By Thomas Sheffield
A couple of week’s ago, I mentioned some researches believe statistically, African Americans are headed into a second slavery. It will be an economic and financial slavery. According to the researchers, the black median wealth will be ZERO by the year 2053. So within 200 years from the end of slavery, we will be right back into bondage. Less that 100 years from the Voting Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, we will be worse off than we were during segregation. All the progress made and all the sacrifices our parents, grandparents and great grandparents made will be for naught. We would have failed to live out the full meaning of our nation’s creed and allowed the “elite”, and the “establishment”, to take over our lives and the potential for a happier sustainable life.
A second slavery means we do not own anything. It means we owe everybody and our assets(savings, checking accounts, stocks, bonds, IRA’s, etc.) are less than our debts and we will be in the negative or the red. What can be done? How can we ensure future generations are better off than we are today? First, I believe we will need to wake up. We need to decide we are in control of our future and our destiny. It is just horrible to see so many people in our community give up their ability to choose. We have become too lazy or too complacent in believing we have no control over what our future will look like. We, the African American minority are the moral backbone of this country. Is it too far fetched to believe God sent us here to this country to save it from itself? The sooner we realize this, the sooner the chains of bondage in our minds will be loosed. A recent example in this is how African American females in Alabama showed up and showed out in the special 2018 US Senate election in which Doug Jones defeated the racist Roy Moore. Black women made their voices heard and elected a candidate with a good moral compass.
We will have to get back to basics. African Americans make up 14% of the population (47 million) and make up $1.3 trillion annual economy. This is enough to be the 15th largest global economy in the world. We have an opportunity to take this power and invest in our own community. Just imagine how powerful a Black Wall Street will be in each city in the US. A community of black owned businesses, banks, and schools. Imagine if our money was spent in our own community and the tax dollars we spend were invested in our own infrastructure. Imagine if our streets had sidewalks. Imagine if we were free from air pollution and our water supply was not threatened. Imagine if we had our own energy supplies. This is all very possible but we must wake up and realize we have not yet reached the promised land. We cannot afford to leave our work unfinished.
If you feel the need to learn more, feel free to contact me directly at thomsustainableconsulting@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @tcsheff.
