We Must Purchase Our Freedom

After watching the Father’s Day episode of Game of Thrones , a lively conversation between my family of friends was kicked off in the kitchen. We all seemed to share the same feeling of glee that Tyrion Lannister had brought about a reckoning on his father. The conversation topics that occur before, during and after our GOT viewing parties aka Sunday dinner run the gambit from love to the look on King James's face during the 4th quarter of the NBA Final Game 5. At about 1 a.m. in the middle of that morning's discussion on the "evils of consumerism" a profound statement was made, "We must purchase our freedom.”

Full stop- that statement flies in the face of those self-evident truths and inalienable rights. At first it may seem so but after you strip away the apple pie nostalgia and battle hymn patriotism there lies a simple truth in America; one's freedom is tied inextricable to access to capital and the ability to manipulate it to one's benefit. One need only examine the American criminal justice system to see the power of capital in action. In most cases, if one can purchase quality counsel they will most certain fair better than if they cannot.  Guilt or innocence, which should be the courts’ primary area of concern, is quite often obscured by $600 per hour lawyers or public defenders with 600 cases per hour.  Lady Justice might be blind but she ain’t broke.

The ability of Black people in the United States to experience full freedom is limited in large part by a lack of capital resource or not knowing how to use the capital we have to our advantage. These two issues are tied together because often a lack of resources in the first places ropes one into a survival cycle that makes obtaining the knowledge to manage capital effectively a low priority. How then do we correct either of these problems? Simply, We must take deliberate action. Here is a list of practical actions that we can take to begin obtaining the knowledge and put that knowledge into practice toward to purchasing freedom:

1. Learn the history and basic concepts of the economy in which you live
2. Learn about economic globalization and how it affects local industry and the local economy
3. Develop a personal financial plan
4. Shop local, barter, and negotiate
5. Recycle, re-purpose and reuse
6. Discuss finances and economic issues openly within your family including the children
7. Identify your economic (saving, spending, investing, charging) patterns, habits and the physiological triggers for them

These practical actions will help one take steps further in the right direction but they will not remove or undo institutional racism. That is a subject unto itself.

Suggested Reading:
Books:
Living in the Village by Ryan Mack
Think and Grown Rich by Dennis Kimbro
Brainwashed by Tom Burrell
Articles:
The Case for Reparations By Ta-Nehisi Coates