Final Immigration & Ethniity

The National Response to Richard M. Nixon's Black Capitalism Initiative: The Success of Domestic Detente

Author(s): Robert E. Weems, Jr. and Lewis A. Randolph

Source: Journal of Black Studies , Sep., 2001, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Sep., 2001), pp. 66-83

Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.

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THE NATIONAL RESPONSE

TO RICHARD M. NIXON'S BLACK

CAPITALISM INITIATIVE

The Success of Domestic Detente

ROBERT E. WEEMS, JR. University of Missouri-Columbia

LEWIS A. RANDOLPH

Ohio University

Richard M. Nixon viewed an uncontrolled Black Power move-

ment as a major threat to the internal security of the United States

(during the late 1960s and early 1970s). To address this situation,

Nixon developed his Black capitalism initiative as a domestic

version of his widely publicized foreign policy initiative of

detente (which sought to "contain" the power of the Soviet Union

and China). Moreover, just as Nixon and Henry Kissinger

linked concessions associated with detente to Soviet and Chinese

behavior modification, the Nixon presidency offered African

Americans the notion of Black capitalism as an incentive to

move away from the notion of "Bum Baby Bum" (Ambrose, 1989, pp. 125-126). Besides briefly examining the nuances of Nixon's

Black capitalism initiative, this article will focus on the national

discourse generated by this political maneuver. The evidence sug-

gests that although Nixon did not achieve his institutional goals

(campaign promises) related to Black capitalism, he did, indeed,

achieve his larger ideological goal of subverting African American

radicalism.

JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES, Vol. 32 No. 1, September 2001 66-83

? 2001 Sage Publications

66

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 67

THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION AND

BLACK CAPITALISM: AN OVERVIEW

Although the term Black capitalism represented a skillful use of

political rhetoric during the 1968 campaign, Nixon, once elected,

had to move beyond mere words. Unfortunately for the new presi-

dent, his campaign proclamations regarding Black capitalism came

back to haunt him. Because Nixon, during the campaign, had pro-

moted Black capitalism as a major remedy for America's racial ills,

expectations regarding this initiative were extremely high. Thus,

when the Nixon administration's Office of Minority Business

Enterprise (OMBE) literally stumbled out of the blocks after its

establishment on March 5, 1969 (by Executive Order 11458), pub-

lic criticism of the program mounted (Kotlowski, 1998, p. 416).

For instance, the August 30, 1969, issue of Business Week fea-

tured an article titled "Black Capitalism Has A Hollow Ring,"

which focused on the Nixon administration's inability to back up

campaign promises related to Black economic empowerment. The

following testimony, given by Eastman Kodak's Walter Cooper at a

summer session of the House of Representatives Small Business

Committee, graphically illustrated growing disenchantment with

Nixon by both Black and White businessmen. Cooper, a member of

the Small Business Administration's National Advisory Council

for Black Economic Development told Congress, "There is little

evidence to indicate our chief executive has committed his personal

attention to accelerating the delivery of his campaign promise"

(p. 51). For his part, Nixon did take his campaign pledge seriously and,

along with the secretary of commerce, Maurice Stans, sought to

move Black capitalism from the realm of rhetoric to reality. Among

other things, beginning in fiscal year 1970, OMBE's promotion and

implementation of what came to be known as minority business set-

asides assisted a growing number of African American entrepre-

neurs (Kotlowski, 1998, pp. 430-43 1).

Despite OMBE's improved stature and reputation (by the early

1970s), Black capitalism as articulated by Nixon in 1968 remained

a fleeting dream. As Kotlowski (1998) has astutely observed,

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68 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

because of a variety of factors (including a limited number of exist-

ing and prospective entrepreneurs in the African American com-

munity), Black capitalism could never have developed into any-

thing more than "a small program with useful but limited impact."

Moreover, had the Nixon administration "worked to build it with-

out indulging in rhetorical flourishes, it might have achieved

quicker results and allayed skepticism" (p. 429).

