A Point of View

Gwendolyn Grant
President & CEO
Urban League of Greater Kansas City
June 27, 2008

Independence Day

For the first four score and twenty years in our nation’s history, our ancestors were enslaved bystanders on Independence Day. They endured virulent racism based on the idea that African Americans were an inferior, subhuman race, which justified their economic exploitation. The hardship inherent in social structures and policies is most definitely an impediment that people of color face daily. However, what troubles me deeply is the mental and intellectual poverty that is manifested in our behaviors. We so often miss the opportunity to really do the best we can with what we have.

As this 4th of July approaches, I continue to be amazed by the large number of low-income African Americans who spend huge sums of money on fireworks for makeshift street festivities in their neighborhoods. With the price of gas skyrocketing, the economy approaching recession, and pervasive, persistent, poverty paralyzing the urban core, why do people with limited resources choose to buy firecrackers rather than invest in their future?

If the explosions and colors are thrilling and entertaining, several free fireworks shows and displays are available across the metropolitan area. Each extravaganza far exceeds anything people can do in their yards or in the streets.

It is illegal to use fireworks within the city limits of most municipalities in the area. Moreover, it is foolish and dangerous. Every year people are injured and poor families are displaced as a result of house fires caused by illegal firework activities. In many cases, the injuries and damages are self-inflicted and the displaced victims lack insurance to shield themselves from devastating losses.

Why not leave explosives to the professionals, save your money and avoid putting anyone’s life, limb and property in danger?
On this Independence Day, we should start to find our thrills in pursuit of financial freedom – a freedom in which one generation of African Americans passes wealth to the next. Rather than watching discretionary dollars go up in smoke, use that money to get out of debt, save, accumulate assets, prepare for a child’s future, plan for retirement – any number of financially liberating behaviors that will ultimately decrease the number of blacks living in poverty.

To create wealth we must learn to make better choices with our discretionary dollars irrespective of our financial circumstances. Every dollar counts and each dollar spent on fireworks could be better invested. The pathway to wealth starts with small, consistent steps by making better choices and saving whatever you can.

W.E. B. DuBois said, “To be a poor man is hard. But to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardship.” The best way for us to celebrate Independence Day in the 21st Century is to pursue financial freedom and achieve the economic self-sufficiency necessary to live the American dream.

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