I
tabli hment of a permanent
MANY 0 THE E while conservatives w r conn ed
with "Commentary magazine," "The New Republic," and the
"ForwardNewspap r." Intellectually, th 'made ab olutely no
distinction betw n "integration" and "equality." They never
comprehended the desire of African-Ameri n people to be
permitted the political and ial spa to discu th ir own
problems occa ionally behind closed doo .
They could not tolerat ny organization which ngaged in
political dialogues with anti-Semites like Farrakhan, But most
importantly, they feared being isolated from a r w NAACP
which was actively building a broad-b ed, bl ck united front
around an aggressive, post-civil rights agenda. Thi had pro­
found implications for the entire American liberal-left commu­
nity. As on prominent white publi her explained to me, "We
would rather have a bl ck leadership which goes nowhere, than
a black progressive leadership which talks to Farrakhan."
Ev rything havis represented rang loud alarms within th
white conservative tablishment. Th opening salvo in the
assault against Chavis was a polemic in The New Republic in
January, 1994, by Arch Puddington, an aid to th lat inte­
grationis lead r Bayard Rustin. The articl ominou ly nti­
tled, "The NAACP Turns Left," warned that Chavi was a
, leader "consciously identified with the Left," who "ha not b n
'!. above i uing a gratuitous attack on 'Zionism'."
Puddington observed that Chavis had "begun to fill the
NAACP staff with individuals who shar his 1 ftist political
ori ntation." In hort, Chavis w s a dangerous pr enc within
th civil righ community, an uncompromising r dical who
"championed Leninist political movement " and who had
"adopted a r Inti ly anti-Israel tance during the 1980 ." A
similar diatribe was written also in January, 1994, by The New
York Times columni t A.M. Rosenthal, entitl "On Black
Anti-Semitism." Rosenthal charged that Chavi and the
NAACP, as well as other black leaders such J Jackson,
were "willing to ally them elves with the salesmen for a n w
Holocaust. "Other criticisms against Chavis gradually gan
to surface. Chavi was attacked for his efforts to ch the Hip
Hop generation, including engaging in dialogu with gang
members, His quiet upport for the North American Fr Trade
Agreement in 1993 angered many leaders of bl ck organized
, labor.
BUTTHE IMM R
IS, A7
r
y
o
"G "ofth
movement under
tta and with the
Blac m lin und r th
impact of chronic unemploy­
m nt, poverty, inferrer uca­
tion and an epid mic of dru ,
crime and violence, Dr. Chavis
cended to th mantle of lead­
e hip of the NAACP p ching
Black unity and If-reliance.
He breathed new life into an
otherwise moribund organiza­
tion that had long since ceased
to be relevant to the needs of tb
Black m ,Hi trident at­
tacks against institutional ra­
cism and his direct appeal to the
brothers and isters in the
"hood" inspired hundreds of
thousands of Blac people to
Ide'nt ify with and join the
. NAACP for the first time.
TOUGH D . CH V
madesome mi tak nd errors
of judgment, it' cl r that h
was fired beam e he as fight­
ingto empower Blac people and
fighting to redefine the relation­
ship bet een Black America and
white America including the
lationship with our white
, "friends and allies." ,
Those who have made for­
tunes off of the powerl n ,
dependency and misfortune of
Black' people know that Black
empowerment means an end to
the exploitation, the profitable
exploitation of Black America,
Thus forces external to the Black
community were determined to
get rid of Dr. Chavis by stran­
gling the NAACP financially
and embarrassing the Associa­
tion with an orchestrated bar­
rage of nasty media reports.
With a thr million doll r
deficit and an unfavorable
firestorm of controversy swirling
around this otherwise staid civil
rights institution many board
members concluded that Chavis
had to go. Indeed, the sacrifice of
Dr. Chavis became a mere "busi­
ness decision," a simpleminded
calculation of profit and loss.
In the end the Board of Direc­
tors of the NAACP retreated to
the safety zon of irrelevancy
t hat had become the hallmark of
a dying organization.
. At one of the most crucial mo­
ments in American history, the
NAACP chose to continue its de­
pendency on white corporations,
white foundations and white
philanthropy and largess ..
