A great, inspiring and easy way to buy back the block! Have ownership in what is rightfully yours, make money and help that money cycle within the community… Let’s thrive!
There is so much history buried I intend to share to anyone who may not be aware of it as soon as my internet is back on (Monday, ideally!)… For now I am limited to posts and I hope you will take the time to consider the videos, and the link to follow.
Interested? Check out BuyTheBlock’s educational site here & get involved!
These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman.
Stunning and inspiring! Most of us know about Black Wall Wall Street; but there were many towns across America where Black people thrived. Whites didn’t like that, of course, and as we saw with Black Wall Street, these jealous sick freaks stole by demolishing, because they couldn’t handle not being best. It’s hard to be best when they always had others enslaved doing the work for them. But this is a happy post so!
the video footage by clicking here. I can’t embed it sadly. Article associated posted below.
Part three of a four-part series from the film archive of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
By the 1920s, Oklahoma was home to some 50 African-American towns, in addition to a large and prosperous black community living in the city of Tulsa. These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman. Known and respected by the citizens of the towns whose lives he captured on film, Rev. Jones’s work offers revealing glimpses of these communities as a haven for African Americans who very often faced discrimination elsewhere in America.
The subjects are everyday life: a family on the front porch of their bungalow, shop workers at a storefront, farmers plowing their fields, children playing on seesaws in a schoolyard. Much of the material documents the economic life of the towns, from business districts filled with prosperous merchants to the homes of successful professionals, with an abundant countryside beyond.
As Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, points out in her commentary, here we even find a married couple who were oil barons, proof of the extraordinary progress made in the relatively short time since the end of slavery.
The fashions and hairstyles, automobiles and horses, and even such details as a man manually pumping gasoline at a filling station make the films a fascinating record of the lives of Americans, and African Americans in particular, in the early 20th century.
This is wonderful news and I hope to see a lot more of it. I read any and every 
book I can on Black Wall Street, which jealous whites destroyed, and as of yet I’ve only found one book that describes the beauty of the area, the women dressed like beautiful Queens in jewels and pearls, the beautiful buildings, parks and houses. The book I learned the most from, I believe, was this book I bought from a Black Owned bookstore in Brooklyn years ago. There are many books on Black Wall Street, but the only one to mention the beauty that was Black Wall Street, can be found here.
Despite the adversity faced, I hope the following story and all the businesses grow, and grow, until there are many “Black Wall Streets”- people and places well secured and safe from having any more destruction and loss. Story follows.
A group of neighbors in Northwest D.C. were fed up with what was going on in their building, so they bought it. And part of their inspiration came from 7 ON YOUR SIDE.
ABC7 News reported on conditions at 5751 Colorado Avenue NW in a report seven years ago when tenants told us they had no heat.
The story ended years later not with the landlord cashing in on the building by driving the tenants out, but with the help of the city and the nonprofit, Mi Casa, the tenants were able to get loans to buy out the landlord and renovate the building as a cooperative.
Fourteen of the tenants in the 28-unit building are back in their old units after two years in temporary housing.
On Saturday, they’re going to officially celebrate the reopening and take applications for coop members who want to move into the 14 unoccupied units.
“Out of $3.5 billion given for community development, not one black bank was awarded”
Out of all the communities deserving of finally being given some form of repayment, I don’t understand how not one Black bank saw any money just as a fact…but especially given all that America is because of slavery; because of Black men who built the White House, the Capitol and never saw a cent. The cruel, inhumane and unfathomable tortures of slavery – slavery that to this day is going on just with a new name (war on drugs- prison- prison work-another blog).
In 2013 the Oklahoma police chief made an apology for the devastating jealous, racist, fatal theft the white people of his town started in Tulsa, OK or Greenwood, aka Black Wall Street in 1921. Read more about that here.
The main issue I see is; where is the money to help rebuild the beautiful homes and businesses the Black community had in Greenwood, or Tulsa? America seems to think they can take from the Black community and never repay, so long as eventually an apology is given.
I am glad he apologized; but if you are truly sorry, why isn’t action being taken to rebuild what was stolen in the jealous white riot?
Back to the money for community development and not one dime being given to help better the Black community…
The reason Black Wall Street was burned is because whites were jealous and afraid. Afraid because they rode all this way on Black peoples work; never doing it for themselves. That’s the only thing I can figure from their simple minded, insane “brains”. They are jealous and afraid of the real men stepping up. Why, I’m not sure- but the fact that they are so scared shows how powerful an educated Black male is. They tried to divide and conquer under Hoover. FBI cointelpro.
The CIA admits putting drugs and guns into the Black community.
…
I hope with all my soul this will fuel you to become a success; there is more to life than the lies they have put before us. Rebuild Black Wall Street; I hope I am alive when it is done; I can’t wait to see the Black community rise up and stay up!
But knowing what we do, perhaps that answers the why to the bettering of communities money not reaching one Black bank.
