My Black Brothers & Sisters As you know African Americans are concerned about Immigration Reform, Health Care, Social Security and the war in Iraq, but we are more concerned with a multitude of issues specifically facing our community, but as of this date, none of the current political candidates or the media are including these issues in their debates or newscast. When talking to predominately white audiences, we have heard Obama, McCain, Hillary, Guillani, and Edwards, talk about same sex marriage, a woman's right to choose, global warming, and immigration reform and how it will affect our Latino brothers and sisters, but when was the last time you heard any of them talk about specific issues affecting the black community, a community that has been paying taxes and voting since the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870.  Do they just want us to vote and shut up? Not wanting to be one that always points the finger at what others should do, I offer the following to the agenda: Gentrification across our urban areas and its effects on the displaced poor and their access to: Quality Education Housing Employment opportunities Health Care Access to health care (preventative as well as curative) for our people Pre-Natal And Post-Natal Care Prostrate Screenings Diabetes High Blood Pressure Nutrition HIV/AIDS Mental Health Economics Jobs/job training Home ownership Financial Planning Budgeting One way this might be addressed is for a national pool of persons meeting together and pulling together such an agenda; and then returning to their communities and helping our people to understand that they have power. In the current political environment, perhaps wisdom would say that we choose one think to galvanize our efforts around and stay focused on that one issue and demand a response to our issues with the promise of a response from us if it is not firstly, a part of their platform; secondly; a promise that if it is not followed up if they are elected that there will be another response. One thing I have learned in working with our people is that they think like victims; victims believe they are powerless. Victims do not think; they react. Victims think in terms of short term thrills, rather than long term satisfaction. I hope I may have said one thing that makes sense in the midst of the madness of our collective reality as African Americans in the United States. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Esther 4:14 Just a few thoughts from a preacher. Dr. Harris Have they all forgotten about us?  What specifically will we, the African American, get for our vote in 2008? Is there an agenda for the black community?  What is it and who put it together?  What does it consist of? Every politically active special interest group in America has an agenda, from the gay community to the Latino community and each hope to gain something or benefit from the 2008 election, regardless of which party wins.  All across America, blacks should be meeting and developing an agenda for our people.  Since our group has been here the longest and have been paying taxes and dying for the cause of America - longer than any other group (from the Revolutionary War to the Iraqi War), we should demand that our issues be the primary focus of every debate.  As a race we must tell Obama, Hillary, McCain, Guillani, and Edwards, before we hear another word about global warming, same sex marriage, a woman's right to choose, immigration reform or social security reform, we want to hear their comprehensive plans for the African American Community along with timelines when telling us when they expect to complete such plans. If we do not speak for ourselves, who will speak for us?  The RNC or the DNC?  Every group including both political parties are so preoccupied with their own issues, that they do not have the time to think about or address our issues.  In the 60's blacks were very vocal, but someone has bought our silence.  If we remain silent, the future our community will be dismal. Remember we should never allow others to determine our destiny, when they have never been part of our dignity. Your thoughts are appreciated. Rev. Wayne Perryman

Why would corporate America want to talk about Black America, if they mostly see Black America as being of little relevance? Why would Black America be a part of any of the political candidate’s agenda, if there is no national grassroots entity that has set the “Black Agenda”? Why would Obama talk very much about issues specific to Blacks among a predominant White gathering? Most Whites are not interested in many Black concerns. When Obama is among a predominantly Black audience he talks primarily about issues pertinent to Blacks. The White Christian conservative church, taking some pages from the Black Civil Rights movement, made themselves relevant beginning in the 1980s through grassroots empowerment, first anchored within the White Christian churches in the southern states of America. With the Faith Based Initiative, many Black Churches have been pimped and the money from the government has brought on additional apathy. It is obvious that the Black Congressional Caucus either do not have the power or the will to establish, promote, and achieve the Black Agenda. How can there be a Black Agenda when most in the Baby Boomer generation are looking for a “good time” at someone else’s expense, including their children and grandchildren? If most Blacks in America no longer serve an economic need for corporate America, the