Take the Pledge – Now Is the Time!

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Click on the items below to see the Pledge in ACTION!

Pledge #1

Embrace my Heritage and fulfilling GOD’s divine purpose for my LIFE

As African Americans, we must be proud of whom we are and proud of our ancestors who endured the grueling plight of slavery. It is because of their strength and endurance that we all exist today. We must never forget the sacrifice of those who have gone on before us. We must believe that we are a people of Power, Passion and Privilege. We must give ourselves permission to be free and let no one or anything hold us back from reaching our true potential and greatness. We must become knowledgeable and proud of the incredible contributions that our ancestors have contributed to this great nation and ensure that our children and all African Americans that we come in contact with are aware of these mighty works as well. We must connect with our true potential and discover God’s divine purpose for our lives.

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Pledge #2

Refuse to speak or think negatively about myself or my people

It is possible that more than 200 years since slavery, we have allowed our minds to be enslaved by falling prey to the negative mental conditioning of old.

We’ve all heard the following sayings:

“Blacks are lazy”, “I won’t give another black person my business”, “I don’t trust other black people”; “black people can never come together and do anything right”, “all black people are good for is playing sports, dancing, entertaining, eating fried chicken, clowning and killing each other”.

When looking at the above expressions, some of you might feel or say that it is true. However, if you believe and say this, what are you saying about yourself and what are you passing on to your children and others? How are negative reflections of our people subliminally affecting your mind? Perhaps it has held you back from reaching your full potential. Perhaps it has made you feel inferior to other races. Perhaps it has caused you to follow after what you think another race has better and distance yourself from your own people.

While there are many instances that we can all point to of our people being involved in many foolish behaviors, why do we allow it to become a cultural attribute, instead of realizing that they were victims of mental enslavement? We have more people in our race that are doing more good things and helping to make this country a better place. Why are we not embracing and showing our pride in that? Why are we not making our children aware of that? Could it be that we are unknowingly enslaved in our minds as well?

WE MUST STOP THE NEGATIVITY! It is time to stand tall, be proud and reject any negative thoughts that you might have about your people as a race. For what you think of your people – you are as well (“As a man thinketh, so is he”). Educate yourself about your rich African and American heritage, constantly find and seek the things you can be proud of your race for and refuse to get in negative conversations about your race and your people. Don’t fall prey to mental enslavement.

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Pledge #3

Develop a vision and life plan.

If you were to open up a magazine and saw a featured success article on yourself what would your story be? If you were to write your obituary, what would it say? What is it that you are purposed and driven to be and do? Whatever you see yourself accomplishing and being, it is defined as your vision and the goals and actions you implement to reach your vision is your life plan.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Psalms 29:18 KJV). What is it that you want out of life? What do you want to experience? What would you like to pass on to your bloodline? What will be your contribution to your African American people? What is your purpose in life?

As African Americans, we must not fall prey to living on the surface, but we must embrace life and be people of substance and vision. This means that you cannot move forward, make improvements or claim your wealth if you do not know what your vision or life plan is.

Life experiences and consequences, good or bad, are based on the choices and decisions that you make. If you want to be a leader, you must make the choice to be a servant to all. If you want to be wealthy, you must make the choice to eliminate your debt, live on less, establish an investment plan and develop ideas to make money. If you want to be healthy, you must exercise and make the choice to control the types and amount of food you eat. If you want to be successful, you must develop a positive mental attitude of a successful person. YOU SEE IT’S ALL IN YOUR CONTROL AND IT STARTS WITH A VISION.

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Pledge #4

Increase my knowledge through reading and education.

Reading and education go hand in hand and both are the corner stone of success. If you can learn more, and expand your mind for maximum success, you can earn more! We often think of education as the “traditional college education”, but it means so much more. It can be taking a training program or seminar, simply reading a book or listening to an audio book and applying positive techniques to your life.

Your mind is so powerful that whatever it sees, be it negative or positive, it can quickly accept it as a belief. This is why it is so very important to “guard your mind” and be careful of what you put into it – this is especially true with our children. The mind uses short-term and long-term memory to keep track of past experiences, colors, and everything you could possibly think of.

