When Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh recently stated that “India needs a strong military, weak defence can leave nations vulnerable to subjugation,” his words carried profound implications far beyond South Asia’s geopolitical landscape. For African Americans, a community with centuries of experience fighting for autonomy and self-determination, this warning resonates deeply with historical lessons about the relationship between strength, vulnerability, and freedom. From the systematic disarmament during slavery to the destruction of prosperous Black communities like Tulsa’s Greenwood District, history has repeatedly demonstrated that economic, political, educational, and physical weakness invites exploitation and subjugation. The challenge for Black America today is building comprehensive strength across all these dimensions—not through separatism or aggression, but through strategic empowerment that ensures communities negotiate from positions of strength rather than dependency. As both history and the IAF chief remind us, the price of inadequate defense is measured in freedom lost. Continue reading
Tag Archives: economic justice
The Tiger’s Mouth: Why African America’s Quest for Fairness and Justice Misses the Power Game
Winston Churchill’s metaphor about reasoning with tigers captures a truth that much of Black America and the African Diaspora have yet to fully internalize: power doesn’t negotiate with those it has already consumed. Walk through any major American city and observe the divergent approaches to group advancement—in African American neighborhoods, the conversation centers on protest, representation, and recognition, while in Koreatown, Little India, Chinese enclaves, and Arab business districts, the conversation is about capital formation, business networks, and political leverage through economic power. The contrast is not about culture or capability—African Americans built this country with enslaved labor that generated the capital for American industrialization—it’s about strategy. We’ve been sold a vision of progress that depends on the oppressor’s recognition rather than our own autonomous power-building, still trying to reason with the tiger instead of building the strength to force open its jaws. Continue reading
Protect the Ship: Why African American Institutions Must Be Prioritized Over Individual Ambitions
“In every era, the survival of a people has hinged not on the brilliance of its individuals but on the strength of its institutions. Just as the Navy teaches that the safety of the ship must come before the safety of the sailor, African America must come to understand that without the bank, the school, the cooperative, the media outlet—the very vessels of our power—we drift helplessly in hostile waters. We have celebrated the sailor for too long while letting the ship sink. Now is the time to fund it, crew it, and protect it like our survival depends on it—because it does.” Continue reading
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