Notwithstanding the gulf between the rhetoric and reality of

Black capitalism, because of the well-publicized attention that

Nixon gave to this concept, it generated widespread discussion and

analysis during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

THE NATIONAL BLACK ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE (APRIL, 1969)

The National Black Economic Development Conference

(NBEDC), convened in Detroit, Michigan, from April 25th to 27th,

1969, represented one early noteworthy response to Nixon's Black

capitalism initiative. The following excerpt from the NBEDC's

promotional material reflected the diversity of opinion regarding

African American economic empowerment:

Buy Black-Not The Whole Answer Black Capitalism Not The Whole Answer Co-ops Not The Whole Answer Bringing More Money Into the Black Community Not The Whole Answer

New Economic Systems Based On Black Needs. . . A Beginning

Moreover, the NBEDC, itself, featured lively discussion regard-

ing the merits and demerits of Black capitalism and other strategies

to revitalize the economic situation of African Americans.

In his keynote address, Black economist Robert S. Browne

(1969), then a professor of economics at Farleigh Dickerson Uni-

versity, examined the various options facing African Americans in

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 69

their quest for economic development. Early on, Browne acknowl-

edged the aims of Black nationalists in attendance, yet also noted,

I sense that this conference is not primarily to be concerned with the

question of whether national sovereignty is desirable for blacks or how it can be achieved .... Rather it seems to me, we have been brought here to discuss the more modest question of what is achiev- able by black people within the existing limitations of our NOT

enjoying national sovereignty. (p. 4)

According to Browne (1969), the biggest obstacle African

Americans faced in their quest for economic self-determination

was their lack of real access to the six basic levers or sources of

power in the United States: (a) huge personal wealth, (b) the top 22

major corporations, (c) the military-industrial complex, (d) the fed-

eral and state governmental apparatus, (e) the federal legislative

apparatus, and (f) the crime syndicate (p. 7). Moreover, Browne

lamented, "This lack of access to the instruments of power, supple-

mented by white America's vicious racial prejudice toward black

people, has led to our perpetual impoverishment, our self-hatred

and psychological insecurity, our poor educational attainment, and

our social disorganization" (p. 7). In addition, Browne soberly

asserted, "Realistically speaking .. . I see very limited possibility of

our grasping the levers of control in this society" (p. 8).

Notwithstanding his somewhat depressing assessment of Afri-

can Americans' reality, Browne (1969) did assert that Blacks could

launch an effective attack on Black poverty (despite African Amer-

icans' exclusion from the national power structure). He viewed the

various "local development projects, small business programs, job

training, consumer education, vocational guidance, school

improvement, and other community programs" as both useful to

African Americans and nonthreatening to the national power struc-

ture (which recognized that Blacks had to be placated in some way)

(p. 1 1). Yet, Browne also warned, "Our achievement will be of lim-

ited scope and will certainly not bring into being The Black Nation"

(p. 10).

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70 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

Although Browne's (1969) keynote presentation offered a cau-

tious, realistic assessment of the parameters of present and future

African American economic empowerment, James Foreman's

(1969) dinner speech titled "Total Control as the Only Solution for

the Economic Needs of Black People" offered a contradictory, if

not surreal, vision of the economic future of African Americans. By

1969, Foreman, one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee, personified the ideological shift from

"We Shall Overcome" to "Black Power" that the Black freedom

movement had taken (p. 1).

Early on, Foreman (1969) denounced those Blacks who sup-

ported notions of Black capitalism. Besides derisively referring to

conservative supporters of Black capitalism as "Negroes," Fore-

man described Black nationalist supporters of Black capitalism as

"black power pimps" (p. 1). He further asserted that

the people must be educated to understand that any black man or

Negro who is advocating a perpetuation of capitalism inside the

United States is in fact seeking not only his ultimate destruction and death but is contributing to the continuous exploitation of black peo- ple all around the world. (p. 1)

In direct variance to the options for Black people articulated by

Browne (1969), Foreman (1969) went on to declare,

Only an armed, well-disciplined, black-controlled government can insure the stamping out of racism in this country.... We plead with black people not to be thinking about a few crumbs.... We say think in terms of total control of the U.S. (p. 6)

After discussing how Black people could take over America,

which included Black workers sabotaging the U.S. industrial base

"while the brothers fought guerilla warfare in the streets" (p. 6),

Foreman (1969) used his speech to announce the future plans of the

NBEDC. He began by acknowledging and thanking the, predomi-

nantly White, National Council of Churches and the Inter-religious

Foundation for Community Organization, which had helped orga-

nize and sponsor the NBEDC. Significantly, the National Council

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 71

of Churches, as early as 1967, had established an Investment Com-

mittee for Ghetto Community Development with the distinct pur-

pose of promoting (and funding) Black economic development

(Investment Committee for Economic Development, 1967, pp. 1-

4). Nevertheless, Foreman declared,

We [Blacks] must begin seizing power wherever we are and we must say to the planners of this conference that you are no longer in

charge.... The conference is now the property of the people who are assembled here. (pp. 6-7)

Foreman then went on to issue what came to be known as the Black

Manifesto, which demanded $500 million in reparations from

America's White churches (pp. 6-7).

Foreman (1969) offered the following rationale for the takeover

of the NBEDC and for the demand for money from White Ameri-

can denominations:

We maintain we have a revolutionary right to do this. We have the same rights, if you will, as the Christians had in going into Africa and raping our Motherland and bringing us away from our continent of peace and into this hostile and alien environment where we have been living in perpetual warfare since 1619. (p. 7)

Among the projects that would be funded by payments from White

American churches was a national Black (mass media) communi-

cations network to disseminate "revolutionary" information to Afri-

can Americans and a national Black university (Walker, 1969, p. 2).

The disparity between Browne's (1969) pragmatic vision and

Foreman's (1969) revolutionary vision for the economic future of

African Americans reflected a similar disparity among other con-

temporary commentators interested in the economic plight of Afri-

can Americans. Significantly, persons who promoted the theoreti-

cal notion of Black capitalism, made popular by Nixon, differed

dramatically as to how they would implement Black economic

empowerment in the context of the capitalist system. Similarly,

critics of Nixon's Black capitalism agenda differed among them-

selves as to what was a viable alternative to increased Black busi-

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72 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

ness ownership. Moreover, there were some observers who

changed their original position regarding the merits (or demerits) of

Black capitalism.

INDEPENDENT DERIVATIVES OF

NIXON'S BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE

One of the most ambitious attempts to clearly articulate a frame-

work for Black capitalism was Theodore L. Cross's (1969) book

Black Capitalism: Strategy for Business in the Ghetto. Cross, then

editor and publisher of Banker's Magazine, proposed a massive

cooperative effort between corporate America and the U.S. govern-

ment to enrich underdeveloped Black urban areas. Although Cross

acknowledged that urban Black America was economically and

socially separated from mainstream society, he maintained that "it

encompasses millions of acres of urban real estate which simply

cannot be abandoned" (pp. 138-139).

According to Cross (1969), Black distrust of White businessmen

represented one of the biggest impediments to the economic recon-

struction of urban Black America. Nevertheless, Black Capitalism

urged White businessmen to ignore "the propaganda of black mili-

tants" and pursue "the route of clear logic and justice: the forced

injection of credit, risk capital, and entrepreneurial skills into the

ghetto economy" (p. 69).

Although Cross (1969) implied that Black militancy thwarted

positive economic activity in African American enclaves, others

asserted the exact opposite. For instance, Roy Innis (1969), of the

Congress of Racial Equality, promoted the concept of separatist

economics in an important essay titled "Separatist Economics: A

New Social Contract" (pp. 51-52).

Rather than allow corporate America to coordinate the eco-

nomic revitalization of the Black community, Innis (1969) asserted

that African Americans needed to control this process. "We are not

talking about bringing white businesses into black communities,

but about building economic instruments that themselves can hire

blacks" (pp. 51-58).

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 73

Perhaps ironically, Innis's (1969) observations actually formed

the cornerstone of U.S. Senate Bill 3876 introduced to Congress in

July, 1968, as the Community Self-Determination Bill. This legis-

lation-whose sponsors ranged from the liberal Jacob Javits of

New York to the conservative John Tower of Texas (and was

codrafted by representatives from the Congress of Racial Equality

and associates from the Harvard University Institute of Politics)-

called for the development of federally chartered community

development corporations. These entities would own all businesses in affected neighborhoods and would designate a portion of busi-

ness profits to help finance social services in community develop-

ment corporation-run communities (Sturdivant, 1971, pp. 1 14-115).

