Blacks are upset about what they perceive to be an attack on voting rights.
Blacks have it all wrong. Since we were allegedly freed from slavery, Blacks have rushed into politics without a firm economic base. Even with marches, litigation and laws to help Blacks, some whites keep coming up with novel ways to frustrate them.
How can Black people be empowered politically and socially without being empowered economically? There is no power without economic power. The notion that Black people would achieve “equality” simply by voting was and still is an absurdity that should have collapsed under its own weight decades ago. Give political access to Black people without the benefit of economic strength and leverage and the result will sustain itself: a permanent underclass of people, laborers instead of owners, consumers rather than producers.
Marcus Garvey said, “The most important area for the exercise of independent effort is economic. After a people have established successfully a firm industrial foundation they naturally turn to politics and society, but not first to society and politics, because the two latter cannot exist without the former.”
Politics in America not only depends on understanding the necessity of the vote but also knowing its limitations. While voting is important, it has a limited effect on political decisions about income, housing and the life chances of Black voters. These are concerns in the economic sphere, where Black leadership has not given much thought, except in the concept of redistributive tax politics.
It’s questionable whether Blacks understand the true value of the vote.
The only things those in charge in this country respect are money and power. Blacks, instead of waiting for “po-lie-tricksters,” the government or benevolent white people to help us out of our conundrum, we must come up with a collective economic strategy to help ourselves.
How do we accomplish that? We need to establish virtual cities, economic enclaves, channels of communication, business ventures, charitable efforts, educational venues, financial assistance and investment initiatives, but we will only have those things if we work together.
We have to set aside the envy and jealousy.
Adib Aqeel
Beckley
