EDITORIAL FEATURE
It ome painfully obvi-
ous that large egments of th
African-American community,
commonly referred to s "the
middle class," have beoome iso­
lated from th images of su
in thi country.
You won't often ee their ac­
tivities chronicled in evening
n wscasts or in daily newspa­
pers in pi te of the fact that
there are nearly 7 million Afri­
can Americans, or 65 percent of
The African-American con­
omy i no estimated to be in
e of 300 billion per yr.
If it tood alone nation, it
would claim th 14th large t
economy in the orId. And with
its current growth rate of five
percent, it will reach 488 bil­
lion by the year 2000.
RECE T U.S. Census fig­
ure show the Black middle
class growing at a rate 50 per­
cent faster than the white mid­
dle class.
Stand on th st ts of New
Yor City, Chicago, Atlanta, 1.0
L
MANY OTHER as-
a
This "victim mentality"
erved to isolate Bla from
ch other. Often, Blacks came
to believe that they were infe­
rior and that theirs is an indi­
vidual struggle rather than
collective one.
The victory in South Africa
should inspire African Ameri­
cans and compel to come to­
gether again for the final stage
BLAC
�ps.
. .. "r.: - ,�
,
READERS WRITE
Ev ry ingl day 2,400 babi s
are born poor in America. Ev.ery
ingl night 100,000 hildren in
Am ri h no b s of their
own t tuck d into. And tho e
g ttingwor .
I
By Bernice Powell Jackson
do not bod w 11 forour country.
. "America i in danger of plit-
ting into two-ti red iety ..
s ys Rob rt Rich, S t ry of
L bor. "Thi is notanyon ' id
of pro ss." h added.
out
ruing 0
v rnrn -nt , We 14,763
f: mily of four-i n 1993 But
n f. rml 'of fout Ii on
han 15, 0 c y t'! How
il
n their children have enough
o ea ? How can they have
clothes to wi ar ortoys t Christ­
m s?
1 n a i y which xal con-
picuous consumption bove 11,
how do parents teach th ir chil-
d of self- st m?
ry in
That i wh re our roo a ,
and by r umingto that pirit of
coopera ive effort, I believe w
bli hing u , th r
than crime, poverty and drugs
as our racial tereotype.
How do we leverage our re­
sourc for the communal good?
By lfl ly net orking with
each other. By increasing our
business with each other. By us­
ing our 5 trillion of intellectual
capital to help start and build
more of our own businesses, and
to olve our own problems. By
pooling our talents and eco­
nomic r ources to exp nd our
erious
READERS WRITE
Endangered
speci ?
Caucasians have stated, "The Black male in Am rica is a
ndangered pecies!" What does this mean? Now, wh nev.r the
gov rnment d lar a thing to ndangered, the govern men
automatically rush to that peci and provid it with:
Pro tion; Nutrition I Food; Remo it &mn' '1 'envl-'
ronment; P tric laws protecting it; and tiHg up A
watch dog community to monitor enforcement.
Since the Black man is the endangered sped , the govern­
ment do the opposite. In order to ve ourself, w mu t do it
ou If.
M ny of u African' in America let this country rock us to
I . p. We are figh ing to take from ch other, rath r than
working on unity. Why do brothers and Sist rs try to hid the
thin we hav , or been bl ed with, wh n w hould b ryin
to h lp and upport ach other!
W African' in America, n ed to take a stron look at
ou lv , and then come to reality and u nd rstand t h t w r .
not put h re to e through one anoth r but to's . on aneth r
thr ugh! ur fight i not with each 0 h r, but is with Am ri ,
and our true rights here. So as long as wit Ameri program
II to k p d troying each other, we will not see the LIGH1!
strong in the fight'
Lawrence Oz 1 Littl
Michigan Citizen
Published each Sunday by
NEW DAY ENTERPRISE
POBox 03560, Highland Park, MI 48203 (313) 869-0033
Benton Har or Bureau. 175 Main Street
Benton Harbor. Ml 49022 (616) 927-1527
Publisher: Charles Kelly
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Mary Golliday
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(ISSN10722 11
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