Detroit, We Are African Town!

by Anita S. Lane

This article ran as a Detroit News Commentary on November 3, 2004. Go to the following link to see the Detroit News Version. http://www.detnews.com/2004/editorial/0411/03/a23-324085.htm

Do you recall a time when immigrants landed in Detroit and forced us (African Americans) to hand over our businesses? Do you recall a time when immigrants received special treatment and access to business opportunities in the city from Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young? Do you recall this ever happening? No, because it didn’t.

What did happen however, is that in the wake of the Jim Crow and civil rights era, opportunities were created for African Americans and we took them—such as the opportunity to move outside of Detroit once segregation was declared illegal and the opportunity to shop and eat at establishments owned by whites. As a result, we eroded our tightly knit communities and weakened African American owned business districts. We encouraged our children to attend college over assuming the family business or starting their own. We wanted so badly to touch, taste and experience what we had for so long been forbidden, that we neglected and devalued what we had. We were free to go elsewhere. And so we did.

Now it’s almost 40 years later and we realize what we left behind. We left behind a sense of collective pride, the pride of ownership, the beauty of community and shared culture, and the blessing of extended family within close proximity. Many of us who could “get out,” got out and left our communities without the socioeconomic diversity and the variety of role models that helped our communities to thrive.

So now we want to establish an African Town and a loan fund to correct our mistakes. Is this the right approach? Access to loans is just one piece of the puzzle. Perhaps we should require that successful applicants:

• work 12-14 hours a day including weekends if necessary;
• provide excellent service with a smile;
• offer goods and services at competitive prices;
• forgo a vacation for the first 2-3 years;
• work for modest pay;
• forgo purchasing or leasing expensive vehicles;
• be willing to share their home with up to 5-6 extended family members;
• reinvest 30% of their profit directly into the business;
• Set aside at least 10% of income in a “rainy day” fund;
• and pool financial resources with the other family members in business in order to help one another purchase buildings and establish businesses

Okay, so I would never actually recommend legislating such criteria. The point is, are we willing to go to such lengths to succeed in business?

Over the years I’ve conversed with many successful foreign-born business owners. Ironically, their stories are almost always the same. They come to America because it is the land of opportunity and freedom—the freedom to succeed or fail based on their own merit. And as for their personal work ethic— they don’t take “no” for an answer and they won’t settle for excuses. They persevere in spite of language and cultural barriers. They don’t expect anyone to give them anything and they are not averse to hard work. They understand the meaning of delayed gratification. This is how they manage to come to the United States with so little and fare so well in such a relatively short period of time.

Don’t get me wrong. Successful African American business owners employ these same principles. And they deserve our support. My Aunt and Uncle own a thriving business in Detroit and operate in just the fashion I described. And that needs to be the standard we set if we are to succeed in business as a community.

Want an African Town? Fine. I won’t argue. Create a place to showcase African American heritage, culture and business. But if we as Black consumers don’t support our own now, we’ll just end up with an “African Town” tourist attraction supported by tourists and owned and operated by our same foreign-born friends who own the beauty supply, gas station and party store in our neighborhoods now.

Let’s be honest. With an African American population of over 80%, Detroit, we are African Town. We just need to act like it.

Copyright ©2004 by Anita S. Lane