Black Heritage Festival

If we are elevated, our elevation will have been accomplished through our own instrumentality... No people who has solely depended upon aid from others ever stood forth in the attitude of freedom.”

Those words were written by Frederic Douglass. I am proud and honored to be here today to speak to you regarding the theme of the NSB Black Heritage Festival, which is: The Tie that binds”. I have to tell you that I am pretty nervous about this, since most of my presentations are relative to Information Technology. I would be much more comfortable speaking about Wireless networks, Enterprise Resource Planning, or E-

Commerce, but after a lot of prodding and pushing and coercing and just plain out being told that I have to do it, I finally relented.

I think we should take a moment to honor the Committee for NSB Black Heritage Festival, those that are here, I would like you to stand as your name is called.

Let’s give them a round of applause

In 1926, at the peak of the Harlem Renaissance Carter Godwin Woodson, a great scholar and pioneer began a movement to observe “Negro History Week". Woodson felt the celebration should be in February since abolitionist and orator Frederic Douglas and President Abraham Lincoln were born in that month. The week was transformed into Black History Month during the 1976. Somehow I missed the start of Black History Month; I think that it was probably during the 1990s that I became aware of Black History Month.

Black History month reinforces that we are not just athletes and whatever else people perceive Black Americans to be, we are writers, artists, thinkers, and inventors that have made an impact on the world. We are the most diverse race in the world, not only in skin color. In politics, we are not all Democrats, although I have always voted Democratic, my mind became suddenly opened when I was invited by a friend to attend a party, supposedly for a contract that was awarded to an individual. To my surprise it was a meeting of Republicans of Broward County. Most of the people in attendance were Black, and the Guest of Honor stood up to speak. He said that if all Black People vote Democrat and only vote Democrat what happens when the opposing party wins the election. That would simply mean that when Democrats are not in office that we have no voice in the decisions that are made that affect us.

The lessons that are learned as a part of Black History Month such as perseverance in overcoming obstacles and hardships about the possibilities of the future, to name just a few, can be applied not only to the classroom but to a lifetime. Growing up as a kid I remember having to go through the back door of a store down by the blinking light as Manual would call it. The rest of us call it Oak Hill, and I really didn’t have a problem with it initially, until I saw one of the kids we played baseball against go through the front door.

There needs to be year round focus on Black History, because it serves to educate people, especially school-age children, of the achievements of blacks and their successes, and teaches them that there are possibilities beyond the normal for them to aspire to. Without it, valuable lessons and inspiration will be lost to today’s black youths and to future generations.

In the 70’s we were raised to finish high school. Go to college and get a good job. A premium was placed on finishing high school. The desires, wants, and needs were not nearly as great then as they are now.

The ability of Black People to achieve was limited due to our color.

When I left college in 1972 with a degree in computer programming, I had approximately 50 interviews before accepting a position well beneath my qualification

The quote by Frederic Douglas is very much appropriate for today’s time, only by continuing to elevate through our own instrumentality will we achieve the level of success that will allow us to grow as a race in terms of Black America wealth.

This statistic is from the Black Think Tank;

Blacks who hold white collar jobs have $0 net financial assets compared to their white counterparts who on average hold $12,000 in net financial assets. Black middle class status, as such figures indicate, is based almost entirely on income, not assets or wealth. Thus, the black middle class can best be described as fragile. Even blacks earning as much as $50,000 per year have on average net financial assets of only $300 compared to $7000 for whites. Moreover black families need more wage earners per household to attain the living standards of white households of similar income. Thus whether poor or middle class, black families live without assets and compared to white families, black families are disproportionately dependent on the labor market to maintain status. a

These Facts are from the Black Think Tank:

1. The first Americans or native Americans going back to 13,000 BC were black! Look up the Folsom people who lived in Arizona.

2. Best reason to stop our use of the term African American and say Black. A white person who was born in Africa, who moves to America is an African American and qualifies for financial aid, etc., but will get the jobs/pay privileges afforded to whites.

3. Two white men: Bill Gates and Larry Elision, combined have more wealth than the combined wealth of all 36 million blacks in America. Civil Rights did not change the economic landscape or the balance of power in America.

4. Asians received 80% of all government minority set aside contracts. Hello!!!!!!!

5. Blacks eat more fish than whites by a four to one margin. Fish sold wholesale for $1 will retail at $2.50 --$3.00. Guess what business we should be in as Blacks?

6. There are no black owned national cables or major network television stations. The black woman who owns our only black owned radio stations, plans to sell to white owners after hearing the deal Bob Johnson  received for selling BET. (Cathy Hughes is from OMAHA, ya'll!)

7. Over the next two years 440,000 black inmates will be released from prison. The State has no place to put them as they reenter society. Halfway house business!

8. In 1860, 98% of all Blacks in America worked for White people.  2001, 98% of all Blacks in America still work for white people.

9. In 1860, blacks in America had a combined net worth of half of one percentage point. Guess what in 2001, after Civil Rights, Jesse Jackson,    Oprah, Shaq, NAACP, and Urban League, our combined net worth is half a percentage point.

10. For every dollar earned by a Jewish person, that dollar touches 12-18 Jewish hands before it leaves their community. For every dollar earned by a black person it leaves the community soon as he or she earns it.

It is important for our kids who are disadvantaged to know that it’s not where or how you were born, but what you make of your life that matters, we must inspire our kids in order for the elevation to occur. Far too many kids think that they do not possess the tools necessary to achieve greatness.

Booker T. Washington said that

“Those who think there is no opportunity for them to live grandly, yea, heroically, no matter how lowly their calling, no matter how humble their surrounding, make a common, but very serious error”.

Thinking about the generations of folk (our people) that have come before me to pave the way for me to be the person that I am today, with the opportunities that I have today, I’m in awe and I’m truly grateful. These were people who didn’t have modern conveniences to live. These were people who as adults were literally beaten daily for their transgressions on the plantation. These were people who suffered and endured the hard times, so that we could enjoy the easier times.

I was very fortunate as a youth. I had many people in my corner other than my parents, specifically, my uncles made me understand that I must not allow the many barriers that they faced to hold me back from fulfilling my dreams. I am forever tied to them not only through bloodlines but by the foundation they provided. Besides, I had felt James’ foot once and decided I did not want that again.

The tie that binds is the tie from past generations to us, we are standing on the shoulders of great people, and we need to learn more about their accomplishments as well as the struggles, because they are numerous. We must elevate the state of Black History currently being taught in the schools that our tax dollars support. One month of Black History does not do justice to the toils and tribulations faced by people that have come before us.

The tie that binds is the tie to our children. As was done with my generation of high school graduates, we still teach our children to go to school, get good grades, and get a good job, often this is done out of cultural habits. It has always been the right thing to do. I’d like to think that for my generation at that time elevating to positions with a lot of responsibility and a high salary was a stepping stone toward the lessons that should be taught. The children must be encouraged to become a corporate owner not an employee. Education and good grades are extremely important, but equally important are the lessons taught to the children about the future. We can no longer tell our children to find a good job, because the good jobs are constantly dwindling and with Bush at the throttle pushing war instead of domestic economic development there may not be jobs available to them, couple that with the constant downsizing, rightsizing, and layoffs, we will be forced to teach them to become entrepreneurs. Instead of getting a good job, find a void and fill it. As we’ve stood on the shoulders of greatness, people who broke down barriers, gave us a voice, and opened the door to the most fundamental opportunities. We must provide the children the tie that will support them toward greater opportunities. We must elevate with our own instrumentality.