The Howard Dean Campaign: Black Progressive Lessons

Revisiting for Relevancy. First published May 2012.

Opportunity for Progressive Black People

My name is Marlin Adams. I'm working on the Howard Dean for President campaign as an Outreach Coordinator. My primary area of operation is Harlem, New York. This is my first presidential campaign, and only the second political campaign that I've worked on since a local activist ran for Manhattan District Attorney back in the mid-80's.

My reasons for working on this campaign essentially boil down to two key issues: 1) the active pursuit of a "new world order" by this country's right-wing which has resulted in an unprecedented level of corporate corruption and monopoly control over the dissemination of information which facilitates everything from Enron to the Iraq lies; and 2) the level of grassroots activism that Dean's campaign has inspired.

I specifically want to talk to you about the second issue and how it may impact the nature of Black politics from this day forward.

I am an entrepreneur and everyday I faced the challenge of waking up and trying to figure out how to create cash flow. Out of this experience I have come to know what most Black entrepreneurs in most businesses find out sooner or later: you need an affinity-based business infrastructure in order to be relevant in the business world. A business infrastructure is simply the ability to 1-finance, 2-produce/manufacture, 3-distribute to retail, 4-retail your goods, services and ideas.  Not terribly complicated stuff but without such infrastructure, you lack the components to be competitive and relevant.

I'll give you an example: as an entertainment attorney, my ability to attract clients has everything to do with my ability to plug my clients into an infrastructure that can help them achieve their goals. For Black and White clients alike, the knowledge that Black people don't have a business infrastructure that can finance and ascribe value to film, music or television products makes all Black professionals irrelevant unless they bear the imprimatur of corporate America. Take a tour of the major companies in Hollywood and witness the virtual absence of Black professionals. As a career option, the entertainment business provides unacceptably low opportunities for Black professional employment (this category doesn't include talent).

As a Black entrepreneur, my business ventures have also been inexorably linked to this goal of developing a business infrastructure committed to the prosperity of the larger Black community in terms of jobs, careers and civic efficacy. Unfortunately, this is the road less traveled. It is an unpaved road, overgrown with weeds, trees and bush that requires a machete to advance in baby steps. The paved road that is traversable quickly and conveniently does not lead to the development of a Black infrastructure. It certainly makes the Sony's and Warner Brothers and the IBM's stronger but it does not give Blacks the ability to create value for our goods, services or ideas. There are plenty of diamonds, gold and oil in Africa but the presence of those first-world resources has not changed the third-world status of Africans worldwide.

This absence of a business infrastructure makes Black people worldwide volunteer slaves to a system of valuation that devalues our contributions and exploits our needs. We are essentially permanently dependent on this system of valuation run by Wall Street, the Corporate media and the two dominant political parties. In an interdependent world, Black people are simply dependent. The only way to break this cycle of dependence is through the concerted efforts of an engaged and determined grassroots activism and cooperative competitiveness.

 

Which brings me back to where I started. I support the Howard Dean candidacy because it is being driven by grassroots activism. The thousands of Internet savvy activists that have raised money, created websites, distributed flyers, created commercials and recruited their friends, family and neighbors represents the type of catalyst that can put the phrase "we the people" back into local and national politics. It can, by the way, be the beginning of a Black political movement away from dependence politics. We don't have to depend on the political parties and the corporate media to determine our priorities, our values or our candidates. We don't have to settle for media and self-appointed "Black leaders" who spend more time in front of the camera than they do advocating and  building an infrastructure that can assure the prosperity of the worldwide Black community. A franchise is nice, but if you don't own the formula for Coke or make Cadillacs, you simply have a job and you can't feed the aspiration of a great people with a few jobs for the select few.

 

Irrespective of what ultimately happens with the Dean candidacy, it does presents a national opportunity and a framework for progressive Black people who recognize the need to shake off this terminal dependency and act on those things that can develop important components of this business infrastructure that we need. The grassroots group, NYC for Dean asked me, a political neophyte and social activist, to be involved with their efforts to reach out to the grassroots of the Black community because they are not part of the game of dependency that characterizes the political landscape locally, nationally and internationally. They are open to ideas from "we the people" and are enthusiastic about the possibilities inherent in an engaged grassroots. Dean's candidacy provides the framework, we the Black people who believe in our ability to be players in the international flow of goods, services and ideas, have to step on up! Our time has come to shape a new political and economic dynamic informed by our role as American citizens, and our aspirations as Black people for freedom from dependence politics.

