Now that Blacks have exhausted the political option in terms of understanding its limitations, now they can return to a dialogue, consideration and exploration of alternative economic solutions and models, and sustaining them, Mr. Muhammad said.
“Any boycott must be married to a ‘buycott,’” he said, underscoring the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint. The first things the Nation of Islam patriarch taught is to save five cents a day, then buy land, and then begin to build a banking system, Mr. Muhammad said.
Philip Jackson, executive director of Chicago-based Black Star Project said the battle for economic justice should have been fought a long time ago. “The Minister’s call for an economic boycott is something that can gain respect for our community in ways that nothing else can,” Mr. Jackson said. Among programs his organization offers Black and Latino youth are presentations on finance and economics.
Because America is the modern home of capitalism, one of the only things she understands is dollars, he said. Unfortunately, that’s also one of the things that Blacks in America don’t grasp, he continued. So much so, collectively they lack an understanding of the power of money, how to multiply it, and how to use the power of dollars to get what they need in their schools and communities to help their children, seniors and themselves, said Mr. Jackson, a long-time community activist and convener of the Million Father March, in which Black men take children to the first day of school.
“Black America is projected to have $1 trillion in earning power in 2015. That $1 trillion in earning power we allow this country to use against us, when in reality, if we harvest that $1 trillion in earning power, in spending power, in budget power, we wouldn’t have to ask anybody for a job,” said Mr. Jackson, echoing Minister Farrakhan.
When the Nation of Islam re-launched Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint to End Poverty and Want during Min. Farrakhan’s Saviours’ Day address in February 2013, he asked Blacks to sacrifice five cents a day, 35 cents a week, to create a fund for Black economic development and job creation. That investment by 16 million Black wage earners would net over $291 million in one year. Minister Farrakhan said investing pennies, nickels and dimes would allow Blacks to secure businesses like a 70,000-acre Texas cattle ranch for just $34 million.
Just six cents of every Black dollar is spent in Black businesses but if that was doubled to 12 cents, it would create nearly 600,000 additional jobs for Black workers and reduce Black employment by three percentage points, Min. Farrakhan noted.
But part of the problem has been America’s used Madison Avenue to trick Blacks into spending with others on bad food, cheap alcohol, and junk, according to Mr. Jackson.
“His (Minister Farrakhan’s) picking the holiday season as a time to exert that pressure is perfect. That’s when America counts our dollars before we spend them,” he said. And as a matter of course, he continued, other communities throughout America already do what Minister Farrakhan’s asking.
“Chinese people shop with Chinese people. Korean people shop with Korean people. Pakistani people shop with Pakistani people. … The people who are not doing what the Minister is asking for is us. We take our dollars and what that means is we take our power and we literally give it away,” said Mr. Jackson.
Article Appeared @http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_102606.shtml