Your Black World: Financial Literacy Expert Bill Thomason, Speaks To YBW

Interview with Financial Literacy Expert, Portfolio Manager and Author, Bill Thomason, by Tolu Olorunda.

William Thomason is a finance expert with nearly 20 years worth of experience. In his tenure as a financial-analyst, he has been quoted by well-known publications, such as, the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Smart Money, CNBC, and other financial press. He was once named by Ebony Magazine, as "One of the Nation's 50 Leaders of the Future." His 2006 book entitled, "Make Money Work for You – Money Lessons from a Portfolio Manager," lays out patterns and examples worth following, in favor of accomplishing financial-liberation. Of all his acquisitions and feats, Thomason favors his dedication to the education of Black and Brown kids as most essential. He founded a program called, "Wall Street Wizards." Wall Street Wizards was primarily founded to be "a non-profit organization established to bring career opportunities and financial literacy to urban youth." I had the pleasure of speaking with Bill Thomason on his background, the concept and impact of financial illiteracy, the lessons of the recent Subprime mortgage crisis, financial-empowerment, and much more:

Thanks for joining us, Bill Thomason. Can you describe your path toward becoming a Financial Literacy Expert, and why you decided to pursue a career in finance?

Well, I’ve been in the investment business for close to 20 years. Within those years, I’ve been an investment manager, a portfolio manager, author of a book, and I also worked in private equity. It came down to me realizing that I am a Black man in an environment where there aren’t many people of color. I’m from an environment where people struggle financially every day. I was talking to a guy today, and he told me of how he went to a car dealership to buy a car, and he asked the salesman why he was advertising on a Black radio show. The salesman replied saying, “Those are the people who are dumb enough to come in and I can sell them whatever I want.” When you look at the Subprime mortgage crisis, that’s a result of people signing their name on something they had no idea about. That is financial illiteracy. They paid for houses they knew they couldn’t afford. So why am I doing this? That’s why. The Black and Brown people are the ones who get taken advantage of. I am about trying to create and teach Black and Brown people the ethics of money, investing and finance, so they can better take care of themselves.

As a result of that, do you think most African-Americans are financially illiterate?

Yep; and I say that because the statistics bear it out. We have high bankruptcy, 'jacked-up' credits, and all other symptoms that classify financial illiteracy. The symptoms of financial illiteracy are bad credit, stress, untimely deaths etc – and we have them. A lot of times, you can’t get a job if you have poor credit, and that breeds the stress which leads to the untimely deaths.

Can you explain the value of investing, and how one can begin investing, even at the lowest increment of income?

Well, I think we need to start putting money into investment vehicles; and there are plenty of them, such as stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and real estate. Historically, stock markets have done well; so history is on the side of the investor.

At what age can one realistically begin the investing procedure?

The truth is that the parent should start before the children are even before. But realistically, as soon as a child is old enough to ask for gifts, the child is equally old enough to learn about financial-literacy. We already have a lot of challenges in front of us as Black and Brown people; so we have to learn how to invest and put money aside -- just to survive.

You founded the program "Wall Street Wizards." What is its objective?

Well, it’s to teach inner-city kids about mathematics, finance, economics, investing and money-management; and to bring financial literacy to our community, so our kids can learn how to be financial stewards. We’re also giving them a lot of other skills in this program; I like to say it’s ‘a life-skill program disguised as a financial literacy program.’ We‘ve got about 60 kids total, in San Francisco and New York. We have two programs operating in both San Francisco and New York. We try to expose them to career opportunities such as, investment bankers, portfolio managers, venture capitalists and private equity.

Your 2006 book was “Make Money Work for You – Money Lessons from a Portfolio Manager." How can the meager wage earned by the majority of our people work for them?

Well, that’s why I wrote that book. In the very last chapter, I tell the story of a woman who started when she was 40 yrs old, and put away portions of her income till she was 80 yrs old. At 80 yrs old, she had amassed $23 million buying stocks. She bought stocks that she knew, and invested in them on a regular basis. There is something called dividend-reinvestment, that shows you can buy stocks without ever paying a commission, and then, the dividends become reinvested to buy the investor more stocks. The woman in particular had a 1-bedroom apartment in New York. She was making a decent living, but wasn’t rich. So putting away $10, $15, $50 or $100 a month would go a long way.

Do you profoundly believe that if Black people took the route you delineate, they can actually liberate themselves from financial-disempowerment?

Yes. The front page of my website says “creating financially empowered individuals and communities." When you’re financially empowered, you can help uplift your community. The statistics, according to 21cf, prove that the Black Community - on an individual basis - is more philanthropic than any other ethnic group. We are philanthropic by nature, but we don’t invest wisely.

