One of the greatest challenges for the African American community is a severe lack of power. Like caged animals in the zoo, millions of black people in America and across the world often feel that our lives are controlled by other people or that opportunities only enter our lives when they are created by our oppressors. This debilitating mindset can lead to hopelessness, depression and decision-making that is driven by fear rather than desire. Instead of believing that we possess the ability to improve our lives, we simply wait and hope that White Americans will one day have a change of heart. Black American Money is written to kill the victim mentality and help us to see the world for what it really is. There is no power for the victim, the beggar, or the one who simply prays, hopes and waits for their oppressor to give them what they need. According to Finance PhD and noted scholar Dr Boyce Watkins, the world is never going to be nicer to black people and whites are never going to give us enough opportunity to sustain the masses. Instead, they will only volunteer enough crumbs to keep us under control and offer superficial congratulations for meaningless accomplishments within the pre-approved context of white supremacist institutions. It is only through proactive positioning, extensive preparation and institution building that black people can ever have any true power in America and beyond. Through a series of compelling essays and thought-provoking analysis, Dr Watkins hits the nail on the head in ways that only he can do. This book will shape your thinking, rivet your mindset and lead you to a whole new way of seeing racial inequality in America and beyond. This book will make you a champion.

Black Wealth is expected to drop to zero for half of all black families by the year 2053. This means that half of our community will be in the negative, and the other half will be positive. Those who embrace economic education will be the ones who are on the positive side of this statistic, largely because they've avoided the economic traps that exist in our society.The traps consist of but are not limited to: Ridiculous amounts of student loan debt, marketing that continuously reinforces the message of extensive consumption, a culture built on job seeking rather than job creation, a lack of interest in stock/bond investing, renting rather than ownership, inadequate life insurance with virtually no estate planning, and much, much more.While I work hard to sound the warning bell for the entire black community, our voices are often drowned out by messages coming from corporate media, problematic politicians, and a broken educational system which is determined to keep our people in the midst of economic slavery.I have taught Finance to college students for 25 years at several major universities. I've spent thousands of hours studying the problems that are specific to black people and believe that I have developed solutions that you can implement right now, TODAY, within your own family. These are not get-rich-quick or fly-by-night solutions. Instead, they are long-term wealth-building prototypes that will yield results over several decades of continuous activity.Those who embrace financial literacy in their households will not be on the negative side of the statistic that I mentioned above. Those who save and invest won't have the same financial problems as many others. Those who make long-term plans for their children rarely watch their kids struggle. The future is owned by those who prepare for it today.

“Read this book. It explains so much about the moment...Beautiful, heartbreaking work.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates “A deep accounting of how America got to a point where a median white family has 13 times more wealth than the median black family.” —The Atlantic “Extraordinary...Baradaran focuses on a part of the American story that’s often ignored: the way African Americans were locked out of the financial engines that create wealth in America.” —Ezra Klein When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the black community owned less than 1 percent of the total wealth in America. More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged. The Color of Money seeks to explain the stubborn persistence of this racial wealth gap by focusing on the generators of wealth in the black community: black banks. With the civil rights movement in full swing, President Nixon promoted “black capitalism,” a plan to support black banks and minority-owned businesses. But the catch-22 of black banking is that the very institutions needed to help communities escape the deep poverty caused by discrimination and segregation inevitably became victims of that same poverty. In this timely and eye-opening account, Baradaran challenges the long-standing belief that black communities could ever really hope to accumulate wealth in a segregated economy. “Black capitalism has not improved the economic lives of black people, and Baradaran deftly explains the reasons why.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “A must read for anyone interested in closing America’s racial wealth gap.” —Black Perspectives

Ebony, a twenty-eight-year-old Black woman living in Texas, was going through a divorce, living with her mom in poverty, and finding it hard to make ends meet. After years of working dead end jobs, she received a phone call from a temp agency that changed her life in the best way, and also the worst way. A call that began her six-figure career in higher education, and her descent into Racial Discrimination Hell. The temp assignment was at Daebrun Career Institute, a popular, for-profit college with several campuses in the State of Texas. And after only two short months, Daebrun hired Ebony permanently, and she was thrilled to have a chance to live the American dream. But the American dream, the dream that made her believe she could have the same opportunities given to White employees, became a living nightmare, after Ebony's boss resigned, and was replaced with a racist one.Over the course of five years, Ebony's bosses changed, but the racism didn't as each one tried to break her, like she was a wild horse they were determined to tame. She was degraded and dehumanized with threats and fear, humiliated on a daily basis, and stripped of all dignity, confidence, and strength. The environment she was forced to work in was so hostile she considered killing her boss, or herself, to escape the torment.After years of suffering, Ebony found courage through faith and the love of her mom, learned how to fight back through trial and error, and made the transition from racial discrimination victim to racial discrimination victor by proving the existence of systemic racism in her workplace, obtaining a six-figure settlement from her employer to buy her silence, and maintaining her employment for several more years.

Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. At several historic moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically. But neither Reconstruction nor the New Deal nor the civil rights struggle led to an economically just and fair nation. Today, systematic inequality persists in the form of housing discrimination, unequal education, police brutality, mass incarceration, employment discrimination, and massive wealth and opportunity gaps. Economic data indicates that for every dollar the average white household holds in wealth the average black household possesses a mere ten cents. This compelling and sharply argued book addresses economic injustices head-on and make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. Using innovative methods that link monetary values to historical wrongs, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen assess the literal and figurative costs of justice denied in the 155 years since the end of the Civil War and offer a detailed roadmap for an effective reparations program, including a substantial payment to each documented U.S. black descendant of slavery. This new edition features a new foreword addressing the latest developments on the local, state, and federal level and considering current prospects for a comprehensive reparations program.

In this groundbreaking book that places Rootwork in its rightful spot among other magickal traditions, Tayannah Lee McQuillar offers a fun and practical guide to improving your life with the help of African American folk magick. Rootwork begins with the basics, from explanations about the magickal powers of the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) to instructions on creating talismans, charms, and mojo bags. Also included are spells to help you: find your soul mate spice up your sex life get a new job improve your health discover your inner muse Accessible and easy to use, Rootwork offers the insights of a time-honored tradition as a means of self-empowerment and spiritual growth.