According to a 2005 “Emotional Connections Study conducted among 4,000 adults by Jack Myers Media Business Report, African Americans watch significantly more television on average than other ethnic groups and watch more commercials” This means that we take in the good and bad of television and it impacts our race more than we’ll ever know. We see evidence of this as many of our ladies and men are wearing what they see on music videos, regardless of what it represents.

As African Americans, we must make a commitment to start reading more non-fictional books that will help us to “step out of the box” and increase our knowledge. We must decrease the amount of television we watch and let the power of reading expand our knowledge for maximum success!

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Pledge #5

Increase my knowledge regarding finances, retirement and investing.

According to a recent report by the NAACP entitled, “African Americans: The State of Disparity”, African Americans face challenges in every measure of economic status. While African Americans make up about 13% of the U.S. population, they own just 3% of the assets. The average total net worth of white families is $70,000 compared to just $6,000 for African American families.”

Wow, the net worth disparity above is unbelievable and yet true. There’s an old expression that says something like, “everything in the front window, but nothing in the storage room”! As African Americans, we must learn that if we are going to Claim Our Wealth and Take Our Power Back that, we must get our finances in order and do whatever it takes to become financially prepared immediately!

Financial experts are saying that because Americans are living longer, it is recommended that we have on average $1 million dollars in cash and investments to retire on. Furthermore, they recommend that we live on between 3-4% of that $1 million each year, which averages out to be around $30,000-$40,000 per year. This is based on an average lifespan of 20-30 years if retiring between the ages of 55-65.

Many African Americans, including those earning six-figures annually may not have the money needed to retire and have a quality lifestyle. These above factors are also based on the assumption that your home, car and major expenses have all been taken care of and that your retirement income is simply for daily living.

Because African Americans represent a large part of the “Baby Boomer” age, we could be facing one of the biggest challenges as a people. Just as we saw in the 50’s through 70’s a huge increase in African Americans living in government housing, better known as the “projects”, we could also see a large increase of senior African Americans having to depend on Government senior housing. Many middle-class African Americans whose parents fought so hard to give them a better quality of life might end up where they started. This is due to the fact that African Americans spend approximately 85-90% of their net income and that leaves very little to save and invest. WE MUST WAKE UP AND TAKE CONTROL OF OUR FINANCES!

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Pledge #6

Eliminate or refrain from getting into “bad” debt.

While having a larger home, car, jewelry and other amenities is wonderful, it must be placed in perspective. We must not allow ourselves to desire or want what the “Joneses” have, just to feel better about ourselves and we MUST NOT go into “bad debt” to have things that lose value the time we purchase them or have no value at all.

The majority of debt in America is through the use of credit cards. There was a time when credit card companies desired their customers to pay on time and/or pay in full each month. However, credit card companies now earn billions of dollars yearly in high interest fees (ranging 18-25%), late payment and over the limit fees and ATM cash withdrawal fees. African American are a huge target in this Industry; from psychographic marketing and subliminal commercials to great sounding deals that aren’t so great, we are being taken advantage of and we’re falling prey to “bad” debt at a higher rate than most.

As a people, we must learn the most important financial rule of all, “Cash is King”! We must immediately stop giving our financial power away to creditors and we must start managing our finances, by first learning how to get out of debt and second, investing in things that will increase our net worth - not take away from it.

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Pledge #7

Eliminate personal habits that are preventing me from accomplishing my goals.

It doesn’t matter whether you think a particular habit is good or not, it must enhance your life in a positive way to be a habit that you should desire to practice. For example, certain television programs can truly enhance your life; however, watching hours of soap operas, music videos or movies on a daily basis may negatively affect you in more ways than one. Another example might be that while most African Americans are use to eating rich and highly fat foods, we’ve been told that it is causing diabetes, high-blood pressure and heart disease faster in our race than any other. Eliminating the habit of eating these types of foods on a regular basis could eliminate the health issue altogether.

Let’s face it; we all have habits that prevent us from reaching our full potential. However, to know and not do anything about it is the worst habit of all!

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Pledge #8

Develop life enhancing habits that will positively contribute to my mental, physical and financial well-being.

African American businessmen and women such as Magic Johnson, Magic Johnson Enterprises; Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions; John Johnson, founder of Ebony Magazine; Cathy Hughes, Founder/CEO, Radio One have accomplished and contributed much to the African American community. They all possess something that we should strive for and that is discipline in forming positive habits that have led them to success!

