It's All About
the Benjamins

By Ben Johnson

"Money, economics and the black community. What's it all about?

It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

That's the stick-in-your-head tag line of a popular song getting major airplay these days. That also can be an economic mantra for Black America. When we speak of Benjamins in this parlance, we talk about 18th century statesman, patriot and inventor Benjamin Franklin, the man on the $100 bill.

Words are my Benjamins. They are my stock and trade. They are my currency, if you will. As a journalist, I'm very familiar with them. I write them. I speak them. I use them everyday. To talk about the economic future of Black America, I need to discuss these Benjamins.

In this country's great history, there have been some pretty great speeches delivered. They're all just words. But string them together in an effective way and they have long-term meaning. They can move a nation to defend itself. They can spur us to greatness.

Consider these: There was the Gettysburg Address, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. "Four score and seven years ago," he said. Many historians say this speech helped change the fortunes of the Union.

There was John F. Kennedy's speech for his only inauguration, delivered in 1961-"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." President Kennedy motivated a generation of committed volunteers to service with that speech.

And there was Patrick Henry's inspirational: "Give me liberty or give me death" delivered as this country's founding fathers were battling to make this land a nation.

Booker T. Washington offered advice to the nation's black citizens in his speech early this century: "Cast down your buckets where you are." In other words, Washington was telling blacks to play the hand they were dealt. Be happy with what you have and build on it. There was counter counsel from Malcolm X as he implored black Americans to seek freedom "by any means necessary."

But the grandest speech in American history in my mind was delivered in August 1963 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most call it the "Dream" speech or the "I Have a Dream" speech. You know the famous lines. Americans, even citizens of the world of all races and colors, have repeated those lines:

"Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we're free at last."

But Dr. King also talked about another kind of dream that day. Yes, he dreamed of when the content of a man's or woman's character would matter a lot more than the color of their skin. We're a long way from that day. His other dream regarded an even more difficult attainment.

That's the part that speaks of economic empowerment. If you think the battle for fair housing, for public accommodations, for one man, one woman, one vote was tough, you must realize that the fight for economic power, economic parity, economic equality is going to be one hundred-fold more difficult, no, one thousand-fold more difficult to attain. Moral equality talked about being able to stay at any hotel in the land, regardless of color. Economic empowerment talks about owning any hotel in the land, regardless of color. To do that takes money. To do that requires America making good on the promissory note that Dr. King talked about in that "I Have a Dream Speech."

Dr. King said America had written a check to Black America that was returned from the bank marked "insufficient funds." Blacks are mostly on the outside looking in as other Americans enjoy the spoils. What blacks mostly got was the spoiled.

America has reneged on its commitment to economic equality, he said. Some say it was this part of the speech that got Dr. King into trouble. By taking the emphasis off basic human rights for people of color and redirecting them to economic rights, he stepped on the toes of the nation's haves, siding with the have-nots. It was one thing to have us confronting other have-nots over where we could sit on the bus, or whether we could sit at the lunchroom counter. That was big stuff. But not as big as who runs the nation's businesses and corporations. Not as big as who will hire the nation's workers.

Dr. King had a dream and a strategy-sharing in the economic wealth and health of this nation. He wanted us to have the Benjamins. That's where the real power lies in this country. To get there, over the mountaintop and to the promised land, requires the right strategy. How can we do that? How do we achieve the freedom Dr. King espoused? As one love-starved poet once wrote: Let me count the ways. Let me count 10 ways.

First, No. 1: We must become savers and not just consumers. We must save at least 10 percent of what we earn before taxes. That's a nice number. It's the same amount you tithe. It's the amount you set aside for the Almighty. Well, then, all right, let's set aside something for you. One dime of every dollar. You can have it withheld from your check. You can have it taken from your checking account and put into a savings account. You can start a retirement account. You can buy U.S. savings bonds. The ways are many. All it takes is the discipline to do it.

No. 2: Think long and hard before you spend. When you're at the mall, when you're at the discount store, don't impulsively reach for those things you don't need right now. Put it back. Wait a day or two or three. Then go back. Chances are great you won't even remember what it was you were about to buy. That's a clear sign you didn't need it.

No. 3: And maybe this should have been the first thing I mentioned.

Make a budget. Write down what you have to spend, what you would like to spend and what you don't need to spend. Better yet, resolve today that this month you're going to track every penny you and everyone in the house spends. You'll be amazed by the money that's wasted on frivolous stuff, on luxury things you don't need. After you and everyone in the family have completed the record, sit down and discuss what was spent and why. Determine where there's wasteful spending. Make changes in your spending habits. Then repeat this exercise in three months and see if your habits have changed. You'll be able to find that 10 percent for savings with little or no problem.