 

Jesse Jackson’s 1984 Strategy Revisited

 

If you haven’t heard, the big news about Dean isn't Dean, it’s the rash of White, middle-class, educated, youngish, underemployed and without jobs volunteers that are setting up websites, holding meetings, planning rallies and raising money. This effort is totally self-initiated. These Deanites did not get a call from Dean asking for support. They showed up at the campaign with the sweltering desire to defeat the Bush Junta.

 

Not since Jesse's '84 run has the Black community been as energized as the Deanites are now. I don't think Dean can generate that type of enthusiasm among Black folks. But I do think that Black people can take advantage of the Dean phenomena.

 

The political energy in this country is rising daily. The Deanites are on the move and they are not letting traditional politics stand in their way. The grassroots African American community can ride this wave to infuse our own political lives with this grassroots do-it-yourselfism. Not only do we have a chance to introduce a New Candidate to New Progressive Voices in the African American body politic, we have the opportunity to build long lasting networks of regular folks that can make self-initiated activism an ongoing part of our lifestyle. It’s the only way to address the deep-seeded Dependency that continues to plague our collective efforts to progress.

 

So, our appeal is not based on what Dean will do for us. Our appeal should be based on what we want to use Dean's campaign to do for ourselves. I think there is a stronger audience of AAs in the community that want to hear that message. I think we can energize both regular voters and new voters with a 21st Century message that emphasizes Black action on Black problems.

 

We have our own agenda, money, troops and resources. We intend to pursue public policy that benefits our needs and accomplishes our goals. We will decide who gets our support and who will benefit from our collective efforts, and WE WILL CONTACT THEM! We will not be waiting for anybody to court us because we are tired of waiting around in someone's back pocket. We are an activated constituency that intends to pursue our agenda along with every other American constituency. Our loyalty is to our families, our communities, our nation.

 

The Dean campaign is our first opportunity in the new century to revamp our traditional relationship to power and politics. Those of us on this site should consider developing the group into an "Executive Committee" that takes an overarching look at our politics, our lives in the various cities on an ongoing basis, create a fund, develops agendas and use that money and people-power to empower our local person to pursue our agenda. We can motivate our troops with an ACTION MESSAGE.

 

We can't out promise the major parties, or out rhyme the local soothsayer. We can, however, put our energy, our money, our ideas, IN ACTION, with or without support from the usual suspects.

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Entrepreneurialism in Africa

 

I'm a Black man from Harlem, USA, and I've been in, on, involved with the People of Africa for 30 years. First as a young film distributor trying to fulfill the organizing moto of his ambitious Startup to bring "Three dimensional Images & Stories from the African Diaspora" to the wider diaspora audience, and now as an Angel Investor in the Digital Economy currently burgeoning in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, South Africa and a few others.

My efforts are focused on Esports. I'm bringing my 30 years of business experience as an Entertainment Attorney, Producer and Film Distributor, and a few dollars to bear on the rapidly developing esports ecosystem that is growing in Accra and other regions of Ghana.

An "Angel Investor" comes right after Friends and Family on the investment totem pole. We bring a lot of expertise that, quite frankly, is as if not more important than money in the beginning life of a good idea. The term "Angel"  is used to represent the leap-of-faith that it takes for a third party to invest in an entrepreneur with what sounds to the Angel investor like a good idea. The idea could just be a well thought-out business plan, or it could be the Organizer of a large group of enthusiastic Gamers, who, with the right advice from people with the right expertise, could become CEO of a million dollar Esports company in three years.

Esports is a new industry. It started with Gamers playing on consoles against the computer. Then the Internet allowed players from around the world to play together. The industry has gotten a lot of traction in the United States, Europe and Asia, with multi-million dollar prize pools, major consumer goods companies, big time Venture Capital firms and famous athletes investing millions as Team Owners, Publishers, Game Developers, Stadium and Venue Owners, Marketing and Advertising Agencies, Broadcasters and more.

Esports in Africa is gaining traction. The ecosystem of Players, Publishers, Platforms, Audiences and Sponsors, is beginning to come together, particularly in Ghana where there is already a steady diet of events, tournaments and competitions that are attracting audiences and local business. The opportunity is ripe for Angel Investors that have expertise in law, accounting, logistics, telecommunications, project management, corporate operations, advertising and marketing, sales, talent management, and more.

