From Freedom to Ferguson: The Private Sector Opportunity to Empower Black America

Every protest and demonstration in the American struggle to overcome inequities embedded in our system of governance hearkens back to the Bill of Rights. The recent fallout from the Ferguson, Missouri demonstrations against injustice have engulfed the nation in similar protests, debates and clashes between individuals and institutions. Back Americans are expressing outrage over the killing of an unarmed black man in Ferguson by a white police officer. They are being joined by a multicultural crowd of supporters who believe the United States was founded upon the premise that all men are created equal with equal protection under the law. This was a principle injected into the DNA of the nation at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet, Dr. Martin Luther King described the process engaged by the founding fathers as "schizophrenic," because their behavior and practice bore no resemblance to the constitutional laws they established. And the notion that all men in America have ever been regarded as equal in the eyes of the law isn't based in fact. This book is a revelation of untold history in America.

Yet, this book recognizes that knowledge of the past is to empower us today and set the the stage for opportunity in the future. There is a movement afoot across America, pressured along by new generations with grand ideas of a multicultural nation of peoples with a desire to coexist in peace, in harmony, and with communities collaborating, and leaders listening and serving the will of the people. That movement of 21st century economic inclusion and competitiveness is clashing with the crumbling 20th century power structure that both created and waged war upon Black America.

Today's private sector is the key component that will decide how long this war continues. The private sector holds an enormous amount of responsibility for the war and holds an equal amount of responsibility for ending it. The good news is there's evidence that today's private sector is seeking to settle the transgressions of the past and turn away from the exclusionary economic practices of previous policies and step toward a future frontier of inclusion and empowerment of all underrepresented and under-served populations in America.

That's good news for Black America, which has suffered generations of extreme violence at the hands of a white male-dominated society and daily abuses that have taken a terrible toll on the core black family. Will the private sector move quickly enough to uplift and empower Black America in the 21st century? That's the quintessential question posed in this book.