For years America’s black population has been viewed as: domestics, entertainers, athletes and criminals.  That is a very narrow box with limited prospects for advancement and achievement.  It’s a box that I personally have talked to my kids about because those images are in the media and are celebrated the most about the black community and within the black community.  I am sorry, let me add an updated image for 2015, ratchet wretchedness.  Yes some of the reality shows I love and watch have only added ratchet wretchedness to the American black image.  Together, the previous images from yesteryear and the new image of today are the constant images that are feed to us, our kids, and yes everyone else.  Daily.

While we have worked hard to integrate into the sports world and get paid millions for our athletic prows and the glamour and allure of big lights, fame and fortune of the entertainment industry, we have also fought hard to integrate into the work place that doesn’t possess the glitz and glamor of the aforementioned.  As a group we will control $1.3 TRILLION buying power dollars by 2017 and right now 23% of black families bring in over $75,000 a year.

[ADSENSE2]So why do negative images persist?  Why is the perception that we have nothing, come from nothing and will be nothing if we do not fit in the box we had nothing to do with creating?  Why are more black men in jail?  Why are more black men and women unemployed?  Why is the image of the affluent black man or women outside of sports or entertainment nonexistent in 2015?  Why are we not seen as educated, informed and a powerful buying force in 2015?

I can’t say the image of an educated, intelligent or wealthy man or women of color is an endangered species because the black community has always had black intellectuals, business people and doctors, lawyers, engineers, judges, artists, designers, CEO’s, inventors.   We can be found in Silicone Valley, Wall Street, Network & Cable News hosts, Insurance agency owners, the big 6 accounting firms, PR firms, University Professors, and more.

Yes laws, to this day, August 2015, are unfairly imposed upon us, images of the black family, black man, woman and child, are not flattering and persist in solidifying a dysfunctional stereotype, however it is not uncommon for white America to interact with affluent black men and women who dispel the media stereotypes by their interactions.  Black America is unwittingly giving their power away by NOT demanding the economic respect they deserve, not enforcing their economic will and yielding their economic power by extracting their dollars out of whatever business that does give them their due on every level.

With $1.3 Trillion dollars to spend, we need to stop showing them the money or flex our wealth with those that cater to us, understand us and want our business.