Was this financial illiteracy you speak of, revealed in the calamity of Hurricane Katrina and the inability of Black people to rescue their own kinfolk?

That’s such a deep question, and just like in the tragedy of 911, there wasn’t much financial-stewardship and accountability to ensure the donations reached the victims. A lot of people received the funds allocated to them, but a lot of people also didn’t get nothing. My family is from New Orleans, and so, I’m well aware of this reality. When you watch some of the documentaries that were filmed after the flood, and the gross-mistreatment of the New Orleans residents, you’re startled. Financial literacy is an all encompassing value that must be taught to those who intend to manage their financial lives, and put their financial life together. Our community predominantly goes to check-cashing venues to cash their checks, but those places take out a percentage of their earnings.

You spoke earlier about the shortage of Black and Brown financial experts. Can that be looked upon as indicative in the recent financial mortgage meltdown?

Well, I think there is a shortage. I say, go to Wall Street and find out how many Black people are walking up and down the aisle; and that’s just an example. So yes, I think it played a part.

How can the recent mortgage meltdown be avoided next time?

Read. Unfortunately, the old saying goes, “If you want to hide something from a Black person, put it in a book.” We need to read; study and educate ourselves. If you’re well educated, you don’t listen to someone who tells you to put your name on a document you know you can’t afford. We also need to pay our bills on time, and live within our means.

Lastly, what is the most important advice that you hope to extend to the Black Community at-large?

In the 1960s, we realized it was about our Civil Rights – we needed to be able to vote, live where we wanted, and receive equitable wage vis-à-vis our white counterparts – and now we have to fight for our Economic Rights. With Economic Rights, we would become confident enough to own companies. Every kid in my program – Wall Street Wizards – owns stock in Coca Cola. They also go to Shareholder meetings. We now have the right to invest, own stocks and build businesses, and we have to claim that Right.

To donate to the righteous cause of Wall Street Wizards, pls. visit: http://wallstreetwizards.org/

This interview was conducted by Tolu Olorunda, Staff Writer for YourBlackWorld.com

Your Black Power: Unspeakable History - Peniel E. Joseph

By Peniel E. Joseph,

an assistant professor of Africana studies at SUNY Stony Brook and the author of "Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America"
Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page C02

THE N WORD

Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why

By Jabari Asim

Houghton Mifflin. 278 pp. $26

In an era when high-profile rappers, comedians and public intellectuals craft contorted defenses for the use of the word "nigger," Jabari Asim's "The N Word" provides an important, timely and much-needed critical intervention about this enduringly controversial subject. Beyond a simple discussion of the word itself, Asim deftly chronicles the way in which racist ideology went hand-in-hand with racist culture to permanently alter -- and stain -- the character of America's nascent democracy.

Asim's book is an ambitious, sweeping work that surveys four centuries of racist culture and custom in American society. From the outset, the term in question was a convenient, all-purpose condemnation that allowed such architects of American democracy as Thomas Jefferson to claim that blacks lacked the intellectual and emotional capacity to handle full citizenship. In Jefferson's words, blacks were "inferior to the whites in endowments both of body and mind." A veritable industry of scientific and cultural racism would make Jefferson's sentiments seem positively statesmanlike.

At each step of this sprawling, briskly paced history, Asim chronicles the way in which the word not only permeated popular culture through literary classics such as "Huck Finn" but had practical, real-world consequences, especially during the post-Reconstruction period of anti-black lynching, violence and rioting that swept across the nation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Asim, the deputy editor of The Washington Post's Book World section, documents how black Americans countered the dominant narrative perpetuated by "Niggerology"(as one "scholar" of black inferiority labeled it in the 19th century) with nuanced accounts of historical figures such as the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells. Asim explores how, in the 1940 novel "Native Son," Richard Wright turned the word, and much of the literary world, upside down through his character Bigger Thomas, whose very name seemed to suggest the N-word. Bigger Thomas's unpredictable violence transformed the one-dimensional literary characters of the past (the imagined spooks of a racist literary tradition) into a hauntingly poignant emissary of social misery whose tragic actions illuminated the contours of racial oppression in Depression-era America.

The civil rights movement's heroic decade, between the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, seemed to signal the slow demise of the word in popular culture. No longer could respectable Southern politicians use the blunt, coarse and spectacularly successful language of someone like George Wallace.

