Page 2 The Skanner August 3, 2016
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
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Opinion
From Boycotts to Buying From Black Businesses
“Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful
with a few things; I will put you
in charge of many things.” Mat-
thew 25:21
I
n recent days we have
heard much about eforts
to demonstrate our frus-
tration and anger about the
killing of Alton Sterling and
Philando Castile. Boycotting
malls and various stores and
depositing funds into Black-
owned banks, are important
and have had some positive
efects. We must do more of
the same, but in a more strate-
gic and organized manner.
Are Black folks, the recipi-
ents of $1.2 trillion annually,
poor stewards of this tremen-
dous amount of money and,
thus, unable to obtain eco-
nomic empowerment because
of our slothfulness? Is that
why we ind ourselves in “out-
er darkness,” continuously
attempting to “show” others
how much money we spend
instead of redirecting more of
our money to ourselves?
The Parable of the Talents is
quite itting for Black people,
in general; of course we it the
description of the last stew-
ard who buried his talent in
the ground and did not multi-
ply it. Unfortunately, we have
used our billions in income to
buy everything someone else
makes, no matter the cost.
If we cannot demonstrate
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
our ability to manage the re-
sources we have, the small
things, how will we ever
gain authority over the larg-
er things? How will we ever
change the behavior of cor-
porations when it comes to
supporting us the way they do
other groups? If we refuse to
“
of us are inally getting it. In
Atlanta, there was a call for
Black folks to open accounts
at Citizens Trust Bank. My
question was: Why would it
take two dead brothers to get
Black people in a majority
Black city to put their money
in a Black bank that has been
in their community since
1921?
Don’t get me wrong; I am
glad to see the efort, and I
trust the bank will not be used
as an ATM machine where
folks put money in on Friday
and take it all out on Monday.
I am, however, bewildered
one that gets our people to re-
spond, not only do I applaud
our people, I also applaud
Killer Mike. I had a chance
to speak with him on the Carl
Nelson radio show and he im-
pressed me as a brother who
is not egotistical and not con-
cerned about being the HNIC
in this issue. He was very re-
spectful and open to learning
more about the history of his
eforts and willing to listen to
recommendations. I appreci-
ated that and look forward to
working with him.
Back to the stewardship is-
sue and how it relates to our
If we cannot demonstrate our ability to manage the re-
sources we have, the small things, how will we ever gain
authority over the larger things?
shop at Target, for instance,
but go to Walmart instead,
what’s the gain? What’s the
impact of staying away from
the mall for a day or two, or
even a week, and then return
to spend all the money we
withheld?
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
stated in his inal speech, “I
call upon you to take your
money out of the banks down-
town and deposit your money
in Tri-State Bank. We want a
‘bank-in’ movement in Mem-
phis.” That was 1968. Here in
2016, in response to the mur-
ders of two Black men some
over someone having to die
before we followed through
on such a practical solution
by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
nearly ity years ago. Is this
just another fad, another tem-
porary gesture of outrage, or
just another feel-good sign of
our frustration?
Additionally, I know “for
everything there is a season,”
and the efort taking place
now in Atlanta at Citizens
Bank, started by noted entre-
preneur and rapper Killer
Mike, is the right message.
Yes, there have been other
messengers, but if he is the
reactions not only to police
shootings of Black people, but
also to our overall position in
this country. Boycotts, if sus-
tained, can work, but “work”
to do what? Yes, they may turn
the tide of recalcitrant corpo-
rations that only care about
our dollars, which we give
to them without reciproci-
ty. However, the “work” that
any economic sanction efort
should and must produce is
economic empowerment for
Black people.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Poll Shows Voters Want More Financial Regulation
O
n July 21, the irst fed-
eral agency dedicated
to serving the inancial
needs of consumers
will be ive years old. Created
in the atermath of the worst
inancial calamity since the
1930’s Great Depression, the
Consumer Financial Protec-
tion Bureau (CFPB) was creat-
ed through the enactment of
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform Act.
When voters were recently
asked their thoughts about
CFPB, 3 out of 4 said that i-
nancial accountability and
tough regulations are still
needed. The poll, jointly com-
missioned by the Center for
Responsible Lending (CRL)
and Americans for Financial
Reform (AFR), posed a series
of question to 1,000 likely vot-
ers. Since 2012, this annual
national telephone poll has
been performed by Lake Re-
search Partners.
When consumers were
asked whether more inan-
cial regulation was needed,
69 percent of all respondents
said yes. Only 12 percent be-
lieved that these irms have
changed
their
practices
enough to not warrant fur-
ther regulation. Even when
partisan preferences were
factored into this answer, 52
percent of Republications and
68 percent of Independents
Charlene
Crowell
NNPA
Columnist
agreed. The highest percent-
age of partisan agreement on
this question came from Dem-
ocrats with 84 percent.
Voters were also asked
whether more inancial over-
“
• An additional $7.75 billion
of additional consumer re-
lief was returned for can-
celled debts, principal re-
ductions and other actions;
• For the irst time, debt col-
lection companies that
plague 30 million consum-
ers are now under federal
supervision; and
• Ask CFPB, the Bureau’s
online resource, has been
accessed by 10 million con-
sumers.
Over the past year, CFPB’s
enforcement actions includ-
ed a $531 million default
judgment against the now-de-
funct Corinthian Colleges
for engaging in a predato-
ry lending scheme, and two
separate actions involving
discriminatory auto inanc-
ing by Toyota Motor Credit
($21.9 million) and Honda Fi-
nance Corporation ($24 mil-
lion). Both auto inance irms
charged minority borrowers
higher interest rates without
regard to their credit
worthiness or other
objective criteria. The
Equal Credit Oppor-
tunity Act makes such
actions illegal.
Additionally in early July,
a joint investigation by CFPB
and the Department of Justice
resulted in a $10.6 million ine
for redlining practices that
harmed Black and other mi-
nority consumers. Bancorp
South, operating in 8 states,
settled the complaint ater the
agencies found it instructed
loan oicers to “turn down”
minority applicants more
quickly than White appli-
cants and not to provide cred-
it assistance to ‘borderline’
applicants that other appli-
cants may have received.
For the irst time, debt collection com-
panies that plague 30 million consum-
ers are now under federal supervision
sight was needed. Among
all respondents, 66 percent
agreed, including nearly half
of Republicans (49 percent).
Sixty-three percent of inde-
pendents and 85 percent of
Democrats said that more
oversight was needed.
If anyone wonders why con-
sumer support still strongly
favors inancial regulation,
perhaps the experiences of
approximately 859,900 con-
sumers who received $3.4
billion in restitution since CF-
PB’s creation is a reason. As
of March 31 of this year, other
CFPB accomplishments in its
ive-year history include:
“The premise that lies at
the very heart of our mis-
sion is that consumers should
have someone standing on
their side to see that they are
treated fairly in the inancial
marketplace,” noted Richard
Cordray, CFPB director. “Each
day, we work to accomplish
the goals of renewing people’s
trust in the marketplace.”
Cordray added: “These goals
not only support consumers
in all inancial circumstanc-
es, but also help responsible
businesses compete on a level
playing ield, which helps to
reinforce the stability of our
economy as a whole.”
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com