Quote:
Originally posted by DoggyStyle82:
Blacks are Americans, we are not immigrants. Immigrants make their money off of their own people because they have a shared culture and language where they feel comfortable doing business with. They also come from countries where the basic economic system is socialism or cooperative economics, not capitalism. We on the other hand are raised as capitalists. Best bang for the buck, quality, service etc. White America will buy from anyone for the same reasons. Jews "used to only patronize other Jews, for the younger ones, that is not so much the case now that they have fully integrated into society, as have Italians and Irish. This pipe dream of us being like an immigrant community will not happen, because we are Americans, not African immigrants of a single tribe, culture, and language without an ability to function outside of our own zenotype. Reality is much different than the lecture hall or the book store. We need to become competitive so that all American consumers will buy from us, not just us. White kids buy Fubu, Hip Hop,etc, they buy tickets to see Black athletes and artists perform because we are the best in those endeavors. When we start producing quality products and giving 5 star service, then we will compete.
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Actually, if you look at the Latino community, you find an excellent example for why you are about %95 mistaken. They may speak the same language, but they have as many different cultures, as there are Latino countries. They very wisely galvanized around the one thing that unified them--language. Not to mention the fact that they do come from a capitalistic system. Look at Asians. Yeah, you have China towns, little Korea's etc. but no matter how many different countries are represented, they would support another Asian before they would support you. Reality is much different than the lecture hall, and the reality is that many Black people will make every excuse for why they can't follow this model, or that model. The reality is also that before most of us were scrambling to get into the White man's neighborhoods, we had thriving businesses. We had our own laundry mats, banks, funeral parlors, dentists, insurance agencies, clinics, schools, etc. All of the things that make up a viable community. So let's not pretend that economic models that are working brilliantly for others can not work for us.
We've already shown that they do! Let's try to be about the spirit of Sankofa and look to the past to reclaim the eggs that can push us into the future. Let's try doing research on our recent history pre-integration, and see how succesful we were (albeit still suffering the pangs of discrimination!) in a time when Black men were openly hanged for looking at White women. If we could do it then, why is it that we spend time discussing why we can't do it now??? Asians and Latinos could function very, VERY well outside of their own groups, the fact is
they choose not too. That is why they are successful and we are still struggling. I don't mean to sound angry, so please excuse the tone of this post if it comes across that way. It's just really hard to see my people take such a lackadasical(sp?) attitude when it comes to our future.
[This message has been edited by 1 Woman of Virtue (edited June 29, 2001).]