Do we really need more police officers in the community or do we need more citizen participation? I love the fact that I have traveled to just about every city in the United States and have had the chance to see other nationalities and groups in their own environments. It allowed me to see how, as African Americans we have lost our sense of community with one another. The first problem is that we don’t own anything in our community so we don’t feel a connection to it.

I love all the politicians coming out saying how they are going to get more police officers to combat crime. I just have a problem with no one speaking of community co-ops and chances for middle class African Americans to participate in the free trade market that goes on in our communities. I am speaking of the grocery store ownerships, the gas station ownerships and last, but not least, the neighborhood banks and credit union ownerships.

Do you think your alderman, city councilman or mayor even think about the people in the community who would like to own a business in their own environment? I have closely watched every city I have lived in and visited only to notice how African American communities are run by everyone but African Americans. If we are 90% or more of the community, shouldn’t we at least own a grocery store? I see everything in our communities from the liquor store to the laundromat being run by someone other than us.

We need to do more town hall meetings and discuss more ownership opportunities in our community. If you look at our history before integration, we owned more than we do now. We owned our own hotels, banks, grocery stores and restaurants (see link attached: Black Wall Street). Today we hardly own anything , yet spend more than any other minority group in the country. We spend out over $4 billion a year on other peoples products. You may say, “What does this have to do with crime?” Well when a community has limited access to funds, this causes crime. When all the people in the community leave and go work for someone else in their community, it leaves our children without guidance.

I got my first job from Mr. Stewart, owner of Stewart’s Family Affair Barbeque House on 69^th and Wolcott in Chicago. He supplied me with something to do with my time and a great example of how to be successful as a man, father and business owner. He always told me that, “A man with no land is not a man, and a man without his own will always be at the mercy of someone else.” He would say to me “Who do you think cares more about you Richard, you or someone else?” He always told me to own something in my own environment and always spend my money with people who looked like me. I once joked with him about how he did business with the white man and he told me “A man who wants to see you prosper like himself has no color”. I wonder if the politicians who are African Americans even know what their people need in the community. I think if they ask they will find more police officers at the bottom of the list. Until truth prevails, my eyes will be watching.

www.blackfacts.com

www.finalcall.com

http://blackwallstreet.org/bwshistory/bwstulsa1830-1921.a.htm