Habari gani? UJAMAA! (Cooperative economics)
Cooperative Economics/Ujamaa: Sharing and pooling our
financial resources and goods and services for the common benefit of family and
community participants with the goal of building and sustaining cooperative
economic enterprises.
This practice Ujamaa grows from a shared understanding that
we as humans on this planet are dependent on each other and that loving,
sharing, and caring are cardinal virtues.
I am honestly doing some sincere self-assessment here. On this, the fourth day of Kwanzaa, I have to ask myself how much am I really
supporting black business, enterprise, community efforts for the betterment of
our cities, towns, communities, neighborhoods and, yes, our race?
As I look around in parts of the City of Oakland, of all the
closed storefronts in black neighborhoods, how many of those were former black
businesses? As an artist and a former
arts manager, I am wondering how many of those black arts endeavors have gone
by the wayside due to lack of support and how many are going to make it beyond
2015? Personally I cried when the
Oakland Ensemble folded after umpteen years of teaching me to live the life of
black art with pride and resilience in spite of dwindling funds from the public
and private sector. Arts organizations
that taught me how to produce the art on a dime seemingly no longer exist.
How often have I said out loud or in a whisper that this
item would be cheaper at the big box store? Or, perhaps, I just gave my good money to the foreign looking
and talking man on the corner because he is in my neighborhood. Did it ever occur to me the reason he is in
my neighborhood with his stale bread and cheap liquor? We as a people can be an easy prey.
We spend hundreds on hair from a foreign land, bought in a
store owned and operated by someone that speaks little or no English. We put
his kids through college and pay the mortgage on his house that displaced us
through that magical word called gentrification. And, yep, my man is driving a better car and
is more technically advanced and advantaged.
This year I am going to at least make the effort to buy
black and support black. I will support
black endeavors not only with lip service but with my dollars as well. The amount of money we are all guilty of
wasting throughout the year could indeed go a long way toward the
sustainability of that group of black poets, those black theatre companies, black dance
studios, black community organizers, black bookstores, black restaurants, black
barbershops and beauty salons, black dress makers, and black cake makers. I will not be afraid to buy a membership or
give a donation to a black cause that I care deeply about keeping in mind that
no amount is too small.
Books by Debi Mason:
What I Thought Was So Just Ain't - Aging through God's Grace
Amazon.com (paperback)
Amazon.com (Kindle edition)
Barnes & Noble (paperback)
Barnes & Noble (NOOK edition)
ISBN-13: 978-0692236475
Release: June, 2014
Arizona Clay: A journey of self-discovery
Amazon.com (paperback)
Barnes & Noble (paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781606964880
Release: June, 2009
Follow me on Twitter: @DebiOak
