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 →