As an Angel Investor from the United States, the currency differential allows me to invest money that goes a long way in Ghana. For instance, the median (half working people make more, half make less) monthly salary in Ghana is roughly 4500 cedis, which converts to about $800.00 US dollars. In a business that is people driven, you don't have to be a billionaire to have a substantial impact on the efforts of a serious and committed entrepreneur with a plan. 

My basic income allows me to contribute substantially to the operations of the ventures with which I am involved. It is almost like getting in on the beginning of famous sports franchises like the NFL or the Premier League. Yes, we own a Team, and a Broadcast Media company that produces programming assets, sells advertising, engages audiences and monetizes the activity of our Players. The value of these assets is going to accrue. It's just a matter of time before the telecommunications infrastructure connecting African countries to each other and the rest of the world is state of the art. It's just a matter of time before we get a universally accepted payment system all over Africa. It's just a matter of time before the on-the-ground business infrastructure of business-to-business and consumer credit advances. It's just a matter of time before governments and teleco providers work together to invigorate the digital economy by reducing the cost of mobile data, thus allowing the large population of cell-phone users to fully participate in the global digital economy.

If you are living in the Diaspora and have been wanting to "be in" Africa, Angel investing in serious entrepreneurs is an effective and efficient way to "Grow in Africa, Grow with Africa" (sorry GIPC). I look forward to arriving in Accra, getting picked up by a company vehicle, feted at company headquarters, meeting and talking with the many professionals and administrators and working men and women employed by a homegrown African company.

Cannabis Is Black Business Opportunity

Wanda James and her husband Scott Durrah, first-movers in the birth of Colorado’s recreational cannabis business, just a short time ago were talking and writing about the dearth of Black folks participating in what has now emerged as the Cannabis Industry. Well, judging by the number of Black participants at the recently concluded “Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo” trade show held at the Javits Center in New York City, Black folks have heard the message.

(Reprinted from CulturalGrassroots.com 7/2016)

There are more of us than was expected preparing to participate in this new, still highly volatile and unpredictable industry being plagued by a patchwork market built out of a patchwork of legal minefields spread throughout these not quite united states, where in some localities, those with a particular penchant for the “good ole days” that have never quite faded away as we’ve learned from the Prison Industrial Complex where the 13th Amendment simply ain’t relevant, Black people are still more likely to be arrested or harassed for possession of what everyone now reliably knows, is actually quite good for you personally, and judging by Wanda James’ and her fellow Coloradoans, society as a whole. Who knew? Well, We Did!

When an activity gets to the point of having trade shows, you know the boat has sailed on an industry and every enterprising entrepreneur on the planet is going to have a look to see what opportunities are there and how their existing strengths and infrastructure can be adapted to reduce the cost of entry and increase their chance of first-in success. In attendance, there were people in on-line education now giving classes on every aspect of the cannabis industry; there were food processing companies with their latest and greatest tech for extracting, mixing and consuming cannabis extracts, the key form for the medical industry; there were brokers and dealers on the run from the algorithm monster conquering the trading floor on Wall Street, repurposing all of their financial wizardry into new-fangled schemes to get around hostile tax and banking laws. And naturally, the people that know the most about growing stuff where there with their neat, clean and efficient indoor growing operations known as greenhouses that promise a steady, reliable and, depending on your access to knowledge biological, whole new custom strains of cannabis that will blow your mind. Or, my personal favorite, the guy with the vacuum sealer used with plastic food storage packaging now repurposed to keep your weed oxidation free!*

I made it my business to talk with every Black person I saw at the expo. I met students from southern agricultural colleges, successful small business people from more traditionally available “black bidnesses” like office and residential cleaning operations, a baller or two from the record industry, a Corporate Black Guy with all the right connections, an avantgarde couple of sistas with a vertically integrated, horizontally connected, strategically timed tactical plan that transported them from east coast urbania to the mid-west where the laws and attitudes were open for business. There were diverse angles of attack that included some who were planning growing operations, others planning for distribution and sales , and still others contemplating the direct pipeline from seed to dispensary. And while money is always an issue, legal status, banking regulations and federal fickleness were bigger problems for most. The corporate brother had raised over a million dollars through a group of Black investors; the brother from the record business was walking with his own dough from his Brooklyn based pancake franchises, and a couple from the DC area were looking to transition some of their loot from the cleaning business.

