Posted by Happy MLK Day. Hopefully 2021 is treating you a little better than that gangsta we know as 2020. But today of all days, take a little time to reflect on what dreams you have to accomplish not only for yourself, but also for our community. One of our community goals is to ensure that the new incoming administration pays attention to our perpetual infrastructure and financial needs that are unique to us, not just to the generic “minority” or “people of color” bucket. Over the past few decades, we’ve gotten lost in the mix of other groups who keep getting their needs addressed but ours pushed to the back of the political bus.
Let’s make 2021 the year that the native Black community gets its specific needs addressed, point by point, preferably in writing with tangible milestones and deadlines. In one of his last speeches, MLK Jr actually mentioned that “we’re coming for that check,” referring to the proven fact that we never, ever got reparations, nor any remunerations from the stolen wealth caused by the Jim Crow decades of ethnic cleansing and wealth theft (a negative transfers or redistribution of wealth from our recent ancestors to certain white beneficiaries as we saw in 1921 Tulsa). So “Coming for that Check” should not only be our tagline, but also the core mission of our community improvement plan.
The political party that so many of us love the most owes us that, and nothing less. But just in case they keep dragging their feet, we have to be prepared to entertain counter offers from other parties, whether we like them or not. In business and politics, we don’t have to like the ones we get our money from. We’re just here to collect a debt. No one likes a debt collector, but that overdue bill must be paid by any means necessary, to paraphrase Malcolm X. Let’s switch up our power and leverage this year, not letting the innate fear of white supremacy scare us into a locked box of broken promises and rundown neighborhoods.
Achieve the dream, and let’s go for that check.
Affluent Blacks of Dallas 