You can thank Harry Belafonte for this column, and this issue.
He spoke here five years ago at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast. I was a reporter than. During a brief press conference, I asked him: What was supposed to be the next step in the evolution of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement? Who was supposed to lead it, and how?
Belafonte said the movement gave blacks social freedom and some political power, but it never opened the door to economic power as Dr. King intended. In fact, he said, Dr. King was in Memphis to show his solidarity with striking sanitation workers, most of them black, when he was assassinated in there in 1968.
Until blacks achieve real economic power in this country, the movement is not over, Belafonte said. Although he commended the work of people like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, he said no one matching King’s leadership and eloquence has taken on this Civil Rights challenge.
The tactics that worked in the 60s to dismantle overt discrimination won’t work as well in the 90s and beyond, he said. It’s going to take new leaders, new strategies to tackle the economic disparity challenge.
I can’t really explain it, but his words took root in my spirit. Since then, I have come to comprehend how powerful such a movement could be. There isn’t enough space in this magazine, let alone this column, to adequately explore the ramifications of this notion of economic empowerment, particularly in the black community.
The articles in this issue are Birmingham View’s first attempts at approaching this topic. It won’t be the last.
It’s not my intention to preach to or scold a group of people for the sins of their fathers. However, it’s obvious who holds the wealth in this city, state and country. It’s equally obvious – to me, anyway – that building wealth in minority communities would have a tremendously positive impact on individuals in those communities and on society as a whole.
Big dollars are coming to Birmingham – from the millions now spent on Downtown’s increasingly popular loft developments, to the multi-millions to be generated by the domed stadium and surrounding entertainment district project (it will happen, eventually), to the billions set aside to construct and maintain a regional mass transit system here (ditto).
It behooves us all to ensure that people of any color who are talented, savvy and able to take advantage of the money-making opportunities these and other developments will bring to our City, can do so.
More money circulating in our various communities – black, white, red or yellow – means more money in our local economy. And that’s good for everyone.
Vickii Howell
Editor-In-Chief
editor@BirminghamView.com |
