I was born in late 1950's and I experienced discrimination at an early age in America. I'm old enough to remember racial segregation, the Black and white lines in the South and the changes that was brought about with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Six years later I was one of the students that was bused to the newly desegregated schools in North Carolina. I saw with my own eyes what some of our fore-parents did to keep the pressure on and move the African American nation forward. Throughout history we've seen African Americans unite to meet every challenge. We have triumphed over adversity, defeated Slavery, segregation and Jim Crow which affected not one or two generations of African Americans but practically all African Americans well into the middle of the twentieth century.
Today we are experiencing a new trend, the merging of nations to compete in the 21st - century global economy. It is clearly plain to see that economics and finance will be the new king around the globe. What will this mean for African Americans here in the US? It means that we have to get our act together because Economic Empowerment is going to be the most important item that we have to change for our survival in this country and this century! I really hate to use the word economic empowerment because we have been using it for over a decade now and it has become a buzz word that is meaningless for us because we are still just as powerless as we have been before the new century.
When you look back at our economic history African Americans have made little progress in the areas of economics and finance over the last half century. Our parents did not have the luxury of passing down knowledge about investment instruments, finance, money and the economy. Many of them did not even graduate from high school and could not read or write. This is part of the curse of slavery, generations of African Americans that where illiterate as a group were isolated from basic knowledge pertaining to money, investments and business opportunities which lead to financial illiteracy for another generation.
The baby boomer generation was the first generation to be exposed to investment instruments, financial markets, the economy and money in large numbers. During this time if your family was not exposed to those areas of expertise you just did not learn about it. Only basic math was taught in the elementary schools in the 1960's & 1970's the only other high level math that was taught was geometry and algebra this was in high school. It's a sad fact that even today on the college level no business math or finance classes are mandatory in the general classes for all majors. So if we are not learning this information in school where are we going to learn it?
I had to opportunity to learn about investments with my job with New York Life Insurance Co. I was able to get my securities license and my training right through them. When I started working for New York Life I started to see why we have the problems in our communities, the high unemployment rates, high incarceration of our young men and women. The lack of jobs is a symptom of our lack of wealth, businesses in the community, access to capital, and networks that can produce jobs.
It's time for some serous dialogue to begin along with plans to change old strategies for African American progress in the 21st century. It is quite obvious that the strategies of the pass are not working in the new economy. We need new strategies that must be based on facts and a basic understanding of the African American economy. We are living in one of the most critical periods in American history the United States economy has been shaken to its core over the last couple years. Only time will tell how it will affect the world economy and who will be the players in it.
