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Thanks so much for your response. There's so much to unpack from many sides. But I'm going to make an effort. 1. We have to approach this from enlightened self interest. A lot of wealthy blacks in business still depend on black customers and government contracts. Advancing human and community development among other blacks translates into more employees and customers which is capital and market share. This is business not altruism. None of this is strictly governmental or philanthropic. It's market based. Changing how we think about business and growth is essential because most black businesses are very small. But it's necessary to think and do things on a bigger scale for your own sake. And it makes sense to partner with other blacks where possible. Think about a black barber and hairdresser coming together to build a distribution company with perhaps a black rental property owner. Groups like the National Black Chamber of Commerce can and should be forums to facilitate this kind of action. Despite all the persistent problems and challenges blacks continue to face as entrepreneurs success is possible. The opportunities to grow a company are real both at home and abroad. Think David Steward of World Wide Technologies and Robert Smith of Vista Equity Partners who are bllionaires. 2. Local government and Civil Society play unique and vital roles in business and community development. Think about taxes, zoning, incentives, funding, and contracting decisions by City Officials matter. If and when blacks in these positions make decisions to help black businesses and communities grow that's progress. And white politicians do it every day. We as black people wrongly say among ourselves - Niggas don't help each other. That's not completely true. Think about United Negro College Fund. Black Greek organizations and even black churches with scholarship funds. Name a major black non-profit or group that has went out of business because blacks don't give? We have to scale up and raise awareness among our own about what's available. The same thing is true about all kinds of black individuals and groups working in our communities all the time making a difference. Black people today despite our difficulties have more money, education, expertise, political power, and opportunities than ever. We need a mindset and initiative to leverage the resources we have to benefit ourselves individually and collectively. Sometimes we are too focused on racism and economic injustice worrying about what's lacking or denied us. I'm firmly committed to fighting for our rights. But there are things we can do beyond advocacy and action at the Federal government level to help ourselves immediately on the ground. Black people in the Jim Crow Era did this very thing with far less than we have today. 3. We have to put people, places, and things in perspective to see how progress is possible. Cities where blacks are a majority and dominate local politics like Atlanta, Detroit, or even Jackson Mississippi are centers of opportunity to experiment with all kinds of ideas. Places like Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago are different. But even in the latter possibilities exist. Geoffrey Canada built the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City with mainly private money from wealthy whites like Bill Gates and corporations. That's an important factor. Black thinkers, activists, politicians, and business people need to study his successes and failures and the possibilities and limits of what Geoffrey Canada did. Think about what happens when black voters want change. It's possible to kick out leaders who are too focused on themselves rather than the people. Two examples come to mind. Charles Rangel defeated Adam Clayton Powell in New York in the 1970 Democratic Party primary for Congress. Corey Booker lost the Newark New Jersey Mayoral race to Sharpe James the sixteen year incumbent in 2002. But Booker returned in 2006 to beat the candidate backed by the retiring James- Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice. Ultimately there are no guarantees or easy answers. But blacks must be persistent and think differently about the challenges we face. We might try and fail doing different things. However failure is guaranteed if we do nothing at all. Now is the time a kind of black pragmatism that includes advocacy, protest, national, state, local government, entrepreneurial, human, and community development.

I don't know if anyone asked those questions of Dr. Cress-Welsing. It's too late since her spirit has already flown many years ago. As I've mentioned already, build more Black financial institutions among other things.