But by the late 1960s and early '70s, blacks began openly using the term themselves. At the very moment when civil rights victories meant the word could no longer be spoken in public by whites, black provocateurs started to brandish the word like a sharp sword. The comedian Richard Pryor said it with an easy candor that scandalized white audiences and helped him emerge as a kind of outrageous prophet whose use of the word managed to sting whites more than blacks. The casual, everyday use of the word in black communities that had been a hidden part of a segregated past now became an accepted part of popular culture. The genie, so to speak, had been let out of the bottle, with predictable results. A generation of multi-hued youngsters now eagerly deploys the word in everyday language that betrays no hint of historical understanding of its horrific roots.

Asim tells this story with energy, insight and well-timed flashes of humor. "The N Word" also serves, both implicitly and explicitly, as a brilliant and bracing history lesson for the countless pundits debating the virtues of black popular culture. Unlike many commentators, Asim manages to avoid both facile condemnations and contorted rationalizations. Instead, he offers a passionate survey that places contemporary African American culture in the larger context of American history. Confronted by a generation largely uninterested in the nation's collective racial history but still burdened by its legacy, Asim argues that only by understanding the past can we reacquire the political courage and insights necessary to create new words and envision new worlds. "As long as we embrace the derogatory language that has long accompanied and abetted our systematic dehumanization," Asim writes, "we shackle ourselves to those corrupt white delusions -- and their attendant false story of our struggle in the United States. Throwing off those shackles would at least free us to stake a claim to an independent imagination." And, just perhaps, renew our hope in shaping a better world.

Your Black World: YBW Interview With Dr. Ricky Jones

Interview with University of Louisville Professor, Dr. Ricky Jones, by Tolu Olorunda.

Dr. Ricky Jones is an Author, Columnist and a Professor at the University of Louisville. He is the Chair of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. He has written several books including, "Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities," and the more recent "What's Wrong with Obamamania?: Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Political Imagination." He is also a Lecturer who has spoken courageously on the neutralization of Africanism and Pan-Africanism in the European landscape. On Barack Obama, Dr. Jones believes that the Senator hasn't quite paralleled the standards and criteria set by the legacies of Martin Luther King, Kwame Ture and Malcolm X. He also laments the reality that some black people might be missing the point with a blind and unconditional support for Senator Obama's candidacy. His newest book - on Obamamania - investigates the unhealthy celebration and craze that has clouded the Obama campaign, while tendering useful and applicable resources that strengthen the structure of governmental-accountability. I had the pleasure of engaging in dialogue with Dr. Jones on Black Leadership, Obamamania, Black Politics, Black Masculinity and much more:

Thanks for joining us, Dr. Jones. Can you begin by informing us of your background and the pathway leading up to becoming one of the State of Kentucky's most prestigious professors?

I don't know if I'm one of the state's most prestigious; but I grew up in the housing projects of Atlanta, Georgia. After High-School, I got a bachelor's degree in political science from Morehouse College, and then received a fellowship-offer from the University of Kentucky - where I met Boyce Watkins. But I went to UK (Kentucky) for graduate school, and got a PH.D in political philosophy, and then left in 1996 for Louisville -- where I joined the Pan-African study department, and I have been there ever since. It’s funny because I really didn't intend to stay there, but I ended up in a really good department with some really good people, and had a lot of opportunities, and ended up becoming the youngest 'chair' in the history of the department -- a term which I just finished.

In your opinion, what is fundamentally wrong with today's Black leadership, and how radically different is it from that of Malcolm & Martin's era?

Well, a couple of things: One; the social and political dynamic is very different now, than it was in the past. We are now in a time when we are the first generation of Black folk who did not have to deal with slavery or segregation. And, I think it threw Black America into a state of confusion vis-a-vis understanding power-discrepancies, segregation, discrimination, marginalization etc. And just because those systems weren't in law anymore, didn't mean it did not exist. And with that change in the political landscape, people are not clear anymore, as to whether or not we have a structural problem, or we have merely individual problems. So with the comments of the "Bill Cosbys" and "Shelby Steeles," (The Black Conservatives) it becomes more easy to put the blame on Black people, individually, than to attack structures -- especially if you're trying to gain power in those structures. So, there is a misunderstanding of the political landscape. Also, there is a problem with the quality of leadership. Sometimes, we do not have our best and brightest in position. Another problem is that of commitment, especially when you have folk that are much more wedded to their personal agendas, than they are with any collective agenda that has to do with Black folk. When you put all those things together, you have a horrible mixture that leads the majority of Black people suffering.

In light of the recent conundrum Rev. Jesse has been encompassed by; do you find any legitimacy in the inference that a leader can become outdated and irrelevant?

