Dr. John E. Warren – Publisher
Today in San Diego there are a number of good people volunteering their time and talent to organizations because they care about this community which we all chose to call home. At the same time so many of us have different ideas about what is best for this place we call home. The ideas are as different as the economic conditions of the people about whom we speak. There is discussion about the millions of dollars “we” generate and spend with everyone but ourselves. The excuse is that we own no businesses, not even gas stations or shoe shine stands, all of which we once did own.
The one problem is that we see ourselves as a collection of “individuals” and not as a people bound together not only by color, but culture and circumstances. Because we don’t identify with each other, we don’t see our dollars or concerns having a “collective impact.” We spend too much time being angry with those who look like us, and disagree with us. We don’t realize that while we appear to be a “minority”, the withholding of our dollars from Popeye’s, KFC, Jack In The Box, Mc Donald’s, or the family liquor store, for any given and concentrated period of time, would force many out of business. But those of us who don’t use these businesses are not concerned about the lack of jobs or disrespect with which the rest of us are treated.
We succeeded during the Civil Rights struggle because we prayed and we stuck together so that if one of us was hosed or beaten all of us acted as if we felt the pain and surrounded the injured ones. This was our sense of “nationalism”. Today, we have no such sense because of a few jobs, bank accounts and a false belief that all the problems of segregation are behind us. The reality is that the dollar is the new “morality” that those with whom we must contend, only respect three things: loss profits, bad publicity and a vote cast against their interest. So if we don’t develop the same “loyalty” to ourselves that the consumer markets have labeled “Brand Loyalty” for the things we are committed to buying just because of the name or label, then we will be in deeper trouble tomorrow than we are today.
In conclusion, we don’t need “economic capital” today as a people as much as we need to use the “capital” we control in being loyalty to each other. How about we buy from those of us who have something to sell, if at a fair price and if the price is not fair then address it; seek out our own professionals for services before we run to others,on the old idea that “their ice is colder”; insist that those with whom you do business have people who look like you working for them, no matter how small the business; respect your community newspapers which support you. Don’t allow those who come to you with a pretense of concern for you circumvent our newspapers which are more reliable than your social media internet account; return to attending your local church, or find one that you can attend, and let our disagreements not make us disagreeable with one another.
Loyalty is “our unspent capital” and we must use it well on behalf of one another.
