Jesse Jackson is in the UK
this week. His visit is targeted at the commemoration of the abolition of the
slave trade 200 years ago, and importantly too, in addressing the matter of
race in the economy.
I watched the Reverend on Channel 4 last week. He seemed
very urbane, an elder statesman even. Most impressively, he was determined not
to look at the world through the red, wild eyes of an angry black man but
rather in the strict terms of justice and righting past wrongs.
The Reverend will be going around the UK this week giving
talks and participating in discussions on the inequality
of the races in the UK, and especially on the economic disparity between the
races for it is from this that many other social problems have their
provenance.
In the Channel 4 broadcast I alluded to earlier, it was laid out
that ethnic minorities in the UK
(accounting for 8% of the population) suffer 15% more unemployment than do
native Britons. In addition, out of the top UK
companies listed on the London
bourse, and even with measures to improve inclusiveness only 27 directors out
of 1100 are non-white.
In his comments, the good reverend pointed out that even ardent
bigots need black people to be more prosperous and to take greater part in the
national economy. After all, he pointed out, preventing gun trafficking and rendering unaffordable guns and
ammo, preventing drug trade and making drugs less available
is far cheaper than financing welfare, mental health institutions, poor school zones and burgeoning prison
populations.
Reverend Jackson's visit was in part influenced by a group
called Equanomics, who seek an improved social bargain for the UK's
black population, and who increasingly are willing to go toe to toe with big
business and government to get things to change. Part of their efforts is in advocating
Get Out the Vote campaigns like are now a staple in the USA, in advocating a
shareholding culture among black people ( so that they can participate in
company profits in addition to working for those companies) and agitating for
increased board room representation especially in firms that benefit more than
normal from black clients.
Leveraging on the ubiquity and universal appeal of HipHop,
they seek to make arguments among black youth that substitute the risk-taking,
money-grabbing culture of the street with a similar one in the world of the
stock markets. This week's events marking the beginning of the end of slavery will
take visitors on tours of some of the landmark events that have been associated
with black people and their economic contribution to these lands. Black hands
were instrumental in both the financing and supplying the industrial revolution.
They were crucial in the rebuilding of Britain
after the Second World War, and in staying faithful to the state even when they
were treated as pariahs and excluded from the benefits of Britain.
200 years after the chains of slavery begun their downward
journey, it is important that black people everywhere take mastery of their
destiny. The modern world is ruled by capital, and group wealth is power. Even
as black Diasporas agitate for greater inclusion and better treatment from the
state, increased and targeted ownership of business, whether through start-ups
or secondary markets will serve to give them dignity and greater control over
their destinies.
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It is far more useful in my eyes to take active steps to change the dimensions of the game. If instead of outspending ( on baubles) the rest of the population the black people of the USA and the UK can be won over to a culture of setting up in business, then they can redeem themselves and all the time maintain their dignity.
The comment about the slave trade could not be more apt. As there are many elements in the West that think of themselves as having saved black people from slavery, so it is that kelele aimed at begging for a second helping is not going to earn anyone heshima but simply reinforce the idea that these people can do nothing for themsleves without us, both in the Black and the White populations.