Dear Editor,

The black race has been fighting for equality for over 400 years. They have been marginalised in their own countries, be it Africa, the Americas, Europe, or anywhere else in the world. Disenfranchisement has become our constant companion, and poverty, the heirloom of our ancestors, an involuntary albatross.

But as painful as this may be, black resilience, perseverance, and ingenuity have propelled us to achieve some level of social and economic success. However, our people have yet to learn from previous mistakes and the cantillation of our civil rights, human rights, and political leaders that to acquire and enjoy the economic successes achieved by other races within and without their country of birth, we must work together to promote and maintain self-reliance and economic empowerment.

Over the years I have seen different races unite as a cohesive unit to start businesses. Some began in garages or homes; some combined financial resources; others borrowed from financial institutions, friends, and family members. But regardless of the financial trajectory taken, the goal remains the same — working together to build economic wealth. I realise that we, as black folks, do not have the same luxury as other races. Neither do we have rich family members to fund our dreams. What we do have is the innate human characteristic to coalescence. This amalgamation will achieve the same objective of economic success and sustainability dictated by our historical examples, a few of which are set forth below.

The Hayti Community, Durham, North Carolina was the first black neighbourhood to become fully self-sustainable in the 1900s. A group of black men united, built the community, and named it after Haiti, the first free independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Hayti boasted over 200 black-owned businesses. It was extremely wealthy because black folks and their money were not accepted anywhere else. Therefore, the community thrived, and the dollar circulated among each other, making them economically sufficient. Hayti, however, lacked political representation due to racial discrimination. Urban renewal — privately owned property purchased or taken away by eminent domain for development — decimated that community.

The Greenwood neighbourhood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, became one of the wealthiest black communities in the 1920s. It became successful, not by will but by the accidental forced unity of black people who were segregated. Blacks could not go to white-owned establishments so they had no choice but to support their own businesses. As a result, the Greenwood neighbourhood was a sustainable commercial and residential community that became known as the Black Wall Street. It had its own theatres, restaurants, banks, insurance companies, financial centres, churches, grocery stores, and many other entrepreneurial businesses. This community flourished and wealth was propagated throughout until whites began to take notice of its affluence, became jealous, concocted an alleged rape story, and burnt the community to the ground.

Other affluent black communities were Richmond, Virginia — dubbed the birthplace of capitalism — and Birmingham, Alabama, known as the Black Business District. The Bronzeville neighbourhood, Chicago; Sweet Auburn, Atlanta, Georgia; among others, also are examples of black wealth that were destroyed under the guise of community development and integration.

Integration gave us black folks a psychological reprieve of inclusivity while we watched our wealth dissipate. Many of us became enamoured with desegregation, moved to other areas, and a mass exodus of financial haemorrhages began. Those black businesses that remained or tried to rebuild in the black communities began to wane. Our people have forgotten, either by selective amnesia or our ignorance of history, that the one commonality of these once-successful black communities was the involuntary togetherness of a race.

While some races admire our work ethics, buoyancy, and dedication to individual self-accomplishment, others question our intelligence and ability to amass communal wealth. This may be because the foundation for learning and wealth accumulation was given to us on a silver platter, yet we refuse to capitalise on its underpinnings. It appears that the black race has a self-imposed, self-perpetuating aversion to building community wealth. We instinctively develop a resistance to forming alliances in support of our own community businesses and our undying economic faithfulness to uplift other ethnicities continues to drain our resources.

History will not repeat itself; the blueprint was already given to us. Therefore, our continued cerebral obsequiousness and intrinsic refusal to cooperate and accomplish wealth as a team will continue in perpetuity unless each of us makes a concerted effort conducive to economic solidarity.

Dr Curtis Webley

Chicago

cwebley@wascpafirm.com