Dr. Dennis Kimbro, author of The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires says, “I can tell you unequivocally wealth is not a function of gender, not a function of race. It is not a function of circumstance. It is not a function of condition—how the cards were dealt, which side of the town you were born on, but it is a function of choice, a function of discipline, and it is a function of effort, faith, and believing in yourself.” In other words, black folk themselves determine whether or not future generations will benefit from the wealth of those that came before them.
“At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.” -Booker T. Washington
In our documentary film, Generation One: The Search for Black Wealth, we (BlackandMarriedwithKids.com) examine the lack of generational wealth in the African American community and what can be done to change current circumstances. In the film, financial experts weigh in on the issue and provide strategies that families can implement to begin building wealth. The film also takes a historical look at early wealth creation in the African American community and if we’ve let previous generations down, who seemed to do so much more with so much less.
We also created The Generational Wealth Pledge for Black Families in service of the belief that future generations will benefit from the financial choices and decisions that we make now. While we are fully aware that institutional racism and its economic implications are a reality for black life in America, we also know that, as a people, we still have personal agency and financial power.
Click Here to Download a FREE Copy of the BMWK Generational Wealth Pledge for Black Families!
In other words, we focus on what black folk can do at the microeconomic household level to build on the pockets of black wealth that already exist so that those pockets can expand in number and endure from generation to generation.
This is the larger concept of generational wealth, the concept that with each generation life gets easier; each generation benefits and builds on the work and success of the previous generation.
Generational wealth will allow black families to flourish.
Generational Wealth means being able to move to better and safer neighborhoods, invest in businesses, save for retirement, support our children’s career and college aspirations, and absorb the financial shock of job loss.
Generational wealth is implicitly a solution to the problem of poverty and a source of pride. It lays the framework for cultural autonomy and intellectual exploration.