Despite its initial support in Congress, critics of the Community

Self-Determination Bill, who asserted that it would move the

nation toward apartheid, ultimately contributed to its legislative

demise (Sturdivant, 1971, p. 115).

Another of the myriad independent proposals generated by

Nixon's Black capitalism initiative was Dunbar S. McLaurin's

Ghetto Economic Development and Industrialization Plan

(GHEDIPLAN). GHEDIPLAN deviated significantly from the proposals put forward by Cross (1969) and Innis (1969). McLaurin, a Black economist based in New York City, possessed a business

and professional background that included ownership of the con-

sulting firm Ghettonomics, Incorporated (McLaurin & Tyson, 1969, pp. 126-13 1).

In a coauthored essay titled "The GHEDIPLAN for Economic

Development" (McLaurin & Tyson, 1969), McLaurin asserted that

simply infusing the ghetto with more outside capital and providing

existing and prospective Black entrepreneurs with corporate pro- fessional guidance (the Cross [1969] approach) would do little to enhance the economic life of Black communities. He based this

conclusion on the premise that Black entrepreneurs, unlike their White counterparts, had problems that transcended mere issues of

capital and training. Because the ghetto businessman had limited access to "the outer and larger business and industrial world with its

opportunities, challenges, and stimuli, [it is] as if he were in a remote, underdeveloped country" (p. 130).

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74 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

To alleviate the problems associated with Black America's eco-

nomic and social isolation from mainstream society, the

GHEDIPLAN proposed using that same isolation as an advantage.

Specifically, McLaurin urged the U.S. government to view Amer-

ica's Black ghettos as an underdeveloped nation. McLaurin

believed that this would help resuscitate the economic life of Black

America by focusing on development strategies that would allow

African Americans to develop businesses and industries that could

easily meld with the "outside" economy (pp. 131-132).

Besides proposing that Black America be viewed as an underde-

veloped nation, the GHEDIPLAN, similar to Innis's (1969) sepa-

ratist economics, called for the "local [Black] ownership of the

economy and the control of its destiny" (p.132). Nevertheless,

McLaurin differed from Innis in that he envisioned the

GHEDIPLAN creating a Black economy "strong enough to partici-

pate in, compete with, and become an integral part of the national

economy" (p.132).

Perhaps, the period's most creative proposal related to Black

capitalism was Black economist Richard F. America Jr.'s (1971)

call for a transfer of 10% of Fortune 500 companies to African

American control. Citing historical precedents of the government

stepping in to dismantle corporate monopolies based on the public

interest, America asserted that it would be in the public interest to

modify a situation that has resulted in "the total absence of any

large Black corporations in the United States" (p. 127).

The basic motivation behind America's (1971) bold proposal

was his belief that "the establishment and nurturing of [African

American] small businesses, now being undertaken on an increas-

ing scale, does not satisfy the need for [African American] eco-

nomic independence and self-determination" (p. 125). Moreover,

he envisioned "after about eight corporations have been transferred

to Black control each year for fifteen years, the procedure would be

discontinued, since by then Blacks will have achieved economic

parity roughly equivalent to their proportion of the population"

(p. 136).

Although America (1971) believed there existed enough Afri-

can American managerial talent to run the transferred corporations,

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 75

others were not too sure. For instance, Louis L. Allen (1971), presi- dent of the Chase Manhattan Capital Corporation noted, "No one

can know how to manage a large corporation without experience in

doing just that. Certainly, experience in small company manage-

ment is no substitute" (p. 140). In the end, America's (1971) pro-

posal, similar to those of Cross (1969), Innis (1969), and McLaurin

and Tyson, found itself relegated to the footnotes of American busi-

ness history.

Despite their diverse approaches, Cross (1969), Innis (1969),

McLaurin, and America (1971) believed that Black capitalism (or

some derivative) represented a positive, desirable phenomenon.

Conversely, some observers believed that the notion of Black capi-

talism was a dangerous illusion. Moreover, critics of Black capital-

ism, similar to its proponents, possessed differing perspectives.

