Michael Jordan, Jay Z, Beyonce and a host of other black celebrities have blood on their hands.
Black multimillionaires have used the black community to make piles of money and yet when one of our young people is murdered they remain silent.
It is great to make money.
It is greater to speak up about something other than the latest product you want our youthful community members to consume.
Why are we not demanding that the attention these folks generate be used for something other than getting more attention?
Ghettos are full of young people and their parents lusting for items they can’t afford created by people that don’t care about them.
We can adopt an Amish way of handling our finances and boycott things that don’t support us or uplift our young people.
In the great book, Money Secrets of the Amish, there are several strategies that this debt free and self governing community uses to maintain its power and commitment to clear thinking and communal growth.
What this group has mastered is the power to say no to things that don’t matter and yes to things that do.
Why spend $300 on sneakers when my child does not have a safe place to play or the books he needs in his classrooms ?
Amish persons would save this small fortune and invest in something that would pay off in the future.
By delaying gratification, they are able to wield an incredible amount of power speaking the language that all Americans understand: money.
We can adopt the same belief system, change our thinking about money and design a system that demands the end to black men as targets.
Where is our collective refusal to be pimped ?
Where can we say no to bullshit that doesn’t matter ?
Start with this quote from Money Secrets : The Amish say no to themselves on a regular basis. If they wore T-shirts with words no them, they could proudly wear “Don’t Eat the Marshmallow” emblazoned over their thrifty hearts. They focus instead on the big picture, and the result is loads of unfrittered money in the bank. (p.45)
Once we understood the real influence we wield financially, we could direct it towards progressive thinkers and media outlets.
We could demand that the folks who get rich of us either turn the spotlight on issues that concern us or we will no longer support them by buying their records and clothing.
What could millions of dollars do to eliminate Black Male assassinations ?
Your take on issues and the world around us is, as always, yours and yours alone; utterly original. Intertwining the horror of murder and young Black men with the Amish is sheer brilliance, Anthony. It opens up the discussion, giving it a somber depth which is so often missing in our sound-bite (tweeting?) world.
Thanks much!