Recently God shared a bit of revelation with me. Since the days of Marcus Garvey, there has been a push for Black Americans to separate from the global community and form our own, independent communities. This on the surface level sounds like a very positive and empowering task, but it is marred in its design. Closely examined from the viewpoint of a member of the global Christian community it is easy to see how this idea, like Communism, will never succeed.

Black community leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Luis Farrakhan are pushing this propaganda by using Jewish, Greek and Hispanic communities as the examples to be followed. Unfortunately they are negating to share with us that these are global communities, with sects in multiple countries and spanning several continents. The United States of America is not the hub for Jewish culture and Jewish commerce, they have an entire country to call their own.

The Jews are blessed to have an entire country that feeds finances and people into this global community. There are Jewish communities in Europe, Asia, as well as the United States that are all sharing a global community. If you head into Evanston, IL, in the Rogers Park area, you will notice a plethora of signs where the symbol for the Euro is nearly as prevalent as the symbol for the U.S. dollar. This is because this community is not just a group of American-born citizens trying to empower themselves by themselves. That community has a healthy mixture of first and second-generation citizens with a direct connection to the homeland, and that is why they can afford to be self-supporting.

The same is true of the Grecian communities, and even of the Hispanic communities. But the Black American communities are different, as in a global sense, the classification of “Black” means very little. It is not indicative of any community except in America, therefore it is nothing more than a description of a person’s physical body. When Nigerians come to America they do not look for a Black community, they look for a Nigerian community. When Haitians come to America they do not look for Black communities, they look for Haitian communities.

For this reason there is no international commerce being pumped into the Black communities of the United States of America. These communities do not have relatives sending us money from overseas to assist us in establishing new commercial venues, or to comfortably finish our college degrees. The only money being pumped into Black American communities come from the earnings of those that live in the community. Even if we kept the ninety-seven percent that was leaving the community in it, we still do not make enough to compete in the global community because our demographics are too small.

Add into the fold that we are being encouraged to only hire from within our own communities, and only do business for and with our own communities. This is a terrible business model to follow, one that no other community outside of supremacists follow. Although Jewish communities have businesses that appear to exclusively service Jewish people, there are also businesses that service the non-Jewish communities. So not only are they servicing a global community of Jews, they are also servicing the global community at large. This, my friends is a model for success.

If we are ever going to see an improvement in the Black slums of America it is not going to happen by having a local community that is miniscule in comparison to the global community separating itself to empower itself. We have to become a part of that global community, and become a partner in sharing of its finances and resources. Ironically, leaders like Jesse Jackson are asking for federal money to be given to Black communities so that we can separate ourselves from the donors.

These same leaders are oxymoronic in that on one hand they say that the Black community doesn’t need any other community, and on the other hand they tell us to march in Washington so that they can give us more money for special programs. In one speech they are telling Black businessmen to leave their jobs in corporate America and bring their skills back into their own communities, then on the other hand they are campaigning for the stay of Affirmative Action. They are publicly fighting against themselves, and playing both sides of the coin to their own benefit.

Instead of getting caught up in the double talk of these deceptive leaders we need to closely follow the model being given to us by the Hispanic community. Although they have strong family and cultural values, they do not limit their resources and services to their own community. They have developed strong communities in the United States, but they are not limiting themselves to those areas. They are coming together, and the most successful of them are helping those communities by advancing through the global community while maintaining their responsibility o their kinsmen.

I have a Hispanic friend who started his business with one truck and a lawnmower. Now he is making a living cutting the lawns of the global community. How successful do you think he would be had he only sought to cut the lawns of Hispanic people? I can tell you that he probably would not have been very successful because most of his clientele is not of Hispanic descent.

The “serve your own only” mentality cuts the demographics too thin in this global community we live in. We live in a world where European nations have banded together to rival the once invincible American dollar. This is a world where it is possible to do face-to-face business in both Europe and North America in the same day. This is a world where the Internet has torn down the barriers of distance and time, and the only thing that stands between you and Asia is a phone line and a computer. Presently, it is in no way beneficial to build up a community with the purpose of segregating itself from the global society.

Gone are the days when whites hated blacks. Yes, racism still exists, but it is not the Willie Lynch system that some black leaders are trying to get you to believe in. Affirmative action is not necessary anymore because corporate America is regularly surpassing the quotas being set for them. If business on a whole were simply hiring just enough minorities than there would be a case for its continuance, but this is not the case.

