Distractions, Dollars, and Doing for Ourselves

Commentary by Ron Washington, native Chicagoan living in Las Vegas, disabled Marine Corps combat veteran, business owner (Premiers Secours), and proud NU grad. Son of Bernadine C. Washington, former WVON GM, who inspired his love for writing.

I read, listen to and look at a lot of Black oriented media which I enjoy and I’m struck by the preponderance of political, sports and entertainment info that predominates their agenda. 

Much of the discourse is meaningless, without any strategic value that’s sorely needed in these times. Just something to distract us enough that we lose valuable time. I’m aware that running a media outlet is first and foremost a business so I get it. This means we’ve got to be discerning about what we spend time on looking and listening to. We need to always be on the lookout for the devil’s well planned distractions to keep us off track and they are everywhere. Black oriented media inadvertently is used in this regard. The are trapped in a damn if you do or don’t situation. That’s another story for another time (I don’t think all Black oriented media fits this description but many do).

White supremacists would love nothing more than to convince Black people that all White people are our enemy. They go to great lengths to overtly and subtly and subliminally foster this atmosphere because they need chaos among the races to succeed. Any news concerning goodness coming from White people toward Blacks is suppressed. It’s a mind game as much as anything else. They want us to foster hate and ill feelings. It’s another wasteful distraction.

When we discover good deeds by White people we must internalize them and then spread the news widely. Bad news travels faster than good so we’ve got to put extra effort to it. We must over circulate good news in bad times in order to stay mentally healthy and beat the racist at their mind control game. So how about this?  

MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist, formerly married to the “Bozo” Jeff Bezos, on Wednesday donated $40 million to a program dedicated to the preservation of African American history, culture and activism. Thats right, $40 million.

The action fund, started in 2017, is the largest privately funded resource in the United States dedicated to preserving historically significant African American heritage sites, including churches, museums, homes and architecture. To date, the fund has raised nearly $200 million, supporting more than 378 Black oriented preservation projects and this is the work of a White woman. This type of news is worthy of spreading isn’t it? Did you see or hear of any coverage about this anywhere? How about Black oriented media? I’m sure that Black people are grateful for the act of support and kindness and will show it once this news is properly circulated but here’s an interesting tidbit to consider. 

Black discretionary spending power, the money that Black people can and will collectively chose to spend on things is estimated at $1.98 trillion in 2025, with some reports projecting it could reach $2 trillion or more, according to BlackWallStreet.org, Black Enterprise, and Nielsen. That’s a whole lot of money isn’t it?

How about us talking about and spreading the news that Black people are thankful to MacKinzie Scott for sure but we have decided that we also have the ability on our own to fund these projects if we only so desire. With our spending power in the $ Trillions it wouldn’t take much effort for Black people to organize and raise enough money to match Mackenzie’s philanthropic gesture. Why don’t we partner with her on this? 

In fact there’s reason to believe based on our economic potential that we could not fund just about anything we wanted to. Why wait for others, especially the government? 

There’s no reason we can’t fund Black charities, no reason HBCUs can’t be fully funded, no reason affordable housing for Black families can’t be privately funded and developed, no reason Black schools and grocery stores can’t be privately funded, opened and operated, no reason to put our money, those $ Trillions into other than Black banks, no reason we don’t spend some of our $ Trillions with Black owned enterprises, there’s no reason at all why we don’t enjoy a plethora of worthy projects underway for the benefit of Black people, funded by Black people. IF WE ORGANIZE TO DO THIS, IT SHALL. BE. It’s those distractions that are in the way.?

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:, - Matthew 7:7. We can not wait any longer!