In the video “not black enough,” DJ Envy talks about building wealth in the black community, among other things. Building wealth will require building more of our own businesses. In order to do so, we’ve got to keep our dollars within our community. This video, “Why are Black People Poor?” looks at the three main reasons our dollars go elsewhere:
- NOT ENOUGH BUSINESS OWNERS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY;
- NOT ENOUGH SUPPORT FOR THE FEW BLACK BUSINESSES WE DO HAVE;
- WE SPEND OUR MONEY ON THE WRONG THINGS — e.g., we spend more on clothes than we do on education. (But, much of this may be related to keeping up with the Joneses. According to Wharton finance professor Nikolai Roussanov “If you’re a middle-class black,” for example, “it seems like in order to be perceived by whites and other blacks as relatively well off, you have to show you have money….” “You have to spend more on things that are observable.” (“Conspicuous Consumption and Race: Who Spends More on What” University of Pennsylvania)
