Dr. Boyce Watkins offers insight into how global aid agencies keep 3rd World countries poor and how White Supremacy has kept African Americans from gaining economic independence.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his weekend, I watched an interesting film on Netflix called “Poverty Inc.” In this documentary, the filmmakers explain how first-world charitable organizations appear to be doing good for third world countries, but may inadvertently be leaving these countries economically crippled for life.
While I don’t believe this to be their sole intention, the process kind of goes like this:
– Rather than supporting local businesses and teaching people how to build their own economic infrastructure, western countries simply take a “woe is them” approach by dumping free goods onto the people, sometimes on a long-term basis.
– People in those communities become addicted to the free goods, expecting something for nothing and thus stop supporting local businesses. Why would you pay for something if you can get it for free?
– These local businesses end up dying, thus killing the ability of these countries to provide for themselves. So, when the charity stops, they are no longer able to get what they need without begging.
– An entire industry is thus created with first world “do-gooders” making a living by keeping other nations in poverty so they can keep raising money by marketing their despair to the rest of the world.
As I watched this documentary, a major revelation hit me: This is what has happened to the black community!
With the advent of integration, black people were suddenly given jobs, welfare, free (white supremacist) education and other things that we thought would make our lives better. The problem, however, is that if you become someone else’s charity case, this undermines your ability to build, create jobs and produce on your own.
There are even prominent black leaders who believe that the answer to our economic problems is for us to receive additional financial assistance from the white community. Unfortunately, this makes you even more indebted to white supremacist systems to provide for your family, only adding to our stress and frustration.
Years later, black people are some of the biggest consumers on the planet. We have almost no ability to create our own jobs, and have several generations that are addicted to public assistance.
This has GOT TO STOP. We will never have power without being able to produce. This requires investment, African American centered education and a commitment to building over begging and borrowing in order to become successful.
One of the things I’ve created to help with this problem is The Black Wealth Bootcamp. This five week, online program is designed to explain the economic system from a purely black perspective to allow us to begin the journey toward understanding the fundamentals of a long-term economic plan for our community.
Students love the program and if it’s not better than any course you’ve ever taken in your life, we have a 14-day, 100% money-back guarantee. Also, unlike universities that charge as much as $60,000 per year, our program is only $299.
You can learn more about the program by visiting TheBlackWealthBootcam
Until we meet again, please be strong, be blessed and be educated.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, “Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