predatoristic nature of American capitalism will jettison or at best, ignore it. This is a fact, regardless of the political party. How do Blacks once again become a critical part of the American political agenda? The answer is to recognize and establish an undeniable area of relevance. Anything short of this is repeating what has been repeated with deteriorating results. This is said to be insanity when one repeats something over and over with the same failing results. There is no need to talk about the Hispanic, homosexual or any other community in America when Blacks are the most naturally blessed of all people. The best of Blacks is imitated, co-opted or out right stolen all over the world. The challenge is to bring unification of purpose. Africa is dead without African Americans. African Americans are dead without Africa. I cannot be anymore clear than that. The purpose of unification is more than economic survival but economic transcendence. Basically, the talk is about gentrification, healthcare, and economics. Who has contributed a viable plan for Black America? If it is a beggarly plan, it is not a plan. Buying Black cannot out pace the Black economic decline. Each year we see and hear the State of The Black Union. Yes, some progress is made from these discussions but overall progress is not achieved. However, these actions are and have been necessary. There are some Blacks who make a living lambasting those who have, good or bad, been attempting to lead this Black nation, the “Sixth Region” of Africa. How do we achieve overall progress? In this CART Analysis, Rev. Harris identified the problem areas as follows: Quality Education Housing Employment opportunities Pre-Natal and Post-Natal Care Prostrate Screenings Diabetes High Blood Pressure Nutrition HIV/AIDS Mental Health Jobs/job training Home ownership Financial Planning Budgeting We could safely say that this has been the issue for the last 50 years or more. All of those listed above require lots of money but the American government is trillions of dollars in debt! This means the Black Agenda has to be separate from the American government’s agenda. Certainly, there will be areas where the government must do its duties and a Black agenda is required. Rev. Harris suggested a national meeting. Well, that would be another one of those countless conventions that Blacks are notorious for having with the same results. I suggest that it continues, and begins for some, with a cyber discussion. I suggest that, when possible, in-person discussions be video taped and distributed nationally and internationally. I plan to provide an example in the near future on the CART website (www.caroundtable.com ). Rev. Harris went on to state the following: One thing I have learned in working with our people is that they think like victims; victims believe they are powerless. Victims do not think; they react. Victims think in terms of short term thrills, rather than long term satisfaction. Yes, Blacks must stop seeing themselves as the perpetual victims, even though millions are. One can be a victim but not think as a victim. More importantly, Blacks must focus on their collective strengths and see themselves as controllers of their own destiny. This involves the merging of those strengths. The collective strength of Blacks in America is their combined earnings of more than $760 billion a year! That would rank higher than all except 8 or 9 nations in the world. The collective strength of the 54 African nations is the huge amount of natural resources required by the “First World” nations. The New Black Agenda combines these strengths and enforces its viability through a Collective Cartel. Becoming merchants of Africa’s vast riches reflects the words of Yeshua in the Bible’s book of Revelation 2:9 and 3:9. A people who have come through great poverty and tribulations. A people whose identity has been hijacked by another. A people whose resources have been stolen and coveted by another. A people who have been targeted for extermination. However, ultimately, a people who the predators are destined to give penance for the evils they have allowed or committed against them. Rev. Perryman then asked these questions: Have they all forgotten about us?  What specifically will we, the African American, get for our vote in 2008? Is there an agenda for the black community?  What is it and who put it together?  What does it consist of? Rev. Perryman and others must operate outside of the circles they are so accustomed to operating within. That is not a statement regarding political party affiliation but about how many operate within the Black communities. I can safely say that during the short period of time that I have been in Seattle, I have established more networks with various Black ethnic groups than most Black leaders who have been in Seattle for a very long time. I speak of coming out and moving beyond ones comfort zones which might be the Black Church, your suburban neighborhood, your cushy job, or behind the tinted windows of the vehicle you drive. Have they forgotten about us is not the more appropriate question. The more appropriate questions are how do we inform our people of their great strength and riches? How do we merge these unstoppable strengths to bring economic empowerment? These things come before and to sustain political power. Many Blacks talk but when it comes to consistently supporting a viable option, they are elsewhere. I am very observant of individuals of this persuasion. It is not appropriate to ask