Imagine if black folks built together
Over time, it has become easier and easier to reel off the names of successful black people. From the highest echelons of the political world to notable achievements in the corporate world, black people have made incredible contributions to nearly every field imaginable. Here, in the UK, we have politicians like Kwasi Kwarteng and David Lammy, corporate success stories such as Kanya King MBE and Karen White (DBE), and entrepreneurs such as Steven Bartlett and Gary Stewart. As individuals, our ability to continue to rise up and be recognised is truly inspiring.
But with all of our individual success, I sometimes wonder how much further we could go if we harnessed the power of our community instead of competing against one another or simply running our own race. What if we banded together in a collective effort to rise above the social and economic challenges that so often plague our community? What if we built the team marathon not the individual sprint? How might the world look then?
Our unity has always been our strength. We have fought against racial injustice, inequality, and discrimination and won. When we come together with a common purpose, there is truly nothing that we cannot achieve. Yet, despite the power that unity holds, it is a concept that is increasingly difficult for our community to grasp and hang on to. We saw the impact our amalgamation had following the death of George Floyd. But our togetherness is fleeting. We shouldn’t only come together in the face of adversity and affliction. Our unity should form the foundation from which our collective strength, success, influence and wealth stem. Instead, we have created a culture embroiled in competition instead of community, constantly pitted against each other in a false sense of scarcity. But what if we changed the paradigm? What if we stopped viewing each other as competition and started building each other up?
The truth is the power of our community was realised centuries ago. There is a deep-rooted fear of the strength that we harness when we unite. Out of the many races, cultures and communities, ours is constantly torn down and torn apart. We were taught to fight each other for survival and separated based on our “value”, ultimately creating hatred for our own kind and developing a desperate need to be seen as high-worth by others. All this so we can be admitted into a world that hasn’t truly appreciated our value.
This destructive history is still present in our society today. Our ideas of worth and pursuits of success are founded on individualistic ideas instead of communal ones. We have become so focused on instant fulfilment that the value of long-term investment has been lost in our community. Other people’s fortunes are seen as a threat instead of an opportunity for growth, learning and development. And what’s truly sad is we admire other cultures and communities that have maintained their values and traditions and generated real wealth and abundance.
We cannot allow ourselves to be bound by the chains of our past. Breaking free from the mindset that has kept us chained to limited concepts of success and wealth will be no easy feat, but it is a task we must undertake if we ever want to see our community reach its full potential. Elon Musk put forward the idea of “business showers” as an alternative to baby showers. Imagine if this was a concept we embraced. Instead of funding the economy of other communities exclusively, we could build our own by finding and developing a network of contributors, not doing this behind the oak doors and concrete walls of the City of London but in the civic theatres, churches, and sports halls of our communities. The far-reaching sociological impact of this would be astounding. Families would flourish, young people would be inspired, and our communities would become beacons of hope and opportunity. We could create our own social mobility programmes and end the generational cycles of poverty. There would be an increase in mental health support as people would feel a sense of belonging and community. Ultimately, our power and influence over our own destiny would be secured.
This is simply a pebble in the vast ocean of possibility that exists when we build with each other instead of against. We must treat our pursuit of happiness and prosperity as a relay, not a sprint. Passing along the baton of responsibility for growth, being careful not to drop it. Handling it with care so it can be successfully given to the next generation. Not abandoning team members to run our own race.
“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King Jr, once said
So, let us put down our weapons of destruction and pick up the tools of creation. Let us start to view others as an opportunity for growth instead of a threat to our success. Only then can we see the true power of our community realised. It’s time to break down the barriers holding us back and start building something new. We can create our own destiny. It is not enough to only come together in the fight for justice, we must also build together for a better future.
This is the power of community. This is the power of us.
