Politics Mondays: Toward “Business and Building” II

Beginning last year, in a special way, I have sought to articulate, identify and support a unifying language, worldview and movement that we at BlackElectorate.com believe is essential to the rise of Black people all over the world. On a firm foundation of information and education, we are moving deeper into an effort of united action. With a base of knowledge and understanding, we are striving to exemplify wisdom – the proper application and use of what we know and understand.

Out of that desire, objective and the resonance for its fulfillment among many of our viewers, we hosted the “Business and Building” Weekend last October 28th and 29th in Washington, D.C. – a weekend of dialogue, networking and planning, in the hope of establishing Initiatives in the area of Community Development, Political Action, International Affairs, and Business and Investment.

Overall the event was a success, and the follow-up and follow through has been progressive and promising, with plenty of room for improvement.

We are well on our way to formally executing our Black-Owned Bank and Investment Club Initiative", and have taken significant steps in the start-up of an a “United States of Africa” advocacy group in the area of International Affairs. We have before us the unfinished business of selecting an Initiative in the area of Community Development and Political Action.

I hope that can be taken care of in October of this year, as part of “Business and Building” II, should it take place, in the nation’s capitol.

I say, should it take place, because I am not 100% sure that it must happen. I am 100% sure that if it is to take place, it will have to be done differently than it was last year. I and the BlackElectorate.com team worked tirelessly and sacrificed much to make sure the event went off as planned. We are very pleased with the result. But myself, my Brother, BlackElectorate.com co-founder and business partner, the incomparable Brother Charles Muhammad, as well as our inner circle and team are in a different place right now, and need other shoulders from within the “Business and Building” Community and broader BlackElectorate.com viewership to carry the burden.

My belief, confidence and hope for the BlackElectorate.com “Business and Building” Community is as strong as ever, but, the time, energy, and resources that I personally committed to last year’s event are not as readily available. I am deeply immersed in new activities that represent my commitment to what “Business and Building” are all about, including my exciting business ventures - the new broadcast network, The Black Coffee Channel (http://www.blackcoffeechannel.com/) and my entrepreneurial consulting firm, CM Cap (http://cmcap.com/). That was not the case last year. And there are a variety of other commitments that I happily must fulfill and work to better fulfill.

I state that openly because it is important for our viewers and community members to know exactly where I am, if this website and community are going to go to the next level. I am in a place right now where I know I and we have been blessed to lay a foundation for others to stand on and take further. Whether they do or not, in many respects, is no longer a reflection on myself or an indication of a mistake or error on my/our part. With over 100,000 articles and 700 editorials written by me personally over 7 years – all provided free of charge – we have performed an important aspect of the duty of the civilized man and woman, to teach those who do not know what we do know, and to do so without taking a mean price for delivering the message.

No one can accuse me or us - without committing libel and slander – of exploiting our people in exchange for what we have presented every day since April 5, 2000. I don’t intend to ever tell the entire story of the personal sacrifice that Brother Charles and myself have made to continuously make this site available to anyone who desired the highest quality of knowledge, information, and analysis (free of charge) – there are sufficient witnesses to the worst part of our suffering – but I do feel compelled to let you all know that it will not continue forever. If this site has been a blessing to you in any way I hope you will keep that in mind as you consider our call to you through the “Business and Building” community.

I privately have in my mind a period of time that I am willing to continue with just the primarily information and educational aspects of this forum. There is some time left, but if it is the will of Allah (God) and the ancestors who called for something like BlackElectorate.com in their longing and desire for change, we have more days behind us than ahead of us at this website. In my view, we now have attracted, in one form or another, the critical mass to move into significant action, and we took a great step in that direction last year through the birth of the “Business and Building” community. But as I have been telling close friends, family and certain acquaintances, my heart now firmly rests in building platforms and institutions and bringing people together in the air and on the ground, to solve the problems that plague our people in America and all over the world. I have not and will never look at BlackElectorate.com as an intellectual exercise.

Those who persist in viewing this website that way, are going to be increasingly confronted, challenged, and made uncomfortable by what we attempt to do here, in coming days, weeks, and months.

This website is not here to make anyone person or particular community happy by expressing uncritical, superficial, intellectual agreement with its agenda. Whether one self-identifies (accurately or ignorantly) as a Muslim, Republican, Hip-Hopper, Democrat, Pan-Africanist, Black Nationalist, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Libertarian, Conservative, Socialist, Student, Professional, Entrepreneur, Activist, Or Artist, the challenge to you from myself and BlackElectorate.com is the same – become informed and educated about others and the condition of our community, share the best of what you know, and learn to reason and work with those you do not always agree with on behalf of the masses of our people.

It would be much easier for me to judge Black people by their political affiliation, class, social status, religion, complexion, and language – as many do in silly and lazy fashion – in order to determine who is a friend or enemy of the self-enlightened interest of our people. But I look at us through a worldview that places all of those labels secondary to a natural, spiritual, and universal view of our people that sees the real and potential value of all of us no matter who we think we are. I see focusing on the potential impact that the unity of enough of us can produce as being much more important than internalizing and perpetuating the White Republican vs. White Democrat; Arab Muslim vs. White Christian; White French vs. White German; White Labor vs. White Capital; White Spanish vs. White English battles that began outside of our community. We are nothing more than pawns and cannon fodder in carrying water for others like this.

