PowerNomics in Detroit

Detroit PowerNomics Economic Summit
August 2005
By James Clingman Jr.

If there were ever a time in recent history when Black people had a decided advantage and the overwhelming potential to determine their economic fate, it is right now in Detroit, Michigan. Not since the glory days of “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and “Negro Wall Street” in Durham, North Carolina, has there been such an opportunity to reestablish the model for economic stability and sustainability among a significant number of Black people than that which now exists in Detroit. A city that is often used as a scare tactic by people in other cities, Detroit can now become the proverbial Phoenix, the last that shall be first, the bottom that rises to the top, but only if its 85% Black population, its majority, not minority, start working together to make it happen.

The City of Detroit is often cited as a failure, a city rife with crime and political ineptness. Politicians in my hometown of Cincinn-apathy, Ohio and even a few (b)lack folks who want to prop up the establishment’s contention that so-called “Black-on-Black crime” should be the most important issue for our people, pose the question: “Do you want Cincinnati to be another Detroit?” I won’t use this valuable space to respond to such nonsense, but I will simply say that I look forward to the day when Detroit implements “The Plan” thereby making the answer to that question a resounding, “Yes, we want to be another Detroit!”

During the weekend of August 19, 2005, I was refreshed, rejuvenated, and restored by being among the brothers and sisters in Detroit. The African World Festival was in full swing, bringing in over a million Black folks who were spending their money with Black folks and supporting one another. And then there was the “Black is Back” PowerNomics Economics Summit on Saturday morning, a rainy Saturday morning I might add for emphasis. After the press conference for the Summit, we convened in a large room in Cobo Hall where more than a thousand brothers and sisters sat patiently waiting to hear “The Plan.” I was thoroughly impressed and overjoyed.

Noted radio talk show host, Tom Pope, opened the session after a rousing dose of conscious rap that prepared the audience for what was to come. Then came a Black talk radio legend, a pioneer, an activist, an entrepreneur, and a conscious Black man, Bob Law, whose voice is best known from his long-running radio show, Night Talk. Bob gave an intelligent, cogent, rational, and unapologetic reason for our being there that morning. He said, “We are here to demonstrate wide support and commitment within the City and from Black dominated urban areas across the nation for the PowerNomics Plan for Detroit to economically empower the city’s under-served majority population.”

Dr. Claud Anderson then explained what PowerNomics was all about. He reiterated what you can find in his book by the same name. “PowerNomics: The Plan to Empower Black America … presents a conceptual framework and plan to lead Black America to political and economic self-sufficiency and competitiveness. The term PowerNomics combines the concepts of power and economics. Power is the ability to get things done despite the resistance and opposition of others. Economics is the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and wealth.

PowerNomics then is the ability of Blacks to pool resources and power to produce, distribute, and consume in a way that creates goods and wealth that Black people control.” Need I say more? If you have not purchased the book, from a Black book store, mind you, please go out and do so – and then please read it!

Following Dr. Anderson was a group of conscious, committed brothers and sisters who gave various perspectives on “The Plan,” which included the Value of Community, by Dr. Rosie Milligan, Practicing Group Economics with Appropriate Behavior, by yours truly, the Value of African-Centered Education, by Amefika Geuka, the Role of Politics in Economic Empowerment, by Joann Watson, Kwame Kenyatta, from Detroit, and Dorothy Tillman, from Chicago. One of the most captivating topics, The Role of the Black Church, was given by Dr. Earl Trent of Washington, D.C. You gotta hear this brother! And you can, by ordering your four CD packet of the Black is Back PowerNomics Economic Summit from the Tom Pope radio show (see www.theprn.com or call 202 518 6800.

Let’s see if I can make “crystal clear” as Nixon used to say. It is up to you, Detroit, to turn things around in YOUR city. You are much more than some simple “minority” group, and you must start conducting yourselves as the majority does. That means you cannot allow the ‘minority” to determine your economic fate. You cannot continue to accept “minority” set aside contracts and other such ridiculous programs. You must step up and demand, and then implement, the PowerNomics Plan in Detroit. I reiterate, you are the majority – conduct yourselves accordingly, not just politically, but economically as well.

Detroit, you must lead the way for the rest of us; you must be the economic empowerment role model of the 21st century; you must pull your people together and produce tangible results when it comes to self-determination and self-sufficiency. You have the financial, political, and intellectual resources. Do you have the will?

Dr. Anderson, a Detroiter himself, has done his job. Those who came from coast to coast, both speakers and conference attendees, did our jobs by showing our support and willingness to stand with and for you. While we will continue to do, you must take the next step. You must resolve to make your city all that it can be for your children too. If you fail to do so, with all the blessings you have been given, as Dr. Edward Robinson so often says, “You will answer to God the reason why” you failed to do so. Show us the way, Detroit! There are other cities waiting.

James Clingman He is an Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Cincinnati, Dept. of African American Studies on "Black Entrepreneurship". He is the founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce, served as its first Executive Director and President. Jim also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column, Blackonomics, circulated via the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Watch for his column in your local newspaper. He is an Adjunct Professor, Univ. of Cincinnati, Dept. of African American Studies on "Black Entrepreneurship". He is the author of numerous books including the new book, Black O Knowledge. Contact him at P.O. Box 62642, Sharonville, OH 45262, (513) 489-4132.

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