Yes, but not specific to Rev. Jackson. I think, sometimes, if not the leadership figure itself, the strategy can become outdated -- and again, not being specific to Rev. Jackson. I've been critical of Rev. Jackson with regard to certain issues, and I criticize him in my latest book, but I think the latest criticism of him - with what has been said - is patently wrong. I think it is problematic for Black to dismiss Rev. Jackson at this point. In my latest book, I discussed that 'shift' in the generations. I think it is true that the younger Black leadership is different, but we also ought to question, if the shift is better -- and that question is not necessarily being asked. I also think that style of leadership is embraced by much of white America because it is looked upon as safer, and sometimes more "white-like." One of the first line of my latest book is, I'm Black and I worry about my people," and the last line is, "in the mean-time, I'll still be here worrying," because I'm very worried about Black America's willingness to embrace some of these unknown quantities in a non-critical way, and dismiss folk who have a long history of service to the Black Community. When you look at the antagonism toward Jesse Jackson, it's disturbing; also, with regard Tavis Smiley -- where a large number of Black people turned on him and called him some of the most reprehensible names. What's most disturbing is the fact that Black people are reacting this way, in support of a man who, 4 yrs. ago, excluding Chicagoans, was nearly unknown. And the fact that, till this date, he still hasn't shown that he has any level of commitment to any particular agenda that has anything to do with remedying Black struggle; he is much more likely to condemn black folks, than he is to condemn systemic mechanism that are beating up Black folk.

You wrote a book in critique and cross-examination of Sen. Obama's explosive rise to the front-and-center of American political life. Can you explain "What's wrong with Obamamania"?

Concisely, there are 4 basic things: One is that the examination of Obama and his significance has been relatively immature. You have a side that paints him as a savior and Messianic figure, and others who hope to label him as an Islamic terrorist. And that dichotomization doesn't leave room for rich political discussion. Secondly, there is very little serious-examination of what Obama means on the leadership landscape -- for Black America in particular and America in general. And when he is compared to Dr. Martin Luther King, we have to understand that Dr. King never represented the status quo, and sadly, Obama seems to be comfortable doing that. Thirdly, with Obama's avoidance of issues concerning Black America, we would be foolish not to ask for as much as other groups are demanding of Senator Obama. The Jewish Community asked Obama - and other candidates - where he stood explicitly on the issue of Jerusalem, Palestine, and other issues. Black people must be brave enough to ask the same questions: Disproportionate Imprisonment, the educational system, disproportionate poverty - with a third of Black children being impoverished etc. And if we are concerned about those issues, we should take him to task on each one of them, and we have not. Fourthly, most Black supporters are much too eager to attack anyone who criticizes Senator Obama or his agenda -- which is dangerous, in giving him a free pass.

Malcolm X, in his April 12, 1964 speech "The Ballot or The Bullet," called for political maturity within the Black Community. In your assessment; has there been any political-maturation in Black America, and is it - or the lack - reflective in the overwhelming support of Sen. Obama's candidacy within the African-American Community?

Well; to answer bluntly, we are certainly showing some political immaturity. I also think it shows a division with the Black petty bourgeoisie and everyday black folks. Come election time, I would be voting "against McCain," because I have been disturbed by the lack of serious-public-balanced-dialogue in Black America -- concerning the good things he (Obama) brings to the table, as well as the bad.

Masculinity in Black America is another subject you have written greatly about. How does that paradigm play out in Hip-Hop culture and the daily lives of everyday Black families?

Well, this goes to my first book: "Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities." And the big question is: What happens to a group of men who are denied traditional avenues to being labeled as Men. I'm referring to, 'going to better schools,' 'getting the better jobs,' 'being able to earn salaries that are conducive with supporting and protecting their families.' So, how do they define their Manhood, if those traditional routes that guarantee the definition of Manhood are denied to them? And I see that phenomenon playing out of Black America in so many ways. It plays out in Black fraternities - with Greek Origin - as well; and some of the barbarism that plays out in some of these fraternities puts the Manhood of these young men on trial. And the only way they seem to define their Manhood, is through the infliction of pain, stress or the tolerance of it. You also have the same dynamic playing out in the gang-culture. We have to figure out where all this factors - of the destructive definition of Masculinity - lead up to. And it plays out from education, to the home-environment, to poverty, to political disenfranchisement, to the criminal justice system and even toward mental health issues. So, I'm very concerned about Black Males interaction with society, with fellow Black Males and finally, their Women.

You teach Pan-Africanism and color-consciousness as a Professor at the University of Louisville. Do you suspect a loss of cultural-pride amongst the upcoming generation of Black and Brown kids?

