ECONOMICS
Theme: Hopelessness

Basically, in regards to group economics, when we say Black community we really don’t have communities, we just have neighborhoods. Because in a community, you have the bank, the hospital, the school, and we don’t have that. I based my picture off group economics and tried to put everything together. It is hopeless because people are not in a community, and you know, you tend to give up real easily. Just say for instance, we can be in a discussion and we can talk about these young men out here killing and shooting and selling drugs and doing whatever. But we as elders, what did we do? We didn’t give them schools and we didn’t give the banks to get loans to start their own business. We didn’t give them none of that. So like I said, I tied that into it. We have to practice group economics. We have to learn to come together and pull each other up. That is what the Asians do, the Jews, the Italians. They all do that. They all look out for each other. You can go to school just to get a good education and just to get a good job. The thing is, they pass down wealth. I can’t pass down a good job. I can’t pass down section 8 to the next generation. You can’t do that. I can’t pass down food stamps to the next generation. They pass down wealth and they do it with group economics. You have to practice it. You have to empower yourself.

You talk about the Black community in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Our safety net was the Black church. I just did some research. After Martin Luther King got assassinated, the politicians started invading into the Black churches. You notice now, these political individuals go to these churches and get votes. Now, from a spiritual standpoint, you aren’t supposed to mix politics with spirituality. But now, here is this money becoming involved with these churches that is infiltrated by other people besides us to make someone else richer, not the people themselves richer, but make others richer. And that right there is what makes it like the crab in the barrel type thing. You can see a guy walk through the hood while everybody is poor. In his Bentley or his car. There will be one particular Negro that will stick out but the rest of us are starving. And that to me, is a form of politics. We are going to do something to sabotage the neighborhoods. We’ll get that one Negro to do that.