An Example of What We Could Do

(If we were SERIOUS!)

A Message to Our Bring Back Black Constituency

‘Baba’ Amefika D. Geuka

National Co-Convenor

“BRING BACK BLACK!!!”

“WHERE IS THE BLACK MAN’S GOVERNMENT? WHERE IS HIS KING AND KINGDOM? WHERE IS HIS PRESIDENT, HIS COUNTRY, AND HIS AMBASSADOR, HIS ARMY, HIS NAVY, HIS MEN OF BIF AFFAIRS? I COULD NOT FIND THEM, AND THEN I DECLARED, I WILL HELP TO MAKE THEM.” Marcus M. Garvey

One of Jim Clingman’s most brilliant and insightful articles is that entitled: “The Conundrum of Consciousness and Capital.” It can be located on Jim’s web site: www.blackonomics.com.

Awhile back I asked Roger Madison approximately how many black folks subscribe to “Black” web sites on the Internet. I don’t recall the names of the sites at this ‘wee’ hour of the morning, but he mentioned two (2) in particular, one of which has 12 million, the other 8 million black subscribers. I had no idea that many black folks are already attuned to the World-Wide Web! No wonder Sister Phile and her team of Black women were able to successfully use the ‘Net’ to organize their “Million Woman March” back in 1997.

According to Roger, and subsequently substantiated by other sources, both of the aforereferenced web sites are operated by non-blacks, though they have “Black” in their respective names. What is it then that attracted so many black subscribers to these sites even though neither is black-owned or operated?

On October 16, 1995 upwards of 2.5 million black men assembled on the “Mall” in Washington, DC in response to a call by Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation Of Islam. There are not 2.5 million black men in the Nation Of Islam, nor are there 2.5 million black men in America who identify themselves as Black Nationalists. Therefore, what was it that prompted those Brothers to answer the Minister’s call and travel to D.C. at their own expense to accept a tongue-lashing from the Brother-Minister for failing to be strong men to our women, and protectors and providers for our children.

An estimated 2.7 million black women responded to Empress Phile’s call for them to gather in Philadelphia in 1997; what prompted their overwhelming numbers to respond? There aren’t 2.7 million Black Muslim or avowed Black Nationalist women in America either!

I submit to you that even in the most reactionary, non-revolutionary person of African descent there is at least a REMNANT of a DESIRE to love black people; and it is that residue of unrequited love which was touched by Minister Farrakhan and Empress Phile, and prompted their calls to be answered by so many of our brothers and sisters. Furthermore, I suspect it is that same deep-seated affection for “things-Black” which caused 8, 12, or 20 million black Internet aficionados to subscribe to what they thought were ‘black’ web sites.

“Blackness” then, does have an appeal to black people.

I contend that the constituency or target audience for promotional efforts via the Internet by our Bring Back Black movement are the 8, 12, or 20 million black folks who already use the Internet. I suggest further that Empress Phile’s 2.7 million black women were part of that upwards of 20 million black subscribers, and at least a significant percentage of Min. Farrakhan’s responders were also. This means that we are far from being alone in our quest for solutions to the myriad problems facing people of African descent. A whole lot of folks are ‘in-the-hunt!’ What we lack is ORGANIZATION and COORDINATION.

My “Ten Percent Theory” holds that one out of ten of any target group will respond to an overture if presented effectively. If this theory holds true, and there are 20 million or so black folks actively seeking for ways, means and reasons for us to come together, then we should be able to attract and recruit 2 million brothers and sisters to our Movement to Bring Back Black. That should be a goal for our Communications and Technology Task Forces

By this message I offer a challenge to participants on these task forces to set a target date by which we will have recruited our 2 million activists, one million (half) of whom must be “RESPONDERS.”

By ‘Responders’ I mean folks who will RESPOND when called upon to take a particular ACTION.

Another of Jim Clingman’s ingenious proposals was the “Blackonomics Million Dollar Club” (BMDC) where he called upon 200,000 conscious Blacks to agree to send at least $5.00 to a deserving black charitable cause on five occasions in the course of a year. Had we done as Jim suggested, each of five deserving black agencies would have received $1,000,000.00 (or more) in each year since he conceived the idea. If we had one million responders, each organization could receive $5,000,000.00! Imagine that!! And nobody would have felt any pain in the process because ALL of us WASTE more than $5.00 in any given day!!

When our communications and technology folks succeed in garnering our one million responders, we could begin the process of creating our own millionaires among Conscious Blacks. Jim Clingman’s “Conundrum of Consciousness and Capital” questions where are the conscious blacks with large amounts of capital? There are few to be found, and guess what? In the immortal words of the Most Honorable Marcus M. Garvey, we will have to help MAKE them! Just as Mr. Garvey set in motion a movement which has resulted in numerous politically-independent nation-states on the continent of African and in the Caribbean, we now have presidents, countries, armies, navies, ambassadors, men and women of big-affairs in abundance!! Can we not accomplish something similar with and for some of the most dedicated and committed among us?

I nominate Jim Clingman to be the first to benefit from this strategy to create millionaires among our conscious Black brothers and sisters. After all, it was he who called us all together on December 9, 2006. The one million responders would simply be asked to buy Jim’s book titled: “BLACKONOMICS;” his share of the proceeds from the sales would make him and his family millionaires. We would then have given Dr. Walter Lomax and Jackie Mayfield some much-needed company in the ranks of Race-conscious Blacks WITH capital. Would our cause and our people be the better for it?

After Jim, we could do the same for Keidi Awadu and Dalani Aamon and their books and media. They need to be millionaires to enable them to keep providing the capital necessary to sustain and expand LIBRadio and HARAMBEE Radio networks. Beyond these three, only the sky is our limit!

 

WE CAN DO this! Are you all READY?

Fraternally,

‘Baba’ Amefika D. Geuka

West Palm Beach, FL

February 16, 2007

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Comments

  1. Hello Brother Amefika,
    I was browsing your posts and saw my name, so I read this article. Upon reflection on the question you asked, “What is it then that attracted so many black subscribers to these sites even though neither is black-owned or operated?” — that answer lies in two words, “hype” and “content.”

    The way to get the attention of Internet users is to create a catch phrase that captures the attention of your target audience. The website you mentioned at the beginning of the article was “BlackPlanet.com.” It was developed by some Asian marketing people. This name, along with some promotion, attracted the target audience. Secondly, the “content” was user developed. These clever marketers set in motion a place for dialog, and then let the users create the content — no matter how salacious. It didn’t have to relate to Black-consciousness. The more outrageous, the more followers and participants in the dialog. The traffic generated produced an attractive environment for advertisers trying to reach this audience.

    That website is currently owned by Cathy Hughes, founder of Radio One and TV One. Her business is listed on the NY Stock Exchange, where her primary goal is “shareholder value” — not Black consciousness.

    The riddle that conscious Blacks have to solve is how to “create hype” — as in the One million Man March — and then to “influence the action” to achieve the outcome of changed behavior. Sadly, the only behavior change created was revenue generated by the advertisers. Respondents seemed more interested in the salacious spats of participants, than the power implied in creating a “Black Planet.”

    Perhaps “One Million Conscious Black Voters” will have an appeal during this period of upheaval over police brutality. But turning over the content to the users may result in turning over the asylum to the inmates. Harnessing the energy created during early stages of a movement is critical, or the audience is lost — never to be recovered. We must learn the lessons from the past efforts to achieve different outcomes during this initiative.

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