This post is in response to the following Tik-Tok a close friend of mine sent me recently:
The folly in Mr. Fraser’s rant is there is an assumption that if we can’t “write checks” we can’t do shit. But Here’s what I know to be true:
The vision brings provision-getting money to support any movement comes second to getting unity of people to support the movement no matter how much money they have. Having money without a clear vision leads to no progress.
Financial empowerment & Upward mobility is not and never has been the answer-Upward mobility and financial empowerment is actually the fruit of the mindset shift we as a people will have once we believe in our enoughness again. We have more money than ever (Income gap has decreased) and still feel less than (Wealth gap has not). Equality is a mindset not an amount of money.
Cannot fix something with money that originates in the mind-Our conspicuous consumption is the result of us being told and sold that we aint shit, so we buy shit and use shit to make us feel like the shit. Black people are not frivolous we want to feel we matter. So we buy things to make us feel like we have something going for us. So to change this it starts with spreading the message that we are powerful enough no matter our socioeconomic status. Therefore are capable of achieving equality or justice or what ever we desire by any means available to us-the most significant of all being our community and culture
Focusing on raising money as a the number one priority keeps us in the cycle of oppression-if we focus on the getting/having money first, then that tends to put us in the control of the people that are violating us to begin with because they are the ones with an overwhelming amount of the money available to them. So we assimilate in order to raise the money to what end…to help others assimilate? The number one priority needs to be a compelling vision that unites and mobilizes folks and as well their wallets
What he has right:
Baby boomers got life fucked up-writing checks is not the end it’s a mean to an end. However boomers are continually regurgitating this rhetoric and it's making me sick. All of the great movements of their time first started with a vision that lead people to be inspired to take action and as a result write checks. They are now so imprisoned in their assimilation that they have convinced themselves that getting more money is the key. But see point 2 above.
We need each other-unity of hand and heart is the way to all the things we desire
We are incredible and talented- Period
Money is a tool to help you be more of who you already are. If we as a people feel an overwhelming sense of disempowerment we are going to use our money in ways that continue to disempower us. To have any significant change we must have a knowing that financial empowerment is really just plain empowerment with an assist from your finances. So the goal really is to empower folks at every socioeconomic level to really impact change.