We live in a country where the market will always correct itself. In this global economy we live in, businesses can no longer afford to look past minority workers if they are the most qualified. In the society we live in, the most qualified will find a place, and any business not tapping into the best of the best will soon find themselves unable to compete and out of business.

Since Jesse Jackson is intent on making a higher minimum wage an issue for the Black community I will first ask him how many people does Rainbow Push employ, and what are the starting wages? Secondly I would like to expose why it would be damaging to the American economy to keep raising the minimum wage. If Restaurant X charges $1.99 for an order of fries, and pays their fry maker $5.75 per hour, they can afford to hire two fry makers and the basis of their sales. If you raise minimum wage to $7.00 per hour the Restaurant then has to decide where this extra salary will come from. Restaurant X will have to either, fire one of the fry makers or raise the price of the fries. Raising the price of the fries would undoubtedly decrease sales, which would then decrease the need for the second fry maker, thus resulting in the loss of a job.

By keeping wages at a fair level, it ensures that there are more jobs instead of having fewer higher wage jobs. Nobody wants to see fewer jobs in the black community, and that is why conservatives are resistant to the idea of raising minimum wage. Furthermore, is it fair to ask a mom and pop business to pay a sixteen-year-old with absolutely no work experience $7.00 per hour. Not only will it be difficult for a small, start-up business to pay these wages, it will be a bigger loss if the help doesn’t work out. For this reason, a higher minimum wage is detrimental to the growth of small business in the United States, thus resulting in a decrease in the creation of new jobs.

Since the Federal Government is pouring millions of dollars into minority-owned small businesses, they are not going to do something that will delay or deny their growth. It is easy for black leaders whose constituency is comprised mostly of down-trodden blacks to scream about higher minimum wages because stronger small businesses and a stronger economy built on the backs of free-thinking entrepreneurs is not good for their personal agendas.

Finally about the proposal of higher minimum wages, I believe that minimum wage jobs are best suited for teens and college students who have very little responsible. I do believe that some jobs merit higher wages than the current minimum wage, but working the register at a fast food restaurant, or as a cashier at a department store is not a job that requires the skills to demand higher wages.

We live in a free society with a free market economy. High wages for mediocre jobs does nothing to inspire members of our communities to accomplish more. If you start as a fry cook when you are sixteen, our current wage structure inspires you to progress. Therefore if you stay with the same company and you work hard, by the time you are thirty-five you will merit more than just a living wage. Where is the inspiration for me to succeed and work hard if I know that I can bounce around from job to job and wherever I land I will make a living wage.

The answer is for us at an early age to begin getting an education, developing a marketable skill, or getting marketable experience. We cannot put a band-aid on bad decisions, and we cannot keep letting underachieving adults steal entry-level jobs from upwardly mobile college students and young adults. These low wage jobs provide the work experience that young Americans need when they enter the professional job market. We cannot rob them of their future by trying to make these jobs career positions for people who have already lived their lives.

Do not follow oppressive, class warfare ensuing leaders down this road because it will be detrimental to all American communities. We have to achieve more, not ask for more. It is up to us to put ourselves in position for better employment, and not expect the Government to raid the Federal economy to help us underachieve.

If Blacks, as a race of people are ever going to truly progress, we need to stop isolating ourselves. Particularly for my Christian brothers and sisters. Don’t get caught up in the rhetoric of people like Jesse Jackson and Luis Farrakhan, do your own research and examine why decisions are made. The Black American community cannot compete in the global community by itself. As Christians though we are a part of the largest demographic on the face of the planet. If the body of Christ comes together as a people we can accomplish a self-empowering, self-sufficient society.

If we unite as Christian brothers and sisters, we can import and export goods and finances into our communities, and we as a family can begin to see our communities all around the world improving. Let’s keep our money in our community. Not the black community or the white community, but in the Christian community.

I am calling on my black Christian brothers and sisters to break free from the oppressive, racist, failing tactics of Jesse Jackson and other similar “preachers”. Free yourself and join the global Christian community. As black Americans we cannot do it by ourselves, but as a unified Christian body we can. God Bless You, Selah.

Corey Buckner
www.coreybuckner.com

Well done. As with most folks on this planet most of their demons are self made. This is especially true of Blacks in the US. I work with a large percentage of blacks and while they are like other people, there are good & bad ones. No other race seems to be so preoccupied with how oppressed and victimized or the white man is keeping them down when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Blacks are like everyone else, if you want to improve your life get your head out of your butt and get an education & a job. You'll do a lot better.

What a great post!!!!!!!!