Democrats and establishment Republicans (or as I call them “The Rank and Stank”) argue that Donald Trump only thinks about himself, his family and his investors that he just can’t, “let things go.” Variations on this theme claim he doesn’t think about what you or the government need; and he has spent a lifetime seeking personal profit above the welfare of his neighbor.
The Rank and Stank dump on Trump because he legally applies the law in pursuit of wealth. He calls those who make false or exaggerated claims against him liars, regardless of gender or race. He uses his influence to take on, publicly, all media that seek to unfairly impugn his character. In the midst of all this, Trump gathers more supporters to his side, makes no apology, and dismisses the feigned outrage of those who claim to be offended and aggrieved.
But Trump’s thinking and actions are precisely what the entire African-American community should adopt to develop and maintain true wealth and influence. African Americans must begin to think about ourselves, our families, and our communities first. If we want to be successful, we must stop being distracted by the trivial.
The confederate flag is trivial, okay? If you believe the flag represents racism, then consider it a “no trespassing” sign. We’d do better to tackle the insular racism still practiced by the liberal Hollywood elite who seem to gush over any movie that includes whites beating blacks bloody or blacks shooting blacks; just look at the best movie nominations of any given year. Hillary style influence (that kind which gives a “get of jail free card” or pays $250K for talking) will only be achieved if the black community, our community, abandons the focus on who is racist and focuses instead on obtaining the one big thing: wealth.
Hillary Clinton and others on the left have made ‘wealth’ a dirty word, all the while accumulating as much as possible for themselves. I know many African Americans do not agree with my larger political philosophy, but if the African-American community focused on consolidating economic power instead of real and manufactured grievances, about 95% of the rest of our problems would take care of themselves. Money can’t buy you love but it can buy you options.
Blacks can escape failing schools through economic power, allowing us to send our children to the schools of our choice, increasing our influence on local school boards, and even building our own schools.
The scourge of stagnant and low wages or the lack of “qualified” African Americans for Silicon Valley can dissolve through investment in black-owned business and startups. We can buy shares in public companies and have a larger voice in corporate governance. Higher income would lead to better health care by freeing us from government medical treatment.
Most of our so-called African-American leaders spend their time begging – even demanding! – that white people give them the stuff that is “owed to them.” Instead, we would be better served to drop the protest signs and stop singing ‘We Shall Overcome,’ and start actually overcoming.
It’s not a difficult lesson to learn. Look at the Jewish, Russian, Korean, Chinese and other minority communities in the United States. They have focused on accumulating wealth and pooling their resources to actually buy property and invest in startsups within their community. In the process, they have increased their influence and, thus, power.
Another example can see seen in the recent experiences of the LGBT community. Like many black Americans, they too were discriminated against, assaulted, ridiculed, mocked, laughed at and treated as less than human. Sound familiar? They too consolidated their economic power and began to enter positions of power in the media, banking and technology industries, among others. They became so influential they caused President Obama to “evolve”, in his position on gay marriage. And, they forever changed the makeup of the Republican Party.
It was exciting and somewhat inspiring to me to finally have as president a person of African-American descent. But if you or anyone else had a choice between higher income and greater wealth versus a president that looks like you, most would choose the former over the latter. Face it, having an African-American First Family hasn’t put any money in our pockets. A little Kayne is appropriate here: “Having money isn’t everything-not having it is.”
African Americans should do like Trump: focus on doing everything within the law to keep every dime of money they make, pay no more to the government than they owe, and take advantage of every legal opportunity to gain, keep and earn more money and wealth.
Wealth is not a dirty word and if African-Americans begin to think more like Donald Trump, they will have at least one friend that doesn’t give a damn about their color: Benjamin Franklin.
Autry Pruitt is the author of ‘Planes, Steak and Water: Defending Donald Trump. You can follow him on Twitter @autry.