CRITICS OF BLACK CAPITALISM

Although the Nixon administration actively promoted Black

capitalism, economist Andrew Brimmer, the period's highest rank-

ing African American in government service, emerged as an out-

spoken critic of this initiative. Moreover, Brimmer, a member of the

Federal Reserve Board, articulated his viewpoint in a number of

venues.

In the May 1969 issue of Nation's Business, Brimmer (1969)

published a brief essay titled "The Trouble With Black Capitalism,"

which focused on racial desegregation's impact on Black business.

After citing how Jim Crow racial segregation contributed to the

growth of Black-owned service sector businesses (barber shops,

beauty shops, hotels, and restaurants), Brimmer observed how

racial desegregation, conversely, contributed to an observable

decline of these same Black-owned enterprises (p. 79).

Besides seeing a bleak future for Black-owned companies in the

service industry, Brimmer (1969) expressed even more doubt about

Black manufacturing concerns. To dramatically illustrate his point,

Brimmer noted how large apparel manufacturers were currently

producing African motif clothing (which undercut the profits of

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76 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

Black community-based tailors and seamstresses). Moreover,

based on the perceived growing importance of the African Ameri-

can consumer market, Brimmer urged Black businessmen not to

''count on nationally oriented manufacturing firms leaving the

Negro market to Negro entrepreneurs" (p. 79).

Considering the evidence he presented, Brimmer (1969) pre-

dictably concluded his Nation's Business essay by asserting that

"the only really promising path to equal opportunity for Negroes in

business as in other aspects of economic activity lies in full partici-

pation in an integrated, national economy. It cannot be found in a

backwater of separatism and segregation" (p. 79).

On July 25, 1969, Brimmer testified before the U.S. House of

Representatives Select Committee on Small Business regarding

Black capitalism. Besides reiterating the information found in his

Nation's Business article, Brimmer (1971) observed that the deseg-

regation of the national labor force hampered Black entrepreneurs'

quest to hire and retain quality Black employees (pp. 165-166).

Along with issues related to White competition, Brimmer's

(1971) testimony focused on the tenuous financial situation of Afri-

can American families, the cornerstone of Black capitalism's pro- jected consumer market. He noted that African Americans, on all

income levels, had more installment debt than their White counter-

parts. This reality, among other things, decreased the amount of

Black disposable income and made them "a poorer potential con- sumer for additional goods and services than a family of similar

income that is less encumbered by installment debt payments"

(pp. 167-168).

Besides addressing Congress and the mainstream business com-

munity, Brimmer (1970) took his case against Black capitalism

directly to African Americans. The August 1970 issue of Ebony magazine featured a Brimmer essay titled "Economic Integration

and the Progress of the Negro Community" (p. 118). For those readers unfamiliar with Brimmer (1970), he began this

article by clearly articulating his credentials as an economist and

his belief that "the only promising path to genuine economic prog-

ress of the Negro in America is an accelerated widening of opportu-

nities in an integrated economy" (p. 119). For African Americans

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 77

enamored with various proposals (both government sponsored and

independent) related to Black economic development, Brimmer's

observations in Ebony were sobering to say the least. After dismiss-

ing as a "mirage" the notion of viewing Black America as a separate

nation with (a then) $35 billion in personal income that could be

separately developed, Brimmer elaborated on Black America's

lack of separate economic strength. He noted that although African

Americans constituted nearly 11% of the U.S. population, they

received approximately 6.5% of America's personal income and

owned less than 2% of the country's household assets (p. 119). Taking a definite swipe at the Nixon administration's OMBE

program, Brimmer (1970) dismissed Black capitalism as a "cruel

hoax" and noted that any program aimed at expanding small-scale

Black-owned business "would be running against a strong national

trend. In retailing, the trend is steadily toward large chain-store

units in which economic efficiency is rising rapidly" (p. 121).

Brimmer (1970) closed this thought-provoking essay by reiter-

ating the linkage between economic integration and African Amer-

ican progress. From his perspective, Blacks needed to get inside the

U.S. corporate structure to observe and learn how substantive eco-

nomic power is exercised. Thus, African Americans would hope-

fully be in a position "to share this power and assure that it is used

for them-and not against them" (p. 121).

