Dear Editor:
The local and national potential political and economic power of Black folks in the country is immense—the Urban League’s “The State of Black Cincinnati,” “The Croson Disparity Study,” the actual and planned Draconian measures that have, are, or shall be advanced by the Trump administration, notwithstanding.
Notice the aforementioned term “potential,” Our potential economic and political power in this country is tremendous—the problem is we do not use it; for example, there was an abysmally low Black turnout during the last local primary. In my estimation, we should register, vote (in every election, including primaries, special elections, midterms, and general) in very large numbers, and hold elected officials accountable, and then leverage our vote with our tremendous economic power.
I have read the Urban League’s “The State of Black Cincinnati, 2015,” and the Croson Study, where the former paints a very bleak picture of Black folks in terms of disparities – health, household income, education, and life span; and the Croson Study shows glaring disparities in the awarding of public contracts, where Blacks received less than one percent from more than a billion dollars awarded by the City of Cincinnati.
Based upon my readings and understanding the average aggregate national purchasing power of Black folks is between one and two trillion dollars, and The Black Church nationally takes in billions.
We must begin to concentrate our dollars and our votes. What do you think
Allen J. Upshaw
Cincinnati