what will we get for our vote in 2008, if there isn’t already a National Black Agenda. You cannot suddenly tell candidates what Black America wants when Black America is asking for what they have been asking for over the last 35 years. Very few Black religious leaders came out a few days ago to the Barack Obama campaign in the Qwest Field location. I’m sure there are some private endeavors with this but such men and women should not be so pompous that they cannot be seen in a more public setting with “ordinary people”, except on Sunday or Saturday morning. Many love to talk and write but do virtually nothing. There must be a plan to attain what we want. We must vote but work on the National Black Economic Plan so that candidates can have that agenda in-hand as they are making their campaign trips around the country. He asks, is there an agenda for the black community? The agenda of most continues to be business as usual. What is business as usual? It is begging and asking the American government to do more for Blacks; that the gentrification stop; that healthcare and education improve, etc. Why do you suppose private America, that is, the Investor Class of America has been pushing to privatize virtually every level of government they can? They realize that 70% of Blacks work for government and that is where the Economic Revolution is going to occur. The goal is to destroy the base that I have written and spoken about in workshops and presentations. This business as usual will take Black America nowhere. We are beyond Civil Rights. Instead, only a few token Blacks who establish themselves as the loudest voice, i.e., the biggest agitator will benefit, as more Blacks sink into apathy, complacency and poverty. This was one of the main legacies of the Civil Rights protests. Only the very brightest did and will benefit. This was followed by a government concocted street drugs program to chemicalize the minds of many of the “educated” Blacks. From that generation, we reaped a whirlwind of youth, many who had little chance of success. The Black Agenda entails America keeping its hands off of Africa. It entails the end of its military extra-judicial killings in Somalia. It entails the ceasing of paying opposition leaders in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa to stir up chaos. I have proposed an economic plan where Black dollars are used as leverage to acquire Upstream Control, first in the energy industry and then in the banking and finance industry. Notice how crazy the people are talking in the media about how to conserve your gas and save some of your money. They are desperate. Our people in Africa sit upon the largest oil and gas supplies in the world. Let’s help them where they require it most. Any plan that Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakkan and the lesser known names articulate, must include an economic partnership with the African nations and it must be private, first and foremost. If it does not have that component, you can dismiss it as a temporary solution that will quickly fail, while a few Blacks have their hands greased with corporate America’s cash. This partnership begins with establishment of a social relationship and then through developed trust, it then moves into a business relationship. What We Can Do · Blacks In Government must convene a recruitment program of the huge number of Blacks who work throughout government. It must have a program that brings in the African immigrant groups. Its members must be trained in how to carryout an Economic Proselytization Agenda with purpose of building UKT (Understanding, Knowledge, and Trust) with all African people. · There must be an entity that brings the Black Agenda into one central main vision. It cannot include the guidance of other groups which have benefited from the lack of this central vision. This is Collective Self Interest where your interests comes first, second, and third. · Imagine what Black communities all across the nation could do if the national network of Black churches brought their monies together to provide the capital equipment, infrastructure and labor for up and coming oil industries throughout the African continent. Certainly, many of these leaders would need to be “born again” in the way they think. This is a multi-billion dollar industry. Judging from the state of Black America, currently, this entity would have a failing grade, as would all others. · The National Urban League must adopt a policy that makes a partnership with African nations within the oil industry a key part of its national agenda for Black economic empowerment. This means that this organization is going to piss off many of its “Jewish” contributors. There is more to gain by breaking such ties than continuing to be used and abused by many among a group of people who are among the wealthiest in the world. Sure, even some of this entity’s executives will be terminated to promote such agenda as this. That’s a part of “going through the fire” and coming out “pure gold”. Most Blacks among the Baby Boomer generation squirms when this bitter medicine is recommended. There are simply too many Black organizations to list which should come under this same Black Agenda. The New Black Agenda is not really new. It is the basic foundation that Marcus Mosiah Garvey set out to implement. He had a run-in with the ignorant “Negro” who lacked vision and courage. We more than have the means to do it today. Stop the talk, get up and go about doing the work that will make it happen.