*Warning: This me ranting and in no way expresses views or opinions of anyone except myself*

We suck! There are Chinese, Mexican, and Russian people that have been in this country for 40 years that don’t speak a sentence of English. Do you know why? Here it is: They don’t need to. Chinatown is a shinning example of creating a close knit community within but without America. It’s a cycle of support.

Immigrants work to gain wealth -> They save together to create businesses that their community needs -> the community supports those business -> The business owners use their wealth to expand the community and bring in more people from their country -> Cycle restarts

The key: The sustainability of the community takes precedence over any individual. For these immigrants sustaining cultural ties is more important than race, gender, wealth or any of other things that divide us. Many of them live side by side with a person from a ethnic subset that they would never consort with back in their old country.

Problem 1: We have no culture. Your skin’s melanin level is not a culture. The hip hop movement tried to create/define a culture but before it was fully developed it was packaged and sold to corporate America. We (I admit that I don’t know who we are) need to create a doctrine of some sort defining “our” culture. #Idea… at the next State of the Black Union with Tavis Smiley, we should get those Black Scholars to draft something up?
Conversely, if you feel that you have 100% assimilated to “American” culture then this idea probably isn’t for you.

Problem 2: We would have to break away from the American “I would rather look good than be good” mindset. The glorification of materialism is killing us. The 2 current destructive cycles of Black Americans are: The Hood or The Jeffersons.

The Hood. People are born into poverty -> They work blue collar jobs to survive and get luxury items -> repeat cycle

The Jeffersons. People are born middle class or in poverty -> Through education or raw talent they are able ascend their current status -> they leave never to come back -> very few people are helped and in many instance the cycle is returned to The Hood model.

Solution: Start small and build up. What stores are completely necessary in any community? We all need food, transportation, cleaning services,… what else? What makes a culture? Is there a such thing as Black music, art, and literature.

I hope you all find the time to expound on these ideas. If it is asinine and impossible, i would love to read your reasoning.