Together, just the four African Americans mentioned above have grossed billions of dollars in sales and it all started with developing habits and the discipline to be consistent. Can you imagine what would happen, if a large majority of African Americans decided to implement habits that would positively affect their health, finances and personal development? It would rock the world and change the overall direction of our people for an infinite amount of generations.

It can all start with each of us identifying what habits we need to form to take us to the next level. Perhaps it’s better time management, money management or exercising consistently to feel better about ourselves. Perhaps it’s ridding ourselves of procrastination, reading a new book each month or greatly decreasing the amount of television we watch. Whatever new habits we need in order to see great results, let’s us all be willing to make it happen!

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Pledge #9

Understand the importance of Economic Empowerment and how it can positively impact my life, my community and my people.

For the longest time, economic empowerment has been deemed as a solution to many of the problems that our people face. Exactly what is economic empowerment and how do we tap into it? Well, economic empowerment is the process of providing education, support, financial resources and opportunities to individuals and communities that lag behind in social and financial stability. Keep in mind that an individual does not have to live in a “ghetto” or be “poverty-stricken” to lag behind. Many African Americans that are considered middle-class often don’t have access to many of the resources needed to be more successful in life. In fact, according to national statistics, as a race of people we are lagging behind educationally and economically.

As African Americans, we must seek out all opportunities and resources that we can use to increase our knowledge and improve our quality of life and finances as a people. We must demand our fair share of resources in the communities in which we live, because we pay our taxes and contribute just like everyone else.

Learn all you can about economic empowerment programs in your state and learn ways you can take advantage of them and then share with others that they may take advantage as well.

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Pledge #10

Become involved in my local and national African American community.

Thanks to local and national community activist like Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X and others, our lives were directly and positively impacted. Although there are still those who are active in fighting the cause of African Americans, we all must join in and become proactive in developing programs and supporting laws that protect our local and national community.

When was the last time you attended a community meeting? Do you know the ordinances and laws that affect your community? Do you know what your community’s needs are? Do you actively vote on issues that impact the national African American community? Do you know the members of your city council and local officials? Have you gone back to your “old” community to volunteer or figure out how you can empower those who are still there?

By knowing your elected officials and new ordinances being voted on, you are able to control what’s coming into your community (i.e., liquor stores and strip clubs) and that means you are “taking your power back!”

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Pledge #11

Mentoring, encouraging and supporting at least one African American child monthly.

In the old days, a child could walk down the streets of a black neighborhood and before they reached their home, neighbors would be saying, “you better get yourself home to your mother or your parents aren’t home, come and sit here on the porch until they get back”. You see, black people had more pride and they cared about one another’s children and looked out for each other.

The expression, “It takes a village to raise a child” is one of the most profound statements of wisdom in the world. As African Americans, we must understand that successes in our race can no longer “be about me”, but it must “be about us”. If we are to Claim Our Wealth, Take Our Power Back and impact generations to come, it begins with our children.

A large number of our children are lost at an early age. This is especially true for those that live in high crime and gang related areas. We must take the village concept and not only spend time with our own children, but start caring enough to step outside of our box and become involved in the youth community; become involved with children within our extended family and positively impact their lives in any way we can.

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Pledge #12

Encouraging other African Americans to JOIN with me in TAKING the Black Business America Pledge!

We are living in a time as a people when we must unite and join together in order to improve the whole sum of us. We can no longer become successful or reach a certain level and not go back and share with another brother or sister how we did it and how they can too.

Before our ancestors were brought to America, they practiced an old African tradition, which was sharing the land and everyone doing what was best for the whole tribe. Everyone took part taking care of the children, hunting for food, making decisions and celebrating together. The men were the providers and leaders. Members of the tribe that worked against the ancient tradition were often out casted. There simply was no place for individualism; it was all about being a team. They trusted and loved one another and the village was raising the children!

Today in this 21st Century, we have an opportunity to release ourselves from the shackles of distrust and reach out to those who will accept the invitation and share ways we can all claim our wealth!

Encourage and motivate other African American family and friends to join you in taking the BBA Pledge. It’s all about unity and creating a nation-wide movement to Claim Our Wealth & Take Our Power Back! Together, we can support each other in achieving our dreams and goals!

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WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! If not now, when? If not us, who?