Many of us look foolish harboring these colonial and imperial ‘wars’ in our hearts and minds, letting them spill out of our mouths and into the day-today movement and energy of our community. In the context of our historic and global struggle the Black Left vs. Black Right debates within our community in America look ridiculous to me. We have to evolve and grow into a more mature understanding of divinity, history, nature and science and when and how to take money, ideas, assistance from others outside of our community. Some of us are little more than whores, slaves, and empty vessels in how we depend upon White people for financial support, intellectual firepower, and other resources. We are fulfilling what is written of Lazarus, the Prodigal Son, and the Lost Sheep of the Bible for sure, in that sense.

I was so intrigued and fascinated by the response to the call we made last year through “Business and Building.” There were major pleasant surprises and disappointments in who did and didn’t step up to the plate. Needless to say, the most opinionated and loudest talkers and typists were no where to be found. I already had experience with this phenomenon in business, political movements, and social causes, but this was a bit more intimate, in how I was able to see with a more spiritual eye, and up close, how people reacted and responded when presented with a real in-person opportunity to do something other than read, type, and talk.

Lessons learned and types identified.

So, now, armed with that experience as well as further inspiration and insights, I look forward to coming together once again with you in D.C. for a weekend of activities. But if this is going to happen, it is going to have to be through the heavy-lifting and preliminary work of a group beyond myself, and the foundational team.

Here is what I would like to see:

- A similar three-pronged weekend: 1) a Formal Mixer or Dinner 2) An Informal Networking Event and 3) Dialogue Sessions to take place the last weekend of October, 2007

- Three Major Speakers at the formal event.

- Dialogue Sessions And A Process That Results In The Selection Of A Political Action Initiative and a Community Development Initiative.

- A Financial Profit From The Weekend To Be Dedicated To Future Work

To that end I am looking to establish 1) a four-person planning committee made up of individuals living in the Washington, D.C. area, who are committed to handling much of the early and late logistical responsibilities, along with myself and the BlackElectorate.com Team and 2) a working group made up of BlackElectorate.com viewers all over the country, in combination with these four individuals, who will take on the responsibility of handling the effort to secure sponsorships, speaker commitments, and event promotion, planning and coordinating.

If you are seriously interested in being an active part of this process, I am hosting a conference call to talk to you as a group, scheduled for next Wednesday, June 20th at 8pm (est).

Please send an email with your name, ideas, resume, and areas of interest to: businessandbuilding@blackelectorate.com, no later than Monday, June 18th.

We will review your e-mails and send you the conference call particulars on Tuesday, June 19th. Call space will be limited to make the discussion manageable, so this is first-come, first serve process. You will be invited to the conference call based upon how soon you respond, your qualifications, and what you describe of your desires and intentions by this event.

* The general level of interest, your participation, and these early discussions and interaction in June and July will determine whether or not we have an event in October. It will not impact the Black-Owned Bank Initiative already underway, which will keep moving right along, regardless.

On a final note, in coming weeks, I intend to bluntly articulate my view of the language, paradigm, and critical mass necessary to take our people to another level – not just lifting us out of the morass of certain problems that plague us, but also helping us individually to overcome the fear, ignorance, and even laziness that has many of us 1) unable to move beyond talking and typing rhetoric, 2) wedded to alien political ideologies that limit our thinking and ability to act 3) tied to external institutions, giving our talents, skills, time and energy in exchange for a check and 4) unwilling to sacrifice and take risks to do for self.

My critique and language will be blunt, although delivered with love and a sense of humor and is designed to force a separation in the BlackElectorate.com community and forum. I want a clear division to emerge between the ‘talkers-typers’ on one side, and the ‘doers’ on the other. I want the ‘individuals’ where they belong – on the bench, and the ‘team players’ where they need to be – active and making moves and decisions on a playing field. We want to see those who are more loyal to ideology on one hand and those who are loyal to principles and suffering people on the other. I especially want the whiners and wacktivists removed from the presence of the problem-solvers. And we can’t wait to see those who only want to be around the few who narrowly think like them, separated from those who are willing to work across ideological, cultural, and partisan lines in order to take the best of all ‘schools of thought’ and apply them not to debate but the more important effort of the redemption and resurrection of our people, in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and all over the earth.

I want to make certain lethargic, indolent, and defeatist-minded people very uncomfortable, while encouraging, inspiring and affirming those of you who are sincere and want to see change for the better.

If you are with me, BlackElectorate.com’s three-pronged commitment to information, education and action and have recognized spiritually and/or with your mind’s inner eye that this is a time of separation, we look forward to having or earning your support with our already in-motion Black-owned Bank Initiative (which we will update you on next week), and your participation in creatively and critically make a joint decision regarding the future of the “Business and Building” Community.

Either way, I am determined to be with those special human beings - anywhere I find them - who are willing to do what is necessary to work, sacrifice, and suffer on behalf of Black people and to raise and redeem them all over the world.

Through the efforts of those who came before me and what they – living and dead - are still teaching me today, I am convinced I know the time and what must be done, and I am not alone.

Let’s not just talk and type together – let’s work together to overcome evil, our external enemies, and our own imperfections and shortcomings.

Unlike petty discussions and intellectual debates that don’t result in real dialogue or problem-solving, this is not a work of vanity.

Cedric Muhammad

Monday, June 11, 2007

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The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of BlackElectorate.com or Black Electorate Communications.