Whereas Brimmer denounced Black capitalism as unworkable

within the framework of the capitalist system, other African Ameri-

can critics simply denounced capitalism (regardless of the racial

appendage attached to it). Although Nixon hoped that his Black

capitalism initiative would diminish the influence of Marxism in

the Black community, this effort was not totally successful. In fact,

besides Foreman (1969), several other important Black Marxist

critics of Black capitalism emerged during Nixon's first term in office.

Robert L. Allen's (1969) important book Black Awakening in

Capitalist America, among other things, addressed the basic issue

of whether Black capitalism would benefit the entire African

American community or just a relatively few Black entrepreneurs.

He expressed his skepticism by noting, "Simple transference of

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78 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

business ownership into black hands, either individually or collec-

tively, is in itself no guarantee that this will benefit the total commu-

nity. Blacks are capable of exploiting one another just as easily as

whites" (p. 153). Although Black Awakening in Capitalist America

decried the worth of Black business ownership, Allen alternatively

offered an ambiguous and utopian (Marxist-tinged) solution to the

economic plight of African Americans.

James Boggs was another prominent Black Marxist author and

critic of Black capitalism. His 1970 book, Racism and the Class

Struggle, included a chapter titled "The Myth and Irrationality of

Black Capitalism." Moreover, Boggs first presented this material as

a coauthored position paper at the NBEDC on April 25, 1969

(Boggs, Johnson, & Williams, 1969, pp. 3-9).

Early on, Boggs sought to clarify contemporary African Ameri-

can discourse that attacked "the system." In no uncertain terms, he

made it clear that the system and capitalism were synonymous.

Moreover, he asserted that "Black underdevelopment is a product of

capitalist development" (1971, p. 151).

Considering Boggs's antipathy toward the capitalist system, he

predictably had nothing but derision for Black capitalism. Calling

Black capitalism a technique "to re-enslave Black people" and "a

dream and a delusion," he noted that the Black working class was

"in no mood to change from one exploiter to another just because he

is of the same color" (1971, p. 152).

For his part, Boggs, besides merely reiterating Marxist dogma,

did attempt to provide specific strategies on how African Ameri-

cans could develop noncapitalist economic structures. In the rural

South, Boggs (1971) proposed that African Americans "under-

take a massive land reform movement with the aim of forcing the

federal government to turn these plowed-under lands over to the

millions of Blacks still in the South, to be developed by Black

community organizations" (p. 157). In the urban North, where

most African Americans resided, Boggs called for "a similar cam-

paign for land reform and acquisition" based on "the principle of

eminent domain" (p. 157).

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Boggs's (1971) non-

capitalist vision for Black America was his desire to fully incorpo-

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 79

rate Black "street people" or "untouchables" into the planning and

implementation of his larger goals for land reform and acquisition

(p. 158). Although Boggs did not offer specific ways to accomplish

this, he correctly observed that substantive African American eco-

nomic development would have to include the active participation

and support of all social classes within the Black community.

Earl Ofari's (1970) book The Myth of Black Capitalism repre-

sented, perhaps, the period's most strident denunciation of Black

capitalism. The following introductory quotes succinctly set the

stage for this work:

You show me a capitalist, I'll show you a bloodsucker. He cannot be

anything but a bloodsucker if he's going to be a capitalist. He's got to get it from somewhere other than himself, and that's where he gets it-from somewhere or someone other than himself.

-Malcolm X

As long as the Man controls the water or electricity coming into your community, it does you no good to control that community. And to control the community in a capitalistic way, like the Man, is not desirable.

-H. Rap Brown

The mode of production in material life determines the general

character of the social, political, and spiritual processes of life. -Karl Marx (p. 3)

Ofari (1970), using E. Franklin Frazier's (1957) controversial

study Black Bourgeoisie as a reference point, asserted that the call

for Black capitalism, based on "a misdirected faith in the myth of

Negro business," came primarily from the Black middle and upper

classes (Ofari, 1970, p. 10). Yet, despite its stridency, The Myth of

Black Capitalism (Ofari, 1970) ultimately offered the least persua-

sive (Marxist-based) argument against Black capitalism. By

directly associating Black business with a nefarious Black elite,

Ofari exhibited a stunning unfamiliarity with census data related to

Black-owned businesses in America. Historically, most Black-

owned businesses have been single proprietorships operated by

African Americans from a variety of economic backgrounds or

classes (Hall, 1935, pp. 496-498).

