Opinion
If Bill Gates Were Black…
If Bill Gates were black, it would be less important that President Barack Obama is black. This is no slight to President Obama. It is an acknowledgment that while the route to success has changed, for too many in the black and minority community, their game plan has not.
For much of the past century, African Americans pursued social justice through government intervention, the ballot box, and ultimately elective office. While the number of black mayors and elected officials in this country is impressive, the number of black entrepreneurs is not. As a result, job creation in underserved communities, and among the black middle class, is stagnant.
What Black America needs is a business image of itself that matches its political image. It needs images of black prosperity that have been attained through hard work, a level playing field, and inspired innovation, leading to products people want to buy. Sure we need jobs, but what we really need are more people like Steve Jobs—or Bill Gates.
Doing this would enable black communities to enjoy the ripple effects we see in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Mass. (around MIT), Salt Lake City, and other hubs of mainstream entrepreneurship.
