The Necessity of a Black Wall Street

Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by admin in Community Focus, Global News

Imagine over 600 successful businesses including churches, restaurants, grocery stores movie theaters, hospitals, banks, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half dozen private airplanes and even a bus system all destroyed, along with 3000 people killed. It didn’t happen in some far off country in the Middle East, nor did the carnage take place in a poor African or Eastern European country. The incident took place in Tulsa Oklahoma, in one of the most affluent Black communities of the time, right here in America. It was June 1, 1921 when Black Wall Street was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious whites.

However, the bloody event has not been forgotten. In fact, Black Wall Street lives and continues to grow right here in Chicago as well as in other cities. The necessity of a Black Wall Street is underlined by new leaders and new efforts, determined to revive this African American economic movement. Black Wall Street came about based on need, says Ron Carter, Chairman of Black Wall Street Chicago. “It was frustration about what’s not happening in the Black community. We needed a vision as to what’s going on in our community,” Carter said about why Black Wall Street Districts are necessary. “We came up with, we want to control our business strip. Black people need it,” Carter says. “We need a vision of what our community can be like,” he added.

Black Wall Street was created to sustain and strengthen Black businesses in the Black community and in other communities through economic development. To this end, the State of Illinois House of Representatives and Senate recognized the potential to recreate on Stony Island Avenue and 75th Streets east of the Dan Ryan Expressway, the positive aspects of the historic Black Wall Street in Tulsa, by issuing resolutions proclaiming the areas Black Wall Street Chicago Districts. “It’s important for Black businesses to support each other. It’s important that Stony Island businesses support each other and keep black dollars in the Black community,” says Angela Williams, executive director of the South East Chamber of Commerce.

The mission of Black Wall Street District Chicago is to enhance and strengthen Illinois’ premiere African American  spiritual arts and commerce district through on going promotion, advocacy, business development, and community relations; to make the Black Wall Street District a vital clean safe and attractive business district for the enjoyment of members and visitors and to institute and maintain a method of exchanging and interchanging business information.

Creating a Black Wall Street district is necessary because, “When we go outside our community, we take away from what our ancestors worked so hard to create,” Williams said. There are also Black Wall Street Districts established in California; Minnesota and Georgia. The organization’s National Summit Agenda will be held in Chicago this year August 20-23 at various locations throughout the city