Clement Gibson
Editor-in-Chief
A wise man once told me, “One cannot know where they are going if they do not know where they are from.” So, in order to know what to do in the future, you have to know about your past.
Tulsa, Okla., 1921. Thirty-five city blocks filled with black owned banks, pharmacies, doctor’s office, movie theaters and all kinds of businesses. This was black wall street, and it was thriving.
Segregation in full effect, yet black people were making good money. Most importantly, it was on their own.
After an altercation with Dick Rowland and Sarah Paige, whites flooded black wall street killing over 300 people and burning down the economy African-Americans worked so hard to build.
Prior to black wall street, African-Americans were occupationally segregated. Those who ran the country saw Jim Crowism as a “Southern Negro problem.”
The government gave the sign and seal of approval to the segregated south. It was not law, but was an unwritten rule that blacks did not supervise whites, or work on the same lines and places with whites.
A portion of the population to which they were restricted was so poor, African-American
entrepreneurs and professionals in the Jim Crow era could expect little financial gain or profits.
This created an atmosphere in which most African-Americans lacked confidence in the professions of their own race.
Although the south still needed African-American teachers, preachers and businessmen to survive for their educational, spiritual and material needs for their race.
The economic system and inequality in the south, became too much to bare and forced many to migrate to the north to create a better life.
Tulsa, Okla. was still segregated, but gave African-Americans enough freedom to create their own society.
Much like the hospitals, funeral homes, cemeteries and housing that African-Americans once hoped would reflect the new economic state and the black banks started in Vicksburg, Mount Bayou, Jackson, Natchez and throughout the south, their goal was to provide for the needs of the community
Sayings like, “White ice is colder” was common, but not true. White ice is not colder; distributors were to blame for inferior products in black stores.
Part of the problem with blacks was not patronizing black businesses. It was the simple fact that distributors or suppliers brought their more inferior products to a black grocery store.
So, in reality, the greens at the white store was greener than the ones at the black store thanks to the whites in charge of delivery and distribution.
Same applies to the doctors and the kind of health care they provided. Their office spaces were much smaller.
They could not afford to pay their nurses that much, so they did not get the assistance and professional help they needed; resulting in the care not being that good.
Even with law, the black lawyer might be as good, but the white lawyer is friends with the
judge, so you don’t get the same quality of justice as you should if you were a black lawyer.
And you have to take less money to represent a black client, but work twice is hard because you’re black as well.
Black businesses and professionals were working at odds against the system. So, the service was
of a lesser quality, but it was not due to any inability.
Instead, the way the system was setup. This way blacks would not succeed as whites in similar categories or fields.
I say all of this to explain the importance of supporting black businesses. We’ve come a long way on our quest to getting back to where we once were on black wall street.
As we continue this quest, do not forget all what our people have gone through to get here. Do not forget the fact that every insurance claim from the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa was denied after the city was burned down.
Do not forget the unpaid financial claims that surpassed $2.76 million dollars. Do not forget that we did bounce back, but most of all, do not forget to support black owned businesses. We need us.
Be First to Comment