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80 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001

AMBIVALENCE REGARDING BLACK CAPITALISM

Besides commentators who consistently endorsed or denounced

the notion of Black capitalism, others publicly changed their minds

about the worth of promoting African American entrepreneurship.

The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson was, perhaps, the most noteworthy

person in this category. In early 1969, Jackson, then National

Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Council's Operation

Breadbasket program based in Chicago, Illinois, issued a press

release denouncing Black capitalism. The February 21, 1969, issue

of Muhammad Speaks (the official news organ of the Nation of

Islam) reprinted Jackson's declarations in an article headlined

"Breadbasket Leader Rejects Black Capitalism" (Black Press

International, 1969, pp. 33-34).

After describing Black capitalism as a divisive force in the Afri-

can American community, Jackson contended that

the issue is not to multiply a few additional entrepreneurs or to develop a few model Black cities or to finance a few Black firms as

pilot programs. But a[t] stake is the demand for the total economic development of the Black community. (Black Press International, 1969, p. 33)

He went on to assert (sounding a lot like James Boggs),

Attaching the name "Black" to capitalism is not a description, but a diversion. The term Black capitalism describes less a goal than a gimmick. We have the responsibility to expose the gimmick rather than delude Black people by justifying explanations of a false goal. (Black Press International, 1969, p. 33)

Ironically, Jackson would later use a gimmick (his Black Expo

programs of 1969 to 1972) to promote Black business and Black

capitalism. In fact, Jackson's Black Expo exhibitions have been

described as

an annual trade fair for black businesses, both local and national, as well as a general celebration of black capitalism, complete with par- ties, concerts by black artists, exhibitions of black paintings and

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 81

sculpture, and other attractions associated with economic exposi-

tions. (Landess & Quinn, 1985, p. 49)

It remains unclear as to why the mercurial Jackson changed his

mind about the efficacy of promoting Black capitalism.

CONCLUSION

In retrospect, the wide-ranging discussion and analysis of Black

capitalism during the first Nixon administration reflected an

unprecedented national interest in promoting substantive African

American economic progress. Moreover, although OMBE pro-

vided only limited assistance to Black businesspeople and none of

the numerous independent proposals for Black economic develop-

ment came to full fruition, the period's discourse regarding Black

capitalism helped Nixon accomplish his larger ideological objec-

tive of "containing" potential domestic Black radicalism. Despite

the efforts of Foreman (1969), R. L. Allen (1969), Boggs (1971),

and Ofari (1970), most African Americans apparently either gravi-

tated toward the various derivatives of Black capitalism or toward

Brimmer's call for complete integration into American society.

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ness enterprise: Historical and contemporaty perspectives (pp. 138-149). New York:

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ism," Muhammad Speaks, 8(23), 33-34.

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business enterprise: Historical and contemporaly perspectives (pp. 150-158). New

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talism. Paper presented at the National Black Economic Development Conference,

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Weems, Randolph / BLACK CAPITALISM INITIATIVE 83

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Robert E. Weems, Jr., is a professor of history at the University of Missouri-Colum-

bia. His publications include Black Business in the Black Metropolis: The Chicago

Metropolitan Assurance Company, 1925-1985 (Indiana University Press, 1996) and

Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century

(New York University Press, 1998). He is coeditor, with Arvarh E. Strickland, of The

African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide

(Greenwood Publishers, 2001). He and Lewis A. Randolph are coauthors of the

forthcoming book Whatever Happened to Black Capitalism? The Rise and Fall of

Richard M. Nixon's Plan for Black America (which will be published by New York

University Press).

Lewis A. Randolph is an associate professor in the political science department and

public administration program at Ohio University. He has published in the areas of

urban development; urban politics; public policy; Black politics; race, class, and

gender; African American social movements; American politics; and Black political

ideology. His forthcoming works include "The Ideological Origins of Richard M.

Nixon's Black Capitalism Initiative," coauthored with Robert E. Weems, Jr., which

will be published in The Review of Black Political Economy, and Black Conserva-

tives Made in America: The Dimensions of Black Conservatism, coedited with

Gayle T Tate, which will be published by St. Martin's Press.

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