By Melanated Glow
As a race, highly melanated people of the diaspora are presently the top consumer. Businesses benefit from marketing to people of African descent. Other races greatly benefit from our transactions. This includes those that we choose to receive services from for the most part and the products we purchase. Other races have studied us, our behaviors, our desires, and our spending patterns to create their marketing strategies. Their efforts have gained them success.
Other races have communities where they own businesses, own homes, live as neighbors, and shop together. There is an apparent pride in their culture that is literally expressed in the name of the town or city and when its people are shopping for and wearing their traditional garments. Over time, Black History Month, which began as Negro History Week in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, has become the only time where some of our people are proud to wear our ancestral or African attire. The goal of learning our true story, as was the initial purpose of the week, has changed into empty rituals that have not enhanced the minds and actions of our people as a whole. A lot of our children do not know the stories of our power, our journey, or the contributing factors of our current position globally.
In order for change to take place and remain, there must be a common goal, consistency, and unity in regard to our cause. This communication becomes a part of the collective and then becomes our culture. As Dr. Marimba Ani states, “Our culture is our immune system.” Our opportunities are based on the expectations of our mind. If our minds are dedicated to our growth and wellbeing as a race, our thoughts, conversations, and actions will align with each other for positivity. When we dedicate our monies to others, we are increasing their power and wealth. Where our energy goes is where our minds are focused.
Present day the money we earn does not circulate through our communities, but this was not always the case. We had successful communities like Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the compound that MOVE, a black radical group, organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both thriving communities were bombed by our oppressors. This in turn left some of our people with a fear that has been passed down through our DNA. Now, it is almost automatic that we trust others over our own.
This deep seeded race sabotage is the result of centuries of abuse and mistreatment. After a person is hungry long enough, he or she is willing to eat things that may not have been an option before. As a people, we have become content with surviving off the crumbs falling off the table, the few that are given opportunities of great monetary proportions, and our limited access to enhancing knowledge and resources. This is a result of being damaged psychologically coupled with us not knowing our true worth.
Ignorance is someone else’s bliss. We may not know the buying power we hold but others do. We may not be able to see how operating as a block will hold more weight and bring about the change needed for our advancement, but others know. We do not benefit by operating as individuals. We benefit by operating as a whole and desiring the best for all of our people.
We put so much energy into acquiring things that over time we have lost the valuables that our ancestors worked so hard to leave for us. The same mindset that will lead a person to sell a house they inherited is the same thought process that has a person saving up to lease or purchase a car outside of one’s means. Both scenarios place us at a deficit. We are making decisions where we are not benefitting.
What needs to change is our mindset towards what we need. What do we truly need to be happy? How much is enough? Who is benefitting from our decisions? Once we are mindful of what we are doing, we can make decisions that benefit us in the long run. We are then also able to see the consequences of our actions. It is then that we can rotate the dollar infinite times within our communities and create and provide more than we consume.
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