It is my belief this is why he was assassinated. On a public forum, MLK Jr. is declaring war on the economic infrastructure of America, beginning in Memphis,TN to bring equality to unfairly treated black workers. This set the stage for a large economic shift in the deep south. Not only is he calling for economic withdrawal, but he calls for strengthening black institutions, banks and insurance companies.
Leadership along these lines is pinnacle to the beginning of Black economic independence and community building. We (as blacks) need these simple principles returned to the mainstream minds of Black America. Group Economics 101 by Claud Anderson speaks to this as well.
Listen here:
Transcript to the MLK speech is below:
Now the other thing we'll have to do is
this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic
withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare
us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that
collectively -- that means all of us together -- collectively we are richer
than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever
think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great
Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro
collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income
of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the
exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did
you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.
We don't have to argue with anybody. We
don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any
bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go
around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and
say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his
children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on
your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are
not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our
agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."
And so, as a result of this, we are
asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in
Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy --
what is the other bread? -- Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company,
Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now,
only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute
the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in
their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the
process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these
men who are on strike. And then they can move on town -- downtown and tell
Mayor Loeb to do what is right.
But not only that, we've got to
strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the
banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank. We want a
"bank-in" movement in Memphis. Go by the savings and loan
association. I'm not asking you something that we don't do ourselves at SCLC.
Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the
savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
We are telling you to follow what we are doing. Put your money there. You have
six or seven black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out
your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in."
Now these are some practical things
that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And
at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to
follow through here.
No comments:
Post a Comment