Most definitely, but I think it stretches-through, to all of us. Because, you never see anybody else - for the most part - run away from their ethnicity and race -- as much as Black people do. Many Black people see their heritage as a badge of shame -- as a result of our socialization in this country. And there seems to be very little commitment to anything deemed patently Black. And it’s also playing out in this election cycle, because if one speaks of Obama as being Black, his supporters ask the question: "Why you got to bring 'race' into it"?

In Georgetown Professor, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson's book, Race Rules, he has a section on the 20th century rise of the Black public intellectual. As one yourself, what do you consider to be the primarily-role of the Black public intellectual in America?

Well, it should be, ideally, to be able to translate classroom academicism, and put it to the public, streets or television. So, it's incredibly important that we don't have these conversations limited to the college campuses. The intellectual must be able to convey to the public, certain values that the public understands.

Lastly, what advice do you have for the new generation of Black intellectuals and academicians?

Well, it must be to carve out our own path, and stay true to some set of ideals. At the end of the day, we are teachers, and the fundamental question is: What are we going to teach? I think a lot of folk see the public intellectual route as a track towards stardom, but the ideal that one is committed to, the ability to change the life-worth of Black people, and the will to improve the conditions of Black people with writing, speaking and advocacy, is most important. The new generation of Black public intellectuals should also look out for one another, and take care of each other.

Watch Dr. Ricky Jones's Interview on, The CW Louisville Live This Morning:

This interview was conducted by Tolu Olorunda, Staff Writer for YourBlackWorld.com

YourBlackEducation: Alain Locke vs. W.E.B DuBois Applies To Black TV

By Chiderah A. Monde

W.E.B Du Bois and Alain Locke had contrasting ideas about how Black life should be portrayed by Black Art. In theatre, Du Bois’s plays depicted black life as it was: political propaganda, with struggling or less wealthy black families, self-taught intellectualism, and challenges of oppression. Locke’s plays reflected Black life as he thought it should be: successful and happy, with wealth, political equality and the triumphant black families.

Such views of Black life today have maintained similar contrasts, except now we’ve seen the same on television. Black sitcoms have made their way into the two categories that reflect Locke and DuBois’s contrasting beliefs.

For example, shows like “The Cosby Show”, “The Jeffersons”, “Family Matters”, and “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” portray Black life as we generally want it to be. The shows all have the successful and triumphant families aspect. There’s overall wealth and political equality (although sometimes there were episodes that showed the reality of racism), a tight-knit family that always worked through their problems, and most importantly, the stress of higher education for the shows with children- whether it is going to an Ivy League school or an HBC.

Shows like “Different Strokes”, “Living Single”, “All Of Us”, and now “House of Payne” portray Black life as it is in reality. There’s extended, multi-generational or broken families present in each sitcom, which reflects the truth that most Black families go beyond just the “nuclear” two parents and children model. There are also day-to-day (multi episode) struggles, lessons learned, and realizations of each character’s roles in the family and in society (like coming from a tough neighborhood or broken family). There isn’t necessarily a focus on the colleges that the characters go or went to, but more so a focus on the jobs they now hold.

It is no question that both televised ideas of Black life illustrate and reflect actual Black life. The ongoing argument of which one is more necessary can be satisfied by the successful ratings of both types of television sitcoms. I think both are very necessary, because there is factual support that shows like “The Cosby Show” increased enrollment in historically Black colleges and universities, and shows like “Living Single” (and later “Girlfriends”) have made it acceptable for Black women to be single and still successful.

Although these two theories of Black television summarize just about every Black sitcom, there are exceptions and characters of shows that fall into both categories. More importantly, as we move forward with the “life as it is” type of shows, there are still remnants of inferiority on television. There are now fewer shows that model Locke’s idea of “life as we want it to be” than there were in the 1970s and 1980s, and now most shows depict Du Bois’s “life as it is” with Black people having to teach themselves and their families how to get by and maintain values within society.

The lack of the “perfect” or Cosby-like Black family on today’s television could be related to the wake-up call that Black people are no longer living like this. “That’s So Raven” was cancelled, “Romeo” was cancelled, “Smart Guy”, “One on One” and “Sister, Sister” were cancelled, and so was almost every show that young Black children watched on Disney and Nickelodeon to see traces of happy families and wealthy Black people. The so-called “reality” show “Baldwin Hills” on BET is the closest we’re getting to seeing Black people live lavishly on television, and to be honest- it is not a good look. Is it better to have more black characters mixed happily into white television shows? Perhaps in our day and age we have to, since we apparently cannot combat the idea that Black people just don’t live happily, successfully, lavishly and with full families anymore.