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July 14, 2022

545: The Alpha Mission - A New Vision of Black Wall Streets Across the Country!

How the "JUST DO BUSINESS" approach is the pathway for ending the generational poverty of black communities across the country, by proving that the Free Enterprise System works for everyone.

Imagine how much better our country will be when we prove that the Free Enterprise System works for everyone, through the voluntary cooperation of people of good will.

 

From the Abolitionist to the Civil Rights movement- there has never been a movement that fights for equal ECONOMIC opportunity until now. It’s called ALPHA MISSION.

 

Thanks to some of history’s great thinkers, we have made progress in the past, and that is replicable today if we do the same things that they did.

 

Robert Blackwell Jr. joins the program today to outline how the "JUST DO BUSINESS" approach is the pathway for ending the generational poverty of black communities across the country, by proving that the Free Enterprise System works for everyone.

 

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Transcript

Brian Nichols  0:05  
focusing on winning arguments. We're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, happy Thursday there folks find here on The Brian Nichols Show. And, of course, another fun filled episode is called as your humble host. Today, I'm so excited for today's conversation because he is going to talk about an alpha mission. What mission is that? Don't worry, we'll talk about that in a second. But before we get there, I want to go ahead and give a shout out to today's sponsor and that is the expat money show, head over to the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash expat where you can join our good friend Nick calthorpe Or he'll tell you how he can help protect that money you work so hard to earn from ambulance chasing lawyers, nefarious creditors and greedy unjust governments. And by the way, you head over to the Brian Nichols show.com forward slash expat not only will you find the amazing McHale Thorpeness his podcast, but also you will find the expat money summit five days 30 expert speakers November 5 through November 11th. And by the way, it'll be keynoted by former Congressman Ron Paul, please head over to the Brian Nichols show.com. Forward slash expat and get your free tickets today. All right, folks. So talking about that alpha mission, we're talking about bringing a free enterprise approach to Wall Street talking about black Americans getting back in the free enterprise game. Robert Blackwell. He is on that mission. Thank you for joining us. Today's episode, The Brian Nichols Show.

Robert Blackwell Jr.  1:37  
Thanks so much. Good to see you, Brian. Good to see

Brian Nichols  1:39  
you, Robert. And thank you for joining us, because yeah, you're doing some awesome work there with this alpha mission. But before we dig into that, do us a favor, introduce yourself to The Brian Nichols Show audience and what brought you into talking about bringing free enterprise Brett? Back to Black Wall Street?

Robert Blackwell Jr.  1:55  
Well, what I would if I had to kind of describe my own background, I kind of described myself two ways. One I described myself as an unemployable math misfit. I went to school and studied math. I've had a number of businesses, I was a trader for a long time. So I just kind of fun study math, history and economics. And the other is I describe myself as a radical black libertarian. So I would describe myself as a hardcore libertarian.

Brian Nichols  2:26  
All right, well, the audience is gonna love to hear that. Yeah, Libertarian, they'll, they'll appreciate that. And let's talk about the free enterprise approach that you're bringing to black businesses, specifically with this alpha mission. Now, this is something that your your your team there, Don brought to my attention, I'm so excited to bring this to the audience's attention. And that is the alpha mission, which here's the goals. Number one $2 billion in black businesses, number two, a 50% drop in black crime number three 1000 Black students to pass a calculus test. And number four, the modern Black Wall Street's built around the United States called digital innovation and commercialization campuses. This is an amazing vision, and you're doing it through the lens of Yeah, as a radical libertarian, a free enterprise approach. Talk to us what that looks like?

Robert Blackwell Jr.  3:15  
Well, if if you look at kind of the this is a study I did based on the 2010 census. And I think it shows that the that the lack of business participation leads to the community wellness gap. So here's kind of the numbers again, this is from the 2010 census. If you take all the revenues of companies by ethnicities, majority owned companies would have been 9.4 tree and women a tree and Asians 455 billion Hispanics children 76 billion and blacks 98 billion, even though blacks have double the educational achievement on average as Hispanics. But that's not even a real number. It is mostly a fake corporate passthru number, where people want to get credit for these minority business programs