What’s at stake here? Well, the legal cannabis industry is made up of three parts: industrial hemp (a wide variety of uses including as paper, fabric, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation biofuel and more), extracts used in the medicinal industries (50% of medicinal market uses eatables, not smokables), and recreational use. According to a Wikipedia entry, globally, in 2013, 60,400 kilograms of cannabis were produced legally. In 2013 between 128 and 232 million people are thought to have used cannabis as a recreational drug (2.7% to 4.9% of the global population between the ages of 15 and 65). There are now 26 states (including DC), half of the United States, where there is some type of legal framework for using and selling cannabis, with the promise of more to come and, not sooner than we all hope, a federal law decriminalizing the drug is inevitable. Once that happens the financial people are estimating that $45 billion in yearly recreational demand is ballpark, and the overall industry will explode when the big boys storm the beaches with their marketing prowess and inclination to dominate the supply chain.

Back in the early 1990’s scientist cloned what they call “endocannabinoid receptors” that are located in the human brain and throughout the body and are part of the “Endocannabinoid system” (ECS), which is involved in a variety of physiological processes like sleep, appetite control, immune system functions and pain management. The psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol, “THC”, is attracted to these receptors and when they interact not only do you feel good, or, “high”, turns out these chemicals are responsible for keeping critical biological functions in balance. When stress throws those functions off, the endocannabinoids move in to restore balance. Voila! The medical cannabis industry now had the science to back up the reported experiences of so many pain sufferers, cancer treatment patients, and seizure victims. Advocacy groups shot up like wildfire and before anyone could blink, big dog social engineer George Soros was funding advocacy umbrellas like, Drug Policy Alliance, and other billionaire evangelist including former Facebook founders, Sean Parker and Dustin Moskowitz, insurance mogul now deceased, Peter B. Lewis, and Pay-Pal founder, Peter Thiel, were all involved in providing much of the money that has gone into the professional organizing effort responsible for the legalization/decriminalization wins on the state level.

Not to get to deep in the woods with the scientific (Wikipedia provides a good overview), but there are three species of Cannabis: Indica, Sativa and the less significant, Ruderalis. On average, cannabis indica has higher levels of THC compared to CBD (Cannabidiol); and Sativa has lower levels of THC to CBD. CBD is the other active ingredient that plays a balancing role in the psychoactive effects of the leaf. Generally speaking, the Indica high has been described as a “body buzz”, whereas, the Sativa high has been described as “spacey, stoned”. Manipulating these levels produces different types of highs. Remember the Acapulco Gold from Mexico that energized you and the Kush that was heavy and drug like, well, those are examples of the differences between Sativa and Indica.

This kind of differentiation could be the only way for the mom and pop to compete when the big dollars are unleashed. Microsoft is in with its inventory tracking and transactional systems being peddled through a software company named, “Kind Financial”; and Philip Morris is in with, believe it or not, a marijuana cigarette marketed under the brand, “Marlboro M”; Big Pharma led by Monsanto and Bayer AG, are in trying to lock down any and every patentable product they can conjure. In some ways, the longer the feds take to decriminalize, the stronger the foothold the smaller entrepreneurs will be able to establish. One guy is unlocking the genetic sequence of the cannabis plant in order to keep the big guys from flooding the patent office with bogus claims on natural sequences and admixtures. As the middle-class continues to try and claw back bits and pieces of the economy of its existence from the rapacious corporate dogs -- the buy local movement, coops and urban gardens, anti big-box zoning, craft beer movement, crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies -- the opportunity may be in the localization of the ecosystem, like the neighborhood bartender, local green garden and the milkman. I can see the possibilities of developing localized boutique brands that compete with the bigger corporate brands that will become household names (“Marlboro M’s”, a reality, not a dystopian projection).

But, it will take money. Once upon a time (pre-2009), the average homespun entrepreneur would have to rely on friends, family and personal business associates in order to raise startup funding for a new venture. Today, crowdfunding has unified this “friends, family and business associates” network into a large, interconnected, efficient and effective funding juggernaut accessible to all of the thinkers, tinkerers and entrepreneurs looking to create and innovate.

Silicon Valley has been the biggest winner in the crowd funding space because they have enough self-confidence to create a whole new solar system! It’s a small group of self-confident and capable people that are getting together to encourage the best and brightest to innovate and create the world they envision. These Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and their supporters are not trying to proselytize the whole world, they aren’t waiting until every last man, woman and child has joined hands, or waiting on that one big-dog angel investor to anoint them into the club of the rich and infamous. Through crowdfunding, the Silicon Valley crowd has essentially moved on from Wall Street and their last in most out predatory predilections, and have empowered themselves to achieve great and useful things. Kickstarter and Indiegