Blackonomics…A collective economic and political strategy

(NNPA)—“Now there are some ‘practical’ things we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.”
Those words were spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., as part of his famous “Mountaintop” speech.  He stated the problem, did an analysis of the problem, and gave solutions to the problem. He also gave some “practical” solutions that would lead to economic empowerment and justice. On Friday evening, June 19, at Carl Nelson’s Power Talk Series in Washington, D.C., my speech contained the same basic steps and were captured by three questions: What? So what? and Now what? It was the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, with which I began my comments on true freedom for Black people. I essentially stated the problem, analyzed it, and offered solutions to the problem by asking, “Now what?” Thousands of people attended the Power Talk event and they stayed for hours beyond the scheduled time to soak up all the information given out by the august group of speakers, too many to name here.