Shawn responds to Comments on His Black Matriarchy Blog

On my blog about the Black Matriarchy, I received a comment from a Black woman who was upset about what I wrote. She accused me of making a long-winded statement blaming Black women for the state of the Black economy.

Now I wasn’t blaming Black women for anything. In fact, I was trying to educate brothers and sisters about their economy and who controls it. Everything I wrote in that blog were known facts I received in my minority studies class as a senior way back in 1991 at Taft high school. Facts anyone can read in any history book and or in any African-American studies class in college.

White Supremacists did change the Black economy after the 1960’s. White Supremacists did change the economic system of the Black community by taking the income generating and purchasing power away from Black men and giving it to Black women. By re-allocating the financial resources in the Black community, they made the Black woman the primary breadwinner over the Black man through jobs and government programs. And when the Black woman became the financial leader of her community it changed the Black community from Patriarchy to a Matriarchy.

Here are the facts:

80 Percent of Black men are unemployed. Most cannot contribute to the economy due to the racism that prevents them from accessing the job market  or staying in it long-term.

Who are the heads of Households who file 1040s in most households in the Black community? Black women.

Who are all the heads of households on those welfare cases in the Black community? Black women.

Who are the heads of household on all those Section 8 leases in the Black community? Black women.

Who are all the child support checks made out to in the Black community? Black women.

Who are the heads of household for Medicaid and WIC in the Black community? Black women.

Who has to prove that she’s making no income or low-income to receive all those government benefits? Black women.

Who are usually hired for most entry-level jobs like retail, receptionist, customer service, and administrative assistant? Who are all the assistant managers, front-end managers and other first-line managers in those low-wage jobs? Who are all a significant percentage of government civil service employees? Black women.

Who can get hired and meet two standards of affirmative action? Black women.

Now if Black women have these financial resources they control how the money is spent in their communities. That gives Black women complete control over the Black economy.

The Black Matriarchy has tremendous power in the Black community. It can make or break individuals. When Black women flex their economic muscles it has a huge impact on the Black community. Look at some of the accomplishments of the Black Matriarchy have done over the past 40 years:

They made Oprah Winfrey a billionaire.

They made the Black Church into a multi-billion dollar institution. Guys like Creflo Dollar and Bishop (Peaches) Eddie Long didn’t become megachurches without the support of Black women.

In 1984 they helps made the Cosby show into an institution and ushered in a golden age for Black television that ran for 15 years with their word-of-mouth.

They Made Spike Lee a household name. They made Robert Townsend, Keenan Ivory Wayans and the Hudlin Brothers into household names. Their support of these three filmmakers revived the Black Film industry in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

They Made Tyler Perry a millionaire. All those plays and movies he produced were supported mostly by Black women.

They made Steve Harvey a millionaire. Three going on four times.

They Made Terry McMillian into a multi-millionaire.

They established the African-American book market. It was Black women’s buying power that established the African-American book market in the 1990’s. They are currently the reason why all those street lit, erotica and other African-American books sell like hotcakes.

They made Nike into a multi-billion dollar business. Air Jordan anyone? 13 years after his retirement from the NBA and all the kids from those single-parent homes in the Black community always have a pair of these shoes on even if they have no lights or food.

They made the NBA into a multi-billion dollar business. If it weren’t for Black mothers spending money on all that NBA merchandise for their kids, or buying all those sneakers, The NBA wouldn’t be as big as it is today. Without the support of the Black female dollar the NBA would be as financially troubled as the all-white, all male NHL. I kid you not.

They made hip-hop into an international multi-billion dollar business. Diddy, Jay-Z, Ice Cube or any rapper or producer wouldn’t have a dime if it weren’t for Black mothers giving their kids money to spend on it or Black women spending their money on it.

They helped elect Barack Obama as President.

And while Black women have been given great power, they haven’t used it responsibly. Instead of using their economic power to build up their communities, they used it to build up other peoples’ communities.

Just like the White Supremacists figured they would. Because Black women are home-oriented and focused on consuming products and not creating products, businesses, or building wealth, they have given their economic power to others. 98% of the Black dollars wind up in the hands of people outside of the Black community.

Hispanics take Black dollars in the Bodegas and supermarkets.

Asians take Black Dollars at the fruit stand.

Asians take Black dollars Black women use to pay for all the hair in their weaves. They take them in the nail salons.

Arabs take Black dollars at the Deli.