without really doing any business. So the outcomes of that are that blacks as of 2018 were the only group that made less than they did in the year 2000. Black boys are the least likely of any group to escape poverty, that 70% of middle class black children will likely fall out of the middle class. So if you ask yourself the question is Where in the world are poor people healthy, educated and safe? And conversely, where affluent people regardless of their race, not healthy, educated and safe, the answer is nowhere. So the issue is one of poverty. How do people go from poverty to prosperity, and there is only one way and that an entrepreneurial led economic activity that leads to the appreciation of education, and social capital. Social capital is when you reach back and you pull people from your community along. But more importantly, you create an aspirational roadmap for your young people. So they know where to place their bets. So with the Alpha mission is, I describe it as the fourth grade American movement. The first great American movement was obviously the founding of the Republic, the American Revolution, the first history and culture in the first country in the world that was formed, based on the government being a servant to the people, not vice versa. The second was to remove the stain of slavery from the country, and that was the abolitionist movement. These things tend to happen once a century, the 20th century was about what I call it, the one set of rules movement, or the civil rights movement. So everything there was about having one set of rules. I believe that in the 21st century, what we need to do is to have a movement of people of goodwill, dedicated to proving that the free enterprise system works for everybody. Because we would not been had been the first country in history to lose our freedoms. So if you look kind of back through our history, and 1895, Booker T, Washington gave a very famous speech at the Atlanta exposition. The essence of that speech was nobody can protect or feed their family based on your sympathy, excuse, I'm sorry, excuse me. Yeah, the what he said was an 8095. America's never going to be what it can be, until blacks get included in the economy. He said, We don't have to live around you, but we do have to be a part of the economy. And the industrialists of those days, the leading business people responded to Booker T. Washington, they were not prescriptive. So they answered Booker T Washington's call to create a greater country. He wasn't asking anybody to feel sorry for black people. So Julius Rosenwald, who was the CEO of Sears responded to Booker T. Washington, they built 5300 schools in the south, which is how blacks got educated. But Booker T, Washington said, the purpose of education is really twofold, to teach you how to be a good citizen and to prepare you to be a productive member of the economy. So after the schools, they established the Negro business leads, in fact, it was the black community that built those schools. And they that is how blacks became the trades people of the South. The next thing is they created the Negro business League, out of the Negro business league came the famous Black Wall Street or what's called the Freedom colonies. So imagine 110 years ago, in the middle of the Jim Crow South, you had prosperous black communities. In fact, the most famous of the Freedom colonies was in Tulsa, Oklahoma was called the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was started by a couple of black entrepreneurs out of Mississippi. And within a decade, they created a prosperous black community. And in fact, there was they had their own airport, which was only one of two in Oklahoma at the time. And in fact, blacks own private airplanes in greater proportion than whites did. So to me, it proves two things. One is that the free enterprise system works when given a chance. But the government has to do its job in protecting its citizens equally. Obviously, it didn't at that time. So thus, you had the Tulsa race massacre. So there were 81 Freedom colonies all around the South. In fact, the height of black business in this country was between 1910 and 1930. The height of black education was between 1940 and 1960.

In 1995, I sold a company and I decided I was going to buy a house in a black neighborhood. So what I thought we needed was economic integration where everybody else thought we needed racial integration. So I bought a bunch of land. I bought a bunch of land, I built houses and named the houses after famous African Americans. And today, that neighborhood is what I envisioned it would be, which is an economically integrated black neighborhood, and things are better for everybody. And listen, I'm not that smart or not all that rich. But I think economics like gravity tends to work the same way for everybody. So in today, that neighborhood is what I envision it would be, which is an economically integrated black neighborhood. In fact, this is the only black neighborhood in the country I know of that is better off today than it was in the year 1967. So the other thing that happened in the 60s, frankly, were President Kennedy in 1962, gave a speech entitled, we choose to go to the moon. He said, We choose to go to the moon in this decade, not because it's easy, but because it's hard. And it's a mission worthy of our best effort. That mission, created the opportunity for the black female mathematicians featured in the movie Hidden Figures. And then Neil Armstrong said, I'm not getting into that rocket until Katherine Johnson, specifically mapped my way back home. So one of the things is why should people care? If you're not black? Why should you care about the economic participation of the black community? In my view, it is because the far left gets its moral authority from the black community. And if we prove that the free enterprise system works, it will show that that's the best way to take people from poverty to prosperity. Yes. In fact, I did a tour of India in the year 2009, I got a chance to meet with somebody in the central bank. And they kind of gave me the story of India. They said, The after 19, excuse me, 1991, they figured out socialism didn't work, they started to free their economy, the government started doing business with their small entrepreneurs, which prepared them for the international market. And then US business just did business with capable Asian entrepreneurs. They didn't have any diversity and commitment are any of those special programs, they just did business. And in a period of 20 years, India and China took 750 million people out of poverty. In fact, during the same period, blacks went deeper into poverty. So what I think is that when blacks participate in the economy, in proportion to our talent, things will not only be better for the black community, we will solve the problems of crime and bad health and in poor education, just by greater participation in the free enterprise system. And I believe that this is a mission that we all need to participate in.