No. 4: Pool your money. whether it's in your immediate family, your extended family, with colleagues at work or through an investment club. Put your little dollars together. Meet once a month to discuss what you've saved and how to invest it. At the end of the year you'll have a pot of money you can invest in short-term or long-term financial instruments. You might want to start or buy a business, something most if not all are interested in running. You might want to buy some stocks or some bonds. But put that money to work. And take the interest or profits earned and roll them over into more savings. Think about how easy it would be to do. We could have several churches, several fraternities and sororities put their money together to buy a strip mall. We could have a full range of black businesses operating there. And the rest of us could take our money there to sustain it.

No. 5: Spend your money wisely. Spend your money at home. Spend your money with those who believe in and invest in the causes you believe in. If you're a regular church-goer, check out the folks in your congregations who have businesses. Support them. They obviously believe in some of the same things in which you believe. A dollar spent at home will do more. That business owner will be able to buy an ad in the church yearbook. That business owner will be able to hire your kids or the kids at church. That business owner will be able to deposit money in the bank where you bank. And that banker will be able to loan you money to expand your house or to buy a new business. As Stevie Wonder said: "Will it go around in circles." We want to wear that dollar out as it circles and encircles our community. When it finally leaves our hands, our community, we want it to be exhausted. Let's keep those Benjamins at home.

No. 6: Start a business of your own. Many of us have talents that would lend themselves to entrepreneurial efforts. By running your own business, you can realize some of the best tax-savings benefits you can imagine. And no one ever got rich working for somebody else.

No. 7: Think about where you spend your money. Spend it where it does the most good. Spend it with those-regardless of color, race, religion or creed-who believe in the things in which you believe.

No. 8: Believe in you. Believe in those like you. We must stop the destructive, divisive behavior that has us sabotaging and envying our brothers and sisters who step out and take risks. I've heard some of us say: I'm not shopping over there anymore, I'm not buying from her. She thinks she's all that. He's got a big house, three big cars. Why should I give him my money? And then we turn around and go running, not walking, to the MAN down the street with the even bigger house and the finer cars. We must celebrate success in our race, among our people. When one succeeds, we all succeed.

No. 9: We must give back. No matter how much or how little we have, no matter how much or how little we earn, we must share it with others. We must give back to the community. we must help others who can't help themselves. I'm not talking about hand- outs. I'm talking about lending a hand.

And, finally, No. 10: Be proud of who and what you are, no matter where you are. Remember, we travel together on this ship called Earth. We ARE our brothers' and our sisters' keepers. We're here to help one another, not to accumulate stuff for the sake of accumulating stuff. You came in this world with nothing and that's exactly what you will take with you when you're done. I have never in my life seen an armored car or a moving truck cruising along behind a hearse in a funeral procession. What you accumulate here, you leave here. But you will have to account to a higher authority for what you did with your gifts and your talents.

Remember the words of Kermit the frog. He didn't talk about black or brown power. "Green power!'' yelled the frog.

It's all about the Benjamins, baby. To quote a friend of mine, the late John Sengstacke, millionaire publisher of the Chicago Daily Defender and other newspapers: "The only color that matters is green-the almighty dollar.'' Don't worry about marching for equal rights, Sengstacke suggested. Focus on making money. He who controls the wealth, he who hires employees is the person who calls the ultimate shots in the world.

Black spending power was worth nearly $500 billion last year, according to Chicago-based Target Market News. There are whole countries that can't even begin to touch that as a gross national product. That's an awful lot of clout. Business leaders recognize that kind of power. Do you not realize that we as a people, as a community represent the difference between prosperity and bankruptcy for so many companies. Yet they diss us in the way they treat us. They still believe the tired old stereotypes about us.

So remember the west African proverb. It takes a village to raise a child.

But also, remember this griot's new take on that proverb: It takes all of the children to raise the village. We must come together and make real Dr. King's dream. And I speak of both his dreams: The one for equal rights and civil rights, and the one for economic rights.

You see, I too, have a dream. I have a dream that every molehill and motel will be available for us to buy, own and operate. I have a dream, brothers and sisters. I have a dream that every business can be our business, to run as the people's business. I have a dream. I have a dream, boys and girls, that every private school and every public school will be free to offer the kind of quality education that our children need, because the economic empowerment in our community, in this day, will have the tax dollars and the investment dollars that allow us to offer the best possible education in all the land. I have a dream, today. I have a dream, ladies and gentlemen, that Fortune 500 corporations whose initials we see on the stock ticker tape everyday will be able to be owned by the maids and the gardeners, the teachers and the lawyers, the moguls and the minions, because they will gather up their pennies, their nickels, their dimes, their Benjamins and pool them into the kind of people's financial trust.

And when that day comes, all of God's children, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that famous economic liberator, John Sengstacke: The only color that matters, my brothers and sisters, is green.

Indeed, that doesn't have to be a pie-in-the-sky dream. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

(Ben Johnson is a radio talk show host and a syndicated columnist based in Huntsville, Alabama, and Johannesburg, South Africa. You can reach him at umzi@ro.com.)