We all have to know that Eric Garner did not die in vain but there are others who are dying from the same pain through economic circumstances who were killed by the fact that their dreams have been diminished. The phrase “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry of protesters because of a public murder that occurred within full view of the entire world.
From Rome, the Coliseum, I never anticipated the idea of being able to speak socially from a historical site but it highlighted the varied use of slaves, barbaric tactics, business enterprises that exploited the enslaved, exploited the weak, and exploited those through sensational expectation of triumph. Victors whose subjects or even opponents were injured. Victors whose opponents were animals versus man. These same circumstances play out today where Eric Garner was considered an animal in the approach of subduing him. Not one against two, not one against three but one against six.
The highly potent conscious and subconscious has led to a reverberating negative and even more treacherous sinister result. For the misunderstanding of an entire circumstance led to this sad tragic circumstance highlighting how influential the media is and captured the effect public executions can have on the unstable, the uneducated and the uninformed.
These tragedies are also created with the continued economic implosion that is happening within the African American community. The economic loss, the economic wastelands that exists in cities from Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta lay claim to the dreams, lay claim to abandoned business fronts that have been murdered through economic tactics. Bank redlining, hedge funds not investing and abandoning the African American business person.
The total market advertising agency approach will eliminate in the minds of many the need for African American targeted media. The digital media landscape will suggest the absence or need for specific targeted media as well. In addition, there has been a reduction of small businesses opened by African Americans. These facts have been held according to an article in The Wall Street Journal highlighting the absence of growth in the African American business community.
When we think of Herman Russell and how he expanded from plaster to general contractor to building national buildings to concessionaire to hotels to restauranteur to building international airports across the country this, this is an entrepreneur. When we think of other entrepreneurs that have existed it is the business of employing their community members as well.
The tragedy of Eric Garner also speaks to “we can’t breathe” and the opportunities that are not done in the digital and social space where we see that Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies only hire one percent African American. This type of racism and discrimination must be met with radical solutions that are provided with council not just with civil rights leaders but with counsel of businessmen whose dreams are funded, whose businesses are funded with lengthy investment terms so that the return on investment makes sense. Silicon Valley also speaks to our absence in technological development of the needs and skill sets that are important for the current economy.
It is clear for our community that there is an economic tragedy as much as there is a social tragedy going on. But in a country where capitalism is its true motivation we must speak to the capitalistic murderous attitude that many have about doing business. Recall this year and in the coming year attention to the CEO who will need to continue to explain and showcase his commitment to helping to eliminate racism and economic racism attitudes in his PR, advertising and hiring practices.
The inclusion of African Americans specifically is key to eliminating the “we can’t breathe.” For it is the snuffing out of African American business and business dreams, it is the lack of relationships between companies that we need to all understand. Our support as well must not blindly support companies that are showcasing their lack of care due to their hiring or investment capacities. We will share economic formulas in the coming year that will allow us to approach how we will support businesses in a manner that allows them to support us back.
The challenge and the sadness for both the family of Eric Garner and the police officers is important that we recognize that economics and the relationship between the community affords respect and connections. The decimation of character, the public humiliation of African Americans on a regular basis allows us not to be able to breathe both the respect that we deserve, breathe the economic opportunities that our Statue of Liberty and Constitution suggest we have and yet our real journey and commitment to this country is undeterred.
We use the tears to give the feeling of the emotion that often times that African Americans are not welcome. The statements by the Sony executive, Amy Pascal, highlight the need for us to have conversations on a higher level not just for green lighting projects but for an opportunity for them to invest and publicly display their commitment not in just talk path but a commitment to highlight and do business with African American businesses at a level that’s beyond any opportunity that has ever been offered.
It is here that change and commitment can be seen and it must be transparent as well as the meetings that are being fashioned within our community. This is a country about business but the ability to breathe for a community is based on their ability to breathe the economic freedom and opportunity that others are enjoying from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Main Street to the gas industry and petroleum industry explosion. Highlighting these we remember the sayings of both Martin Luther King, “how are you going to have a multiracial democracy if inequality makes life is so harsh and competitive at the bottom, where society is most multiracial and multinational?” and Warren Buffet “…The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” This is the exponential growth that Warren Buffet should want the African American and urban community to enjoy and encourage the investment inside such. It is key.
Peace.