Brian Nichols  12:49  
Thank you for that. That was an awesome rundown of the history but also specifically how it all ties together. And yeah, you see, I mean, not only does the free enterprise system work, but you just laid out one example, there are countless examples of exactly what you're referring to where we've adopted the free market systems into areas that traditionally you would never think would adopt those types of solutions. And yet it has yielded the most positive outcomes that I think a lot of us we in the free market world would expect. But it seems to surprise a lot of these experts nowadays, Robert, I don't know why that is. But let's um, let's quickly talk about the long term impacts of building up a stronger, more vibrant black community. And you go back to what you were talking about earlier, 1910 to 1930. That was, at that time, really the peak of black business? I don't see that necessarily not happening again, I think that it absolutely has the the groundwork laid out for this to be a great time. And there was one quote that you'd said where you mentioned, it's time to show young black men pathways to success, apart from sports, entertainment, or crime. And I think that's profound, because you're bringing in the entrepreneurial spirit back to the black community and bringing back the spirit of that 1910 to 1930s perspective. So what do you see as that long term vision? Where do you see the black community going?

Robert Blackwell Jr.  14:15  
Well, in business, you need two things there supply and demand. If we fix the demand problems supply problem will take care of itself. So what I think that we have to do is to get people to come on this journey with us and just do business. If we can get both government and the private sector to just do business in the modern parts of the economy that create wealth. Blacks, just like every other group in this country will go from poverty to prosperity, and it will be an offset for inefficient government spend on social services and criminal justice. And frankly, poor returns on education.

Brian Nichols  15:01  
Talk to us about the long term initiatives to the alpha mission, if you would, because I know that you have a long term vision there as well. So if you could outline that for us.

Robert Blackwell Jr.  15:08  
Sure. So in we've created a kind of plans by region. So the goal is, if we can, we are in a 20, we have a $20 trillion economy. So there is blacks barely participate in the economy. So if we can get people to just do business, with black entrepreneurs, that are right, they can deliver value. And then in exchange for that opportunity, they have to take on the responsibility of really three things. Number one, identify a clear value proposition because if you can't do that, you can't be in business. Number two, and in exchange for that opportunity, you have to take on the responsibility of pulling other people forward. So the black company should be the prime and the subs, the mentors and the protegees. And then lastly, you take on what I call some microfinance Community Enrichment responsibility. So we fund things we fund small black IT companies, we fund something called mowers and blowers. It's microfinance for cutting grass and moving snow. And the other we want to do is it's something called a housing for tutoring exchange, where we give honorable black college students and the people that get hired through these initiatives, really, these for profit initiatives that we're creating a place to live in exchange for mentoring, and tutoring five people, it is social capital, that tells young people where to place their bets. Right now, the market is telling young black people place your bets on sports and entertainment, because that's the only vehicle of success that they can see in the market.

Brian Nichols  17:01  
I had a conversation back earlier this past week with Kathy risin wits, and we were talking about what's wrong with our men. And what you're talking about is giving actually, one of the answers to one of the problems we identified is this lack of purpose, this lack of meaning, what does it mean to be a man and I think, to your point we were just raising here is that a lot of men have not really found meaning, except for in those areas that they thought they were supposed to find meaning. And I think part of what you're you're expressing here in what the vision for the Alpha mission also helps make an environment that makes it okay to embrace alternative waves of being a guy. And I think that talking about the changing mentality. From a guy perspective ticks, I know this is impacting a lot of men, particularly and I'm sure it's impacting a lot of black men as well. So the fact that this is creating an environment for us to not only look at things differently, but also redefine the way that we approach masculinity and the way that we approach our relationships with each other in giving us more of an opportunity to grow instead of fostering maybe false notions of what we thought it meant to be a man that was based on years past.

