Monopoly capitalism destroyed American black businesses, which provided safe employment for civil rights activists

boing
1

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/28/markets-vs-capitalism.html

…

3 Likes
2

This is dumb. It’s like like listening to those dudes who insist the Civil War was caused by the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania. White dudes need to stop trying to explain the consequences of their racism using whatever their personal (and completely unrelated) hobbyhorse is.

2 Likes
3

A habit of running interstates or other “improvement” projects through the middle of black business districts certainly didn’t help. But hey, what’s a little targeted eminent domain for the public good?

6 Likes
4

Long time no see.

What’s dumb exactly? The monopolists shutting down small business? Or the article which… are you sure the author is a white dude? What remedy would you suggest?

1 Like
5

I don’t think looking at this through an economic lens necessarily means ignoring structural racism, though. The two certainly have an intertwined history.

7 Likes
6

Searching Google for ‘black owned business increase’ I find:

‘Black owned businesses in the United States increased 34.5% between 2007 and 2012 totaling 2.6 million Black firms. More than 95% of these businesses are mostly sole proprietorship or partnerships which have no paid employees.’

Searching ‘black owned business decline I found (from 2013):

‘There Has Been a 75% Drop In Black Businesses In Past Decade | Should We Be Concerned?’

Now this story. Take your pick.

1 Like
7

Simple subtraction will reveal that the period between 2007 and 2012 was a mere half a decade. So what if it increased 35% in that time, when it failed to compensate for an overall decrease? Climate data shows that the Earth is warming, but it snowed last winter—take your pick.

8 Likes
8

I didn’t know this was a thing.

Setting aside the question of causes, and turning to outcomes: an industrial society defeated an agricultural society. Oil is as good a symbol of industrial power as any.

9

THIS is why people need to be willing to risk establishing parallel economies, and resist assimilation.

1 Like
10

I can’t tell if that comma in the headline is intended or not. Was it a good thing that American black businesses were destroyed by monopoly capitalism because that led to safe employment for civil rights activists?

11

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.