The Power Of A Dollar

I have been a constant advocate of our community coming together collectively to build our community and to create long term, sustainable economic viability that benefits not only the current generation, but generations to come.

I spoke in my blog “A Million Men Marched?” about how much better it would have been for the men who participated in that march to simply give one dollar, if that would have been done, we would have raised a million dollars as a community and directed properly, that million dollars would have produced a much more tangible impact that would have been felt almost immediately in our community and would still be paying dividends today.

It is imperative, as a community, that we come together under a unified cause and standard if we are to progress. We have to stop being so distrusting of one another and realize that this was a tactic that was executed, with flawless efficiency, during slavery when the slave owners would pit the “house negro” against the “field negro”, the “light skinned negro” against the “dark skinned negro”. Through slavery, the Caucasians of the time, were able to break the bonds that unite Africans, that are inherent in every racial demographic at its core. While the “Willie Lynch Letter” is a fictional accounting, the tactics described in that letter are very real, were exercised everyday by the vast majority of slave owners and are reflective in how we behave as a people today. How many times have you heard stories of the deeper struggles darker skinned African Americans face compared to their lighter skinned counterparts?

In fact, according to a University of Georgia study conducted in 2006, lighter skinned African American males were more likely to be hired than their darker skinned contemporaries, even though their darker skinned contemporaries had better qualifications. Telling, is the fact that this study was conducted by African Americans and exclusively with African Americans. We, as a community, are in a sad state of affairs and while it was not solely by our own making to start, it is only together that we can overcome it.

African Americans are the largest consumer demographic in the United States, yet, African American owned businesses suffer more economic hardship than any other and are not able to grow into viable organizations that can compete economically, thus, most fail and go out of business (African American business actually fail at a much higher rate than any other demographic). We, as a community, simply do not support African American owned businesses. A big part of the reason is that, again, we simply do not trust each other. Another reason is because we may have had a bad experience with a poorly operated African American owned business and simply swear off all the rest. One business does not define an entire community of businesses!

Fact is, we would rather spend out consumer dollars with others than with our own, we would rather take the advice of someone of the Caucasian or Jewish persuasion than the advice of one of our own, who may be equally or more skilled. Ever heard the term “He’s White so he must be Right”? Our distrust of one another is a primary reason why we are always taken advantage of by those from outside of our community, who, make their money in our community by charging rates for their services that would be unacceptable anywhere else. We are routinely robbed of our wealth through our consumer spending patterns. We have got to come together, there is strength and protection in numbers! We have got to unify as a community and pool our resources if we are going to be able to strengthen our community and turn things around.

We at The Scott Family Foundation Intl. are leading the charge in this effort, we are showing with our time, our resources and our experience that change can come from inside of our community. We are committed to changing the circumstances within our community by investing into our community. I am challenging every African American that lays eyes on this blog, to join us in this endeavor, unify under our standard and help us change our community for the better. I am asking that every African American that reads this blog, donate one dollar, just one dollar to our foundation and help us change our community one dollar at a time because at the end of the day, no one can take care of our community better than the members within our community can. Let’s do this together!