The NAACP refused to appeal
to Black America to wipe out the
debt.
Ron Daniels' eru a, EXR.rIJ.tJ.ue o..
r lor of the enter (or on titutional
Rtgh in. New York Cuy /I ma be
contacted at (7iS) 98-3753
BUSINESS EXCHANGE
lack con
a
•
•
mer
p�
By WilliaIll ·Reed
The spending power of Black
America is rising at a faster rate
than the nation as a whole. But,
our personal wealth is still less
than half of that of whites and
we us little of our consumer
clout to incre e our r te of sav­
i ngs or ownership of asse .
A study by the University of
Georgia indicates that African
Americans' purchasing power
surged 33.9 percent to $399 bil­
lion over a five-year period end­
ing in 1995. The study, which
u ed da from the Labor D
partment and C n us Bureau,
defin "Buying power" total
person I income aft r
That buying power ex
the 29.5 percent growth rate es­
timated for the ov rall U . popu­
lation during th arne period
and more than double the 16.4
percent infla ion rate for the
1990-95 riod. Economi t Jef­
frey Humphreys, u hor of th
study, say ." The spending
power African Americans con­
trol can be th rgin tw n
. success and failur for many
busine
Reasons for th inc in
Black buying power are twofold:
rising incom s in. the ov rall
community nd a growing la
population. In the next 20
years Blacks' numbers will grow
from 12.5 to 13.9 percent, says
the Census Bureau. So it just
makes nse for retaile to try
to appeal to on of he fastest
growing s grnents of th popula­
tion.
IT I E TIMATED that th
nation's non-white "Minorities"
will the "Majority population"
by the year 2006. So, it a 0
make sense that African
Americans becom mor edu­
cated consumers and apply their
consumer power in the market­
pla . by upportingth e who've
illu .... trated a r rd of upport­
ingthem.
African American families'
rage pe onal wIth is un­
der $20,000, compared to wealth
accumulation in the 50,000
range for the average white
household. The net worth of
Black households' wealth is 1
than 60 cents per dollar of white
wealth.
This in pite of the fact that
th re are currently 14 million
BI cks in the bor force, two
million Black eoll ge graduates, '
two mil1ion Blacks in manage-
ri 1 and prof; ion 1 itio
and one and one-half million
Black families with incomes
over $50,000. Barely 13 percent
of Blacks have assets of $50,000
or more compared to 44 percent
of whites.
So, even if more Bla are
working and gaining more
spending power, our overall
standard of living has not in­
cr ed. Our spending totals 7.6
per nt of total buying power,
but we make up 12.5 pe.rcen of
th population.
And, our colI ive, and indi­
vidual, wealth is still lagging
hind that of whites nd Asians
due to consistent patterns of no.
supportin our own, not s ving
and inv ting mong our own,
nor seeking more reciprocity
from mainstream retailers and
product uppliers.
UP URGE
Bl ck
economic spending is related to
th overall improvement in th
national economy, but even with
this windfall, which is not of our
making, Blacks are consisten in
spending 90 rents of each dollar
w get outside our community.
Study author Humphrey poin
out our problems wh n h ys,
"No much of,this pool of mon
•
In
?
•
(Blacks), unfortunately, is spent
in venture capital to create busi­
nesses.
To illustrate the lack of clout
we have on the production side
of the American economy, note
what our top Black-own firms
are doin. Th $6.2 billion in
total sal for th top 100 Black
firms in Am rica in 1993, like
Black ndingpower i in up­
ward' piral, but it pal in com­
parison to th sal of major
corporation .
Ov rall, th al of th 1 d­
ing Bl ck firms equ 11th n
the sal ofK llogg' , whi h w
ranked 6 on Ih 19 2 Fortun
500 li
Th tot I al of all BI ck
w only thr p r-
nt of th 2.3 trillion of For-
tun 500 compani ' s 1
1993. W ha to [i
lecti tention on
type of hings onorm 11y, nd
in th mark plac to h lp our-
lve .
DID YOU KNOW?
Kath nn Dunh m w n id-
ered th ingl mo unportarrt fig­
ure in Black Am r i ca n dane
history
f'