I've thought about this question ever since I first saw it posted, and I thought I had an answer...but it wasn't until last night that a real answer came to me. I went to this speech by Dr. Claud Anderson (wrote Black Labor, White Wealth; Dirty Little Secrets about Black History; Powernomics. In his books, he discusses the brutal realities of Black America, and provides economic means by which we can and must improve our situation.
He writes: "...on the eve of the Civil War, records indicated that more than 50 percent of free blacks were paupers; all free blacks collectively held less than one-half of one percent of the nation's wealth...A century later, in the 1960's an era consierd by many as "great decade of progress for blacks," more than 55 percent of all the blacks in America were STILL impoverished and below the poverty line. And, blacks barely held one percent of the nations wealth." (Black Labor, White Wealth, p 13).
The American Dream, was meant to be just that--American (meaning that Blacks were not intended to participate). Now as African descendents in America we have to take the ideals of that dream, and interpret them for us. The American dream (society, really) is individualistic...rugged individualism to the extreme really. But if we take the other ideals of that dream (like self improvement, prosperity, etc) and apply them on a COMMUNITY basis, I think it can happen.
What do the rest of you think?
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