The Myth and Irrationality of Black Capitalism

The National Response to Richard M. Nixon's Black Capitalism Initiative

“…Moreover, although OMBE provided only limited assistance to Black businesspeople and none of the numerous independent proposals for Black economic development came to full fruition, the period's discourse regarding Black capitalism helped Nixon accomplish his larger ideological objective of "containing" potential domestic Black radicalism. Despite the efforts of Foreman (1969), R. L. Allen (1969), Boggs (1971), andOfari (1970), most African Americans apparently either gravitated toward the various derivatives of Black capitalism or toward Brimmer's call for complete integration into American society.…”

“…For his part, Boggs, besides merely reiterating Marxist dogma, did attempt to provide specific strategies on how African Americans could develop noncapitalist economic structures. In the rural South, Boggs (1971) proposed that African Americans "undertake a massive land reform movement with the aim of forcing the federal government to turn these plowed-under lands over to the millions of Blacks still in the South, to be developed by Black community organizations" (p. 157). In the urban North, where most African Americans resided, Boggs called for "a similar campaign for land reform and acquisition" based on "the principle of eminent domain" (p. 157).…”

“…Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Boggs's (1971) noncapitalist vision for Black America was his desire to fully incorpo-rate Black "street people" or "untouchables" into the planning and implementation of his larger goals for land reform and acquisition (p. 158). Although Boggs did not offer specific ways to accomplish this, he correctly observed that substantive African American economic development would have to include the active participation and support of all social classes within the Black community.…”

Marketing Politics and Resistance: Mobilizing Black Pain in National Football League Publicity

“…The term "Black capitalism" was promulgated in the late-1960s by Richard Morehouse Nixon, and many Black scholars were highly critical of it at the time (Bluestone, 1969;Boggs, 1970;Booms & Ward, 1969;Tate, 1970). Nixon saw Black radicals as an internal threat to national sovereignty during the cold war, and so he offered Black capitalism as a means of pacifying radical Black activism (Weems & Randolph, 2001a, 2001b.…”

An Examination of the Perceived Effectiveness of Community Development Corporations: A Pilot Study

“…Other social activists and legislators attempted to initiate policies which would encourage entrepreneurship and small business development in poor neighborhoods, especially minority communities (Cross, 1971). Critics of this approach, however, argued that the low level of purchasing power in poor neighborhoods, coupled with the inability of small businesses to expand their markets to the more prosperous external economy, rendered the entrepreneurship strategy less than satisfactory (Blaustein and Faux, 1972;Boggs, 1971).…”