A good Euro-American brother in Christ asked me after having his mind blown by watching Ava Duvernay's documentary, "The 13th," “ will African Americans every recover the generational wealth that was systematically robbed from them in America and catch up. I pondered this profound inquiry for a moment, and as am wont to do, I gave him my best attempt at an answer. I said, sadly, likely not. It might take 1000 years.
"Why so long?" he asked.
Well, the machinery of our financial demise has run constantly for over 400 years. So, it might take that long to fix. Yet, I’m afraid that this machinery isn’t just producing murderous widgets. It’s pumping out genocidal bots that multiply their impact by attacking cultural codes deep within a people that would otherwise ensure future success. These kingdom codes are most simply comprised within the mores of faith, family, and finances.
White supremacy (WS) an evil older than America is the achvillain. The villain is not white people, nor is it slavery. Slavery, is but one delivery system of the ethnocidal bots. Like no other incidence of slavery, it disrupted the family. Family is the essential and foundational construct for spiritual, social, and financial success. Even generations after slavery ended, thousands of African men in American, supposedly free in the world, launched their quests for the American dream without an experiential clue about how to be a father, parent or head of household. They’d never seem one.
If we contrast our hopes of catching up with that of a corollary enslaved people, the Jew, we see that they have seemed to recover all and catch up in America. They, too were enslaved, but by Africans for 215 years, struggled in persecuted freedom in Egypt for another 215 years, only to be persecuted and massacred by Europeans. Yet, they have become the wealthiest, and most influential ethic group in America. Jews are 2% of the U.S. population and:
- hold 25% of corporate CEO roles.
- 20% of professors at leading universities are Jewish.
- 40% of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington are Jewish!
- 30% of American Nobel prize winners in science and 25 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish. In the period 1901–1962 16% of Nobel prize-winners for science were Jewish.
- are the source of over 40% of political funding. (Silbiger, 2009)
Why were they able to catch up?
Two major reasons: 1) they could hide in plain sight; and 2) they held fast to the codes embedded in biblical Judaism. Hiding was easy. They could largely assimilate. Some even changed their surnames to fit in. Others kept the religion low, their reliance on a diligent “protestant-ish” work ethic high. They practiced their faith in the God of Creation in their families. They made declarations to follow the Most High God and taught their children to do the same. They worked, sowed, reaped and deferred gratification.
The African in America has survived over 400 years of slavery, Jim Crow, a government enabled drug epidemic and mass incarceration. Not only was the family further denigrated in each of these campaigns, but the African man was put further behind his European peers in sheer number. There are fewer, living, free, and qualified men to lead families, raise children, and work towards trans-generational wealth transfer. Yes, it’s true that persecuted peoples tend to multiply faster than their indigenous oppressors. Yet, in our case WS has successfully taken the African American male out of the equation. If survivors are the only seed of trans generational progress, then we are striving to catch up with a half bag of seed.
Hope is not lost. We must continue to strive, learn the game, and how to win It. We cannot take the impotent path of denying the creator for the head fake of seeing him as white like the oppressor WS. He is our God. He is the God of creation, all power, knowledge and presence and all people. Following Him, and His well-documented way of life is the key. In Him it mustn’t take 200 or 1000 years. Naturally, it will take that long, but in Him there is super to put on our naturals. Thank God our children needn’t hide or even assimilate to be successful. They do, however need to trust God and follow His guidance if they are to live the abundant life as royal priests. Hopefully, they will follow and spread the good news that Jesus came to save everyone, and in Him there is neither Greek, nor, Jew, Black nor White, nor them nor us. No single group can reflect the image of God alone. We are all part of his image. In Him, we recover all and catch up.
“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.”
Colossians 1:25-26.
Steven Silbiger, The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People (2009)
