This is for those who say things like....

"Well, slavery's been over. So why can't black people just get it together and succeed. Everyone else has."

...

"actions, not your race determine your level of success."

"Why can't y'all pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. And stop wining about slavery."

And this is also for those who just want to understand...

While white people were building equity,
black people were fighting for equality.

This, created the wealth disparity that we still see today. You see, wealth begets wealth. generational wealth, which has allowed generations of white families to prosper and succeed was never afforded to black people. Most wealth is familial — accumulated across generations.

Wealth insures security. Assets insures security. And during slavery, and after slavery, and during Jim Crow, and after Jim Crow, and during Civil Rights and after Civil Rights, and before 2020, during 2020, and after 2020, land was, is, and will forever be wealth.

If you own land the amount of wealth you can acquire over time is infinite. As a land owner, you have something to barter with. You can sell your land or you can borrow against it and purchase more land, which in turn grows your wealth.

But after slavery, black people never received their 40 acres. They were released into a world where freedom really meant nothing.

They had no land to stand on. This among many other injustices like Jim Crow, Redlining, Bank Black Balling housing loans, Interest rate gauging for people of color — all rooted in deep racism — have added to the lack of wealth in black communities.

(PS: there are many more tactics that I've not listed. Heard of Tulsa?)

Anyway, these “policies” stole opportunities from black communities and black people to build upon. There was no previous family legacies to create that generational wealth.

As a community, we never had the privilege to build on top of riches that were left behind. Instead, we were crippled.

For every $1.00 a white family has, a black family has about ten cents. Economic power in the black community has remained stagnant since the mid 1950s. We have not grown.

We have not shrunken the gap. We are in the same place we were economically before the Civil Rights movement. And actually, the gap has widened since the recession in 2008.

As Kendrick Lamar said, “Damn.”

There was no economic exploration for the black community.

This is accumulated inequality.
Economic racial equality does not exist.

Black poverty is linked to public policy and, well, never getting those 40 acres to barter with.

So before saying those blanket statements, think about how your life would be without having the built in, transferable wealth or a government that aided to help you succeed.

(PS: Wealth does not ONLY mean rich. It simply means having property or assets to barter with, so every generation after can build upon the previous one.)

Anyways,

Reparations now. Breonna Taylor.

Federal government, and banks, pay your mother fucking debt so that black futures can play and win at this economic game and thrive.

That’s all.

xx