One day while I was enjoying my favorite creativecatalyst, some friends and I had a conversation about what generation we areexactly. We didn’t know if we weregeneration X or if we had our own letter to define our lifetimes.
Then I thought we are actually the “40 acres”kids. Hopefully you’re sittingthere wondering what I meant; when slavery ended all slaves were promised thatthey could claim 40 acres of land and a mule from the United Statesgovernment. Well as you know wenever got those mythic reparations.
But in the true spirit of the American Negro wecreated our own mule. The mulethat our grandparents made was first conceived during the fight for civilrights, black people around the world realized that it was up to us get whatever we’re going to get.
Through the efforts of great leaders and even greaterfollowers America recognized the rights that we have as humans and citizens ofthis country.
Their strife and struggle afforded us the option forthe first time in American history to have our voice heard and gave us thepower to change our circumstances.
That’s when our grandparents started to build thefirst substantial black middle class. They took advantage of the opportunities that they were given, theywould move on to gain political seats of power, started to develop wealthinstead of just money, they built businesses and educated their kids so thatthey could do the same thing.
This set up a framework for the advancement of blackAmericans, helping us become an economic power.
This economic power that previous generations haveleft behind is the legacy of that mule. While some might think that having amule is good enough, we can’t get the full value of the mule without that 40acres.
Our parents have given us the opportunity to succeedin a way that they could never do, the economic power that they built made thepowers that be nervous and now their doing everything they can to take it away.
They revoke affirmative action calling it reverseracism; they created the war on drugs that can put an end to your collegecareer if you are found with an ounce of marijuana; and the most diabolical ofall tricks they turned us into super consumers.
We are slowly taking the mules of the previousgeneration and riding him to death before we get our 40 acres. Our generation has the power to buildgenerational wealth, think about it your kids or grandkids could be born millionaires.
With proper management of our collective assets wecan have families that rival the Kennedy’s and Rockefellers. We have to start managing those hugesalaries that we get when graduated. We must invest and plan for the long run instead of enjoying the momentwith rims and things that lose most of the value when they leave the store.
Land is the most sought after investment because ofits ability to hold or increase value over time. It’s time for us to get Daddy’s mule over to the brand new 40acre farm, I’m ready to plant the seed all I need to know is “were the hoe’sat”.