Robert Blackwell Jr.  18:07  
Well, I think that if you I'm a big fan of stoic philosophy. And if you look at the Bible, or you look at certain philosophies or different religions, they basically tell you the same thing. They're it being a man, in my opinion, means that you take responsibility for the people that are in your care, your family, your neighborhood, to me, if you're running around boasting, driving fast cars, and smoking dope, and, you know, beating up people, you're an immature male, you're not a man. So in my view, is we don't need to do anything new. There's always been good people and bad people. And if you're a mature man, you you think about your responsibilities to others, your families, your community society in general. And, you know, there's no different from frankly, from women, but boys need good male role models. Yes, if the role models are people, and too often this is the case, in neighborhoods where crime is a primary economic opportunity. In fact, this is really what the issue when it comes to the black community. We have to separate economic opportunity from criminal activity once you do that, so if we fix that problem, every other problem that we've been dealing with will go away.

Brian Nichols  19:48  
It I mean, it is that simple, frankly, and thank you, Robert, for giving such an eloquent answer there. So how about this we are unfortunately already getting hard pressed for time or at that 20 minute mark. It goes fast. So with that being said, we obviously want folks to have a call to action if there is one that you can go ahead and direct us towards. But also, if you could give us your final thoughts here for the audience, particular things you want the audience make sure they take away from today's episode.

Robert Blackwell Jr.  20:12  
Here's their two things. One is you can go to Alpha mission.com. But number two, it is important that remember to remember that we have a special country. And we all have a responsibility, regardless of our skin tone, to create opportunities for those that are going to come behind us. And if we work together, people of goodwill regardless of your skin tone, we can solve some of these problems that we have. And we will protect the country in my view that believe in our call collectivism, I'll just call it that.

Brian Nichols  20:54  
All right, well, there you go. Folks, please do me a favor guys. If you enjoyed today's episode, I know I did, please share it and give it and when you do, please make sure you go ahead and reach out to Robert and tell him you enjoy today's episode. And also, please Like if you're interested in learning more about Alpha mission, I'll make sure I include all those links in the show notes. I'll make it easy for you. If you're on the podcast version, all you got to do click the artwork in the podcast catcher, it'll bring you right over to the Brian Nichols show.com where yes, you can find the entire transcript of today's episode. Plus, you can find the video version of the program. And while you're over in the video version of the program on YouTube, make sure you hit that subscribe button and that little notification bell and I mentioned it earlier. Yes. Earlier this week, I talked with Kathy risin wits, and we were talking about what's happening to our men. So I teased it here in this conversation. I'll include that link for you guys right here below and I'll see you over there. But with that being said, Folks, for joining us and enjoy the rest of your Thursday. With that being said, it's Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Robert Blackwell. We'll see you tomorrow.

Robert Blackwell Jr.  21:49  
Thank you, Brian, for

Unknown Speaker  21:51  
listening to The Brian Nichols Show. Find more episodes at the Brian Nichols show.com

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Robert Blackwell Jr.Profile Photo

Robert Blackwell Jr.

Chicago’s EKI-Digital CEO, Robert Blackwell Jr. keeps gaining steam and forging
ahead to revolutionize the lives of Black and Hispanic communities. His most recent accolade?
The Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Award which honors local African American men who
inspire others through their vision and leadership, incomparable achievements, and exceptional
participation in community service.
His friends and colleagues nominated him because of a new
mission he’s been on since the civil unrest after the murder of
George Floyd. Blackwell is traveling the country gaining support
for a plan to develop Black Wall Streets, cut Black crime by 50
percent and spur 2 Billion dollars in Black Business in cities
across the nation.
We encourage you to interview Blackwell and share with the
American public how this unique plan will lead Black and
Hispanic Americans from poverty to prosperity. Blackwell says,
“It’s time to show young Black men pathways to success apart from sports, entertainment or
crime.” Blackwell’s goal is to create and find future technology leaders and connect them with
American companies.