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When we talk 'or hear about Black
power, e u ually think in political.
terms. e will li ten to corwersations
or interview in the media' with poli­
tic ian , maY.,0rs pr congressmen, about
politic 1 ction. Organizational spokes­
person or community activists will
_ talk about registering people to vote,
voter education or voter turnout ..
This is fine . . . as far as it goe .
But there is anot kind of power,
dollar power, Black power in a green
pper. eldon hear conversation
out thi kind of power. We never hear
interview in the media with Black
busine eople or ecopomists. Organ­
iztional . spoke ersons or community
activists rarely talk bout money, capital
or cash flow. They never talk about
production distrib tion and sale .
Yet· virtually every Black person
has some dollar power. Some Blacks
have a lot of it. And virtually every
Blac person, poor or rich alike has
more dollar power I capital or cash
than voting or p litical p wer.
oreover dollar po er delivers
- • more p wer action or capability that
tisfies our interests or need than
political power. For e ample Japan s
politi I p wer i si nificant though'
prim rily limited to its 0 n national
bound rie hile it dollar power '.
overwhelm in and felt throughout the
orld.
Yet e give r thro away our
don r power faster, ith Ie • thought,
and le per unit return than our v ting
p litical) power.
nd unle we control and multi­
ply our dollar I power, we on't be able
to improve our ommunity. ,
,e et ,ali ns come into our com­
munitie and take all of our dollars and
charge u 20 cent . extra (the Black
t on every dollar that e pend on
food and drugstore items at the corner
tore. If white politicians did this (that
i , treated u like we get treated in -these
lien' teres �e • ould never vote for
them.
But we let white merchants over­
charge u , insult and cur us, provide
oddy merchandise, rarely provide u .
job in their tores fail to dverti in
our community papers, and then take
their profit out oft our community,
d e till patronize them.
. e Rodney Dangerfield we can't
et 0 re ect, but in ur case, it's no
joke.
To complain about the situation
is not the an er. Answers there are,
the . are difficult. They take thought,
. , cooperation, discipline and
p tience. Still, we must t� to put solu­
tions into practice.
First, e must talk about money,
capital or doll r power.
Like what we're doing now with
me writing and you reading thi article.
e've got to talk about money a
lot, whole lot. And then some more.
I Because after a lot of talk, we'll
take a iitt ction. h re's no use arguing
tha th t shouldn't be. It' the way it
, e get ide-tracked with ego problems,
with lac of data, with social problems,
with emotional problems.
Our problems surface with expres­
on of extreme financial individual­
ism nd f examples of fmancW .co-
operation. e value autonomy even if
it guarantee poverty.
Vie lack data 'about our consumer
habits and motivation. WE have few
Black economists, and littl research
about us i being done. Most of the
data that is gathered . used to exploit
us rather than to develop our economy.
We need research.
Food co-op are difficult to develop
in the Black community. While business
co-ops (collective purcha s of supplies
by group of Black busmesse like record
stores barbershops, etc. ) are non exi -
tanto
The obstable delay u, confu
us and thus we require more money talk
to accomplish what others can do more
efficiently with le input.
ext, we mu t understand that every
dollar that comes into our posse ion
repre ent power that can/fuust be used,
not only to buy. goods or ervices, but
leveraged for the best interest of the
Black community. Thi means buying
where Black, people own the business,
or buying where Blac people ar em­
ployed, or bu ing th e product and
from those tore who advertise in the
Bla media.
hen we thin 'of the e consider -
tion, before' we pend our dollar
p wer our ommunity would look
thin act and feel better. e need to
think before we buy.
The' cash flo int� our community
is not a maj r problem. We have a a
people in this country, an income of
150 billion annually. That i the tenth
largest income of any group of people
on this planet.
However we pend about 2 cents
of ery dollar in our community. Then
e as why our community 100 s the
way it doe.
.. e don't suggest that we should
spend 50 cents of every dollar of lour
income in our community but it would
be prudent to see that a nic el or a dime
of every dollar' stays a little while in our
community. Then over a period of ye
increa that amount.
Unle we stem the dollar hemorr­
haging in our community we will never
develop our neighborhood or raise our
standard of living. e have the capacity,
and the opport nity is waiting for us to ,
seize it. The time i now.
(About the author. David Rambeau is
the dire tor of Project BAIT, a national
.BlJzCk edia organization, and producer
of For My People, a NewS and public
affairs program that air, on' WKBD­
TV, Ch. 50 Sunday nights at 11:30 1I.m.,
and No Claim On Tomorrow, a Block
soap opera now available for cable.)
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EW YORK - President Ronald
Reagan has only Je Jack n to fear
among hi� emocratic presidential oppo­
nents in 19 ,a�cording to an ancient
Chinese Astrological calendar.
Jack n was born in 1941, the Year
of the 'Snake, while Reagan was born
in 1911', the Year of the Pig.
"The only thing (Reagan has to ')
watch for is the Snake who has the
ability to urround the Pig in coils and
squeeze him to death," said author
Emil Prager in the February is ue of
Penthouse magazine.
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JANUARY 11-24,11,13
T E CITIZE
7
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Published by o.y Enterpr.
in Street - Benton �r. Mich
Ph0!M: 616/927-1527
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"But I'll sit briefly upon r. T' great p�
"And put a new feather in Ronnie' po tical cap.
"Maiden I am, skin an fair and so white
"I epitomize the day r. � is the night. ..
On
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"It's so com sitting he 4
"With TV cameras tu
"It' so nice to be en
t ith the TV lights burning.'
Dear ancy' not aware to­
day's Black know alot
They can see through very
tritel political plot.
Black are no Ion er e sily
r impres ed .
They're thinkin and derna -
ding the Fir t Family' .
best.
They're learning to re ister
to get out the vote
. They're learning to watch to
I c efully note
T ey've begun to put their
thinking cap on
Dr. King taught bondage
would one day be Shorn.
I With all this new knowledge
Dear ancy's concern d.
She' wants to help ROMie
without getting burned ..
" y goodne , oh gracious, what shallldo?"
Breathlessly cried out you know who)
"I'm desperate, I'll give Mr. T a big ki ,
"That trick will fool them, it urely can't mi "
"After all, I'm ancy, the nation's fir lady,
I'm number one, not a mere maid named Sadie,
The things that I do, they set the p ce
So fondling Mr. T, wi!! help Ronnie' race."
Today's marching Blacks have freed up their minds
Away with self-hatred, they say with their signs,
They now call for d�ty, respect for one's self, I
They insist they're entitled to part of our wealth .
They demand first cl , they must be involved
, They say they'll fight, till the' problems are solved
. They say they'll stand tall, the act like new men
And the "girls" among them, will be women again.
� Oh goodne , oh gracious; hat shall we do?"
Tearfully sobs ancy, along with her crew
"They're waking up now, boo hoo, boo hoo
Ronnie's out running, but we're all in a tew."
"Je Jackson's coming on, everyone know that
He's made it so difficult by tossing his hat
Ronnie's opponent was that Dear Mr. Fritz
But Je in Syria tore our great plans to bits!"
"My goodness," frets ancy, "oh my dear,"
"I've got to do somethin, 01'11 take a at here
On wonderful, animal, big . T ,"
Loveable, laughable, sterotypical he!" .
r.
rs.
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Toni
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Toni Nash is a Philadelphia pub icist, a free-lance writer and a
careful observer of the political scene. "View of Nancy It was
reprinted {rom The Nationol Leader. ·
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