Jewish landlords take Black dollars to pay the rent on apartments.

White retailers take Black dollars at the shops when Black women buy clothes, cars, shoes and other items like DVDs and Big screen TVs.

All of that Black money leaves the Black community and never comes back. Only two percent of it gets re-invested in it.

Only three places bring money back to the Black community: hair salons, churches, and funeral homes.

Which is why the Black community is crumbling. It’s why our schools have no books, it’s why our schools have no after-school programs.

It’s why we have no voice in the political arena. It’s why our representatives in Congress, the U.S. Senate and our local city councils ignore us and enrich themselves.

It’s why stuff like sewage treatment plants, homeless shelters, and drug rehab centers are built in our neighborhoods instead of libraries and community centers.

It’s why there are no jobs in the neighborhood for local residents. Want to know why there’s 80 percent unemployment in the Black community among Black men? It’s because there are no Black-owned businesses in the Black community.

Almost all of our wealth is in someone else’s hands. While the remaining two percent go into the coffers of the Black Church.

Most of the businesses established in the Black community are owned by non-Black people. And they all target their goods and services towards the single person controlling the money in the Black community: The Black woman.

White Supremacists knew that the Black woman was the weaker vessel. That she could easily be led. That she could be easily controlled. And through her they could get control over the Black economy.

Am I blaming the Black woman for the state of the Black economy? No, I’m stating facts about White Supremacy and racism and its impact on the economy of the Black community.

And I’m stating those facts so Black women can wake up and take a look at the way she spends her money. Moreover, I want her to take a long hard look at where her money is going.

Because how she spends her money impacts the very neighborhoods she lives in. It impacts th eneighborhoods her children gtow up in.

Everyone is getting rich off the Black woman except the Black woman. She’s the only person in the entire world who winds up poorer with every dollar she spends.

Because all her money is spent outside of her community and almost none of it comes back to be reinvested in her or her children.

I want Black women to start making efforts to redirect her money back into the Black community. So she can build wealth in her neighborhoods. So her kids can have resources like clean streets, good schools and jobs for local brothers and sisters. So the standard of living and quality of life can improve.

She also stated that she downloaded one of my eBooks and now she was considering not reading it because she didn’t like what she read in this blog.

The tone of the comment like she was punishing a little child.

But Shawn is a 38-year-old grown- man.

And I’m not Kevin Hart who runs scared when Black women don’t like something I say. I stand my ground.

Because I know when I offend someone I’m making them think about things that make them uncomfortable. Because it shows them the truth about themselves.

I see the threat in between the lines of that comment to my livelihood. I see the threat in between the lines of that comment to my career.

But I’m not giving up. The one thing I learned working at STRIVE twelve years ago is that pain leads to growth. And growth leads to change.

Now I don’t care if she reads my eBooks or not. I don’t care if she buys them or not. But I’m not going to stop writing the truth in this blog or in my books or eBooks.

Even though I’ve been unemployed for three going on four years and my savings are at their lowest, I’m still going to write what needs to be written and say what needs to be said about the Black community. I understand that this is bigger than me. I have to continue moving forward in my mission as a writer and a self-publisher. The voices speaking in the Black community aren’t saying anything to help Black women.

As I stated before, I’m not Steve Harvey, Tyler Perry T.D. Jakes, Lee Daniels, Barack Obama, or any one of the Simps, Pimps, and Manginas who patronize and exploit the Black community for their own personal gain. I’m not going to pander to Black women telling them what they want to hear. I’m not going to whisper lies in their ears to charm money out of their wallets into my pocket. That’s not going to help Black women.

In fact it’s going to hurt them.

What this woman doesn’t know is that by not supporting me and my writing she does exactly what those White Supremacists want her to do: Taking money out of her own community and giving to the very people who are oppressing her.

Enriching those who aren’t looking to enrich her. Keeping her in a state of mental and spiritual poverty.

Now it may cost me the money and support of some Black women, but I’m going to keep doing what I can to enrich the brothers and sisters in my community through my writing.

Hope and Change aren’t slogans for me. I know that change is hard and requires diligence, resolve, and discipline. Growth requires the perseverance to overcome challenges and obstacles. I didn’t get this far by giving up.

I’m willing to do the hard work and I’ve been doing that hard work three going on four years to establish a foundation so I can give brothers and sisters a hand up in building their own community.  

Because I know the wealth of knowledge is powerful. It can build up a fortune that empowers people and changes their lives for the better.