prepared to suffer the same fate as any other firm that
is not ready or truly willing to capture our consumer
dollars by providing cost-effective and efficient pro
ducts anrf services.
Continued on page 17
Merry Christmas!
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