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Harlem is in trouble. The
community that is the most popular Black metropolis in the world is under
siege. Black residents and Black proprietors have become the targets
of outside forces determined to bleach the Blackness out of Harlem. This, incidentally, is the same
Harlem Takeover Plan that the community was warned about for
25 years and is being fully and rapidly implemented as you read this
letter.
The Afrikan Nationalist
Pioneer Movement, a Harlem-based organization of 47years is requesting
your assistance in saving the Harlem
community for the Black resident majority. However, we are not
seeking charity. We want you to invest in Harlem by establishing a comprehensive nucleus of major
businesses for the purposes of completely supplying and servicing the
community. We know that this action would result in adults being
employed, adolescents being trained, and children being inspired.
Be assured that these
businesses which would be under your total ownership and control, are
guaranteed to not only bring Harlem
prosperity and prestige but will bring you enormous profit.
For example, although Black
people have proven to be the world’s greatest consumers,
Harlem
does not have one major department store. If Bill Cosby were to open
a family department store called Cosby’s, his popularity alone would make
it an instant success. There is no magic to the name of Macy, Gimbel, or
Bloomingdale that the name “Cosby” would not surpass. If the Black
dollar can make a white department store successful, surely it can do the
same for a Black department store.
In addition,
Harlem
is literally wide open for every kind of business imaginable. If
Mike Tyson were to open a major restaurant, Oprah Winfrey a
mega-supermarket, Eddie Murphy a full throttle men’s clothing store, etc.,
the community would respond to these enterprises en masse.
In conjunction with the
array of retail businesses, factories and plants could also be established
making products that bear your names. Whether it’s a clothing line,
athletic equipment, or food product, the list is virtually unlimited.
Paul Newman did not allow his acting career to prevent him from
manufacturing “Newman’s Own” Popcorn Kernels and Salad Oil. The
various products that Bill Cosby promotes should also be produced by him.
We question why Black youth
and adults must constantly wear apparel boasting labels with which they
cannot or should not be identified. What significance does Gucci
have to Black people that we must allow ourselves to be branded with his
name? Why must Black people support the family business of Adi
Dassler by purchasing Adidas products? Why can’t Air Jordan be exclusively “Mike” instead
of “Nike?” Why must Black feet support the
South Afrikan connection of Reebok? What right does
Calvin Klein have to hug the hips of Black women?!!!
Finally, we urge you to
purchase industrial, commercial, and residential property in
Harlem. This will enable the people of Harlem to rent from you at reasonable rates instead of
being systematically excluded or exploited by enemies and forced out of
the community. When white landlords charge $5,000 a month rent for
2000 square feet of commercial space and require six months security to
take possession, they do not have the average Black business man in mind.
When long established Black businesses find their rent suddenly tripled by
white landlords, and Asian entrepreneurs approach them to buy them out, we
call it conspiracy.
It is not that no one is
addressing these economic atrocities. We are countering them with
the Buy Black Campaign – a self-help strategy to save the community
ourselves. But because time is critical, we realize that you can
accelerate the Build Black component of the campaign, reinforce the
marginal progress that is being made, and reverse the increasing attacks
and abuses on our means of survival and way of life.
You were chosen, not
only because you clearly have the means to correct the condition, but also
because you are members of the Afrikan family. We realize that while
Hollywood
might project the myth of the individual, this country is controlled by
families. Whether the family name is Bilderberg Group, Fortune 500,
Forbes 400, WASP, Aryan Nation, Invisible Empire, Congress, Mafia, ZOG, or
the Korean Merchants Association, each member of a given family can call
on other members of the family for support in a time of need. We
belong to the Afrikan family, and we are calling on you. We call on
you knowing that celebrities of other races and nationalities continuously
respond to the needs of their people. We call on you knowing that
some of you have already responded in particular instances. Harlem,
however, deserves special consideration.
Harlem
was chosen because it has exemplified itself as the most dynamic Black
community in the Western world and has repeatedly influenced thought and
action in Black communities throughout the world. Not only are the
worldwide influences of the Apollo Theater and the Schomburg Library
legendary, every 20 years, Harlem explodes with new energy that culminates
in global revitalization.
In the 20s, the Harlem-based
massive movement of Marcus Garvey and the Harlem Renaissance ironically
influenced consciousness in Africa which
directly led to the rise of nationalism and eventual independence of many
African nations. In the 40s, the Harlem clubs Minton’s and Monroe
House became the matrix out of which a new music was born called Be-bop
which not only revolutionized the world of music but established a
standard of excellence that remains formidable to this day.
Virtually all contemporary forms of music still draw from the innovations
of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Christian, and others of that
decade. In the 60s, Harlem hosted the seminal influence of Carlos Cooks and
the startling rise of Malcolm X which subsequently sparked a worldwide
celebration of Black pride and a call for Black power.
It is now the 80s.
Harlem
has the opportunity to become a model community and guide a world of Black
communities suffering from the same form of economic exploitation.
If Harlem is taken over, it will be one
of the greatest tragedies of all time. We know it can be saved.
We of the Afrikan Nationalist Pioneer Movement trust that you will accept
this challenge and respond to a critical need. It has often been the
courage and cooperation of a few to alter the course of history.
Racially yours,
P.S. For further information, write:
Afrikan Nationalist Pioneer Movement, 29 W. 125th St.
New York, N.Y.
10027-4512, (212)534-6841
Publication
Name: NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 17, 1988
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