Article follows.
Banks owned by minorities are claiming that the federal government has blocked them out of tax credits that were intended to support economic development in neglected and underserved communities. They are raising their protests in the face of the distribution of funds by the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) – an arm of the Treasury Department – which took place last month.
Click here to continue reading
I have quiet a few books on Black Wallstreet; a history forgotten. One I am currently reading sparked me to wanna write this post. For quotes from the book as well as many suggestions for related topic books and more, click here to view my Goodreads page and ADD ME! Please 🙂
The following is a poem written by a successful husband and father; a lawyer, journalist as well as having the honor to be there when the NAACP was founded, becoming one of the first people to join. A.J. Smitherson is his name, a name -among many others- that should be known to all, yet the history books somehow managed to add this bit of American history. Wonder why. 🙄
Mr. Smitherson did survive the attack on the successful Black community, thankfully, however he lost all he had worked for to jealous bigots who wished they could be him, but knew they couldn’t ever accomplish what was being accomplished in Greenwood. Because of the success of him and many, many other Blacks living there, Mr. Smitherson was but one of a countless number of men and women that lost what they had worked so hard for; their lands, businesses, beautiful homes and so forth, to envious racists, during what is called the Tulsa Riots.
Greenwood, OK, or Black Wall Street, was burned and destroyed by these jealous cowards with no souls. The people behind it were nothing but cruel white losers whom felt envy and fear as well as unjustified hate towards the success in the Black community. Why so many whites feared/fear this I don’t understand and probably never will.
Don’t mistake me; I understand the reasons that are obvious among that sort; they didn’t want to see the Black community thriving. But what I do not understand & never will is why this is an issue that upsets them? Black success is human success; we should be happy anytime a community gets together and creates something better than what was, especially at that time.
One day Black “Wallsteet” will rise again and when it does, I know where all my money will be spent shopping. As a child I dedicated my life to fighting hate and racism and I would fight to the end to see this again. Er, by that I mean; I would fight and die happily to see many and more Black Wall Streets pop up all over America, with no chance of pathetic, jealous creatures ripping it apart or burning it down by mindless morons.
Below is a poem written by Mr. A.J. Smitherson after the riots. What a disgraceful, sick and hate filled world this is.
*
Whence those sounds in all directions
Firearms cracking everywhere;
Men and women all excited,
Cries of rioting fill the air.
Men with guns and ammunition,
Rushing madly to the fray,
Shooting, cursing, laughing, crying,
“Come on, boys, come on this way!”
“They are trying to lynch our comrade,
Without cause in law defi;
Get your guns and help defend him;
Let’s protect him, win or die.
‘Twas the cry of Negro manhood,
Rallying to the cause of right,
Readying to suppress the lawless,
Anxious for a chance to fight.
So they marched against the mobbists
Gathered now about the jail,
While the sheriff stood there pleading,
Law and order to prevail.
Thus responding to their duty,
Like true soldiers that they were,
Black men face the lawless white men
Under duty’s urgent spur.
Cries of “Let us have the nigger”
“Lynch him, kill him” came the shout,
And at once there came an answer
When a sharp report rang out
“Stand back men, there’ll be no lynching”
Black men cried, and not in fun
Bang! Bang! Bang! three quick shots followed,
And the battle had begun.
In the fusillade that followed,
Four white lynchers kissed the dust,
Many more fell badly wounded,
Victims of their hellish lust.
Quick they fled in all directions,
Panic stricken, filled with fear,
Leaving their intended victim,
As the news spread far and near.
Scattered now in great confusion
Filled with vengeance all anew
Leaders of the lynching party
Planned for something else to do.
“Blacks prevent a Negro’s lynching”
Read a bold newspaper head,
In an extra night edition,
“Fifty Whites reported dead”.
Rallied now with reinforcements
Brave (?) white men five thousand strong
Marched upon the Black defenders
With their usual battle song:
“Get the niggers” was their slogan,
“Kill them, burn them, set the pace.
Let them know that we are white men,
Teach them how to keep their place.
“Forward! March! ! command was given,
And the tread of feet was heard,
Marching on the Colored district,
In protest there came no word.
In the meantime rabid hoodlums
Now turned loose without restraint
Helped themselves to things of value
More than useless to complain.
were taken by the hundreds,
Ammunition all in sight
Reign of murder, theft and plunder
Was the order of the night.
But our boys who learned the lesson
On the blood-stained soil of France,
How to fight on the defensive
Purposed not to take a chance.
Like a flash they came together,
Word was passed along the line:
“No white man must cross the border;
Shoot to kill and shoot in time!”
“Ready, Fire!” and then a volley
From the mob whose skins were white
“Give ’em hell, boys”, cried the leader,
“Soon we’ll put ’em all to flight”.
But they got a warm reception
From black men who had no fear,
Who while fighting they were singing:
“Come on Boys, the Gang’s all here.”
Rapid firing guns were shooting,
Men were falling by the score,
‘Till the white men quite defeated
Sent the word “We want no more.”
Nine p.m. the trouble started,
Two a.m. the thing was done.
And the victory for the black men
Counted almost four to one.
Then the white went into council,
Hoping to reprise their loss,
Planned the massacre that followed,
Dared to win at any cost.
June the First, at five a.m.
Three long whistle blasts were heard,
Giving sign for concert action
To that cold blood-thirsty herd.
At the signal from the whistle
Aeroplanes were seen to fly,
Dropping bombs and high explosives,
Hell was falling from the sky.
On all sides the mob had gathered
Talking in excited tones
With machine guns, ready. mounted,
Trained upon a thousand homes.
In New York an undercover cop informant walked into a Black owned business and planted cocaine inside (crack, to be more specific). He then proceeded to photograph it, and in the end the innocent business owner was arrested. What the brilliant police informant didn’t know, thankfully, was the entire falsification and crime this informant committed had been captured by the security camera.
 Andrews’s lawyer can be heard narrating the shocking surveillance video.
“He comes in, places the crack on the counter. Crack, which under federal sentencing guidelines, would get him 4 years in jail. Under New York State law would get him 2 to 7 years in jail,” attorney Kevin Luibrand says in the video.
I don’t care if he had a smoke shop; and it makes no difference how the people may use the LEGAL items in his store- if a store sells rope and someone uses it to commit suicide, is that store owner responsible for the death? NO.
It enrages me the video mentions he had a “smoke shop” where you can buy smoking “devices” and things of the like. That’s not relevant. Not to mention, crack cocaine and marijuana are two MASSIVELY different things.
Let’s go back in time for a moment now… Note the similarities?
[ First…For those who would rather watch than read, below is a brilliant and tragic documentary… It is one everyone needs to see, I believe. If you’d like a shorter version, there is one at the end of this article.]
In 1921 there was a community known as Black Wall Street located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before I go on about that let me touch the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, on how horrifically hard life was for Blacks in America in the 1900s.
On the one hand, it’s great as slavery was now illegal by text (as it still is,,,by text); lynchings and horrific public killings went on as a normal and acceptable occurrence, and no one was exempt. Not women, not men…not even children. After slavery was made “illegal” one must realize it did not vanish overnight. It still hasn’t vanished today with our prison system but that’s another blog.
After slavery was put on the books as illegal, slavery did not vanish. The now former slaves either were not made aware of their new “freedom” or convinced to stay there- for they had no where else to go. The government didn’t give any aid or help in how to start a life of ones own, getting a job in a white world where you don’t know which white person is kind and which had the desire to lynch you would have paralyzed me with fear -as I am sure it did far too many. So many people continued to slave away because fear is strong and sometimes it is easier to do what you know than to break out into a new life. Especially if you’re afraid of those who used to be called your “master”.
Hell, if it wasn’t until the Supreme Court decision in 1967 that, in America a Black person and a white person could join hand in marriage legally, and yet still be harassed and attacked; imagine what it would have been like in the 1920s? If a white person even accused a Black man of looking at a white woman, he could/would likely be killed.
Black Wall Street goes back further than 1920, I encourage you all to either read about it or watch the video below; for though it is a tragic, tragic truth that we can see starting to happen again in America; it also has a wonderfully positive aspect to it. Their pride, hard work, sense of community and self empowerment is inspiring. We need that now.
But, for the purpose of this blog I will stay in the 1920s…
During a time of great struggle in America over something as pointless as color and race, there was a place called Black Wall Street. Located in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Black Wall Street was one of the most wealthiest and prominent Black communities in early 20th Century America. With a prosperous and healthy population of approximately 10,000 people in the Greenwood area of Tulsa, it was home not only to well off families, but also being the home to several multimillionaire businessmen, black businessmen.
Black Wall Street was called many derogatory names by whites. During what we now call the The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, bombs, death and mass destruction caused the collapse of this thriving area. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 successfully demolished this thriving business community. It can easily be called one of the most devastating racial riots in history.
There are government records that make it clear they do not want the Black community to flourish. Look into the FBI files back during Hoover’s days. As I always say- we need to wake up, look at history and realize it could and is happening again but in a more subtle way.
The amazing Nelson Mandela said he didn’t fear those who were honest about their racism and hate; but rather those who kept it hidden for they are the most dangerous.
We need to remember that… Mandela is a soul whose judgment I know I feel is easy to trust. We must be smart and unify -everyone- against the real problem. If you don’t see the signs of something horrific coming (well, even more horrible than now) you truly should rethink your views…
Don’t let Black Wall Street happen again….. If you would like to get involved, activists have posted the following information on who to call and talk to about this matter- flood their phones. Let them know we will not tolerate this! We can’t.
A great point was made that, had he not had cameras, he would STILL be in JAIL…
Shorter Version of Black Wall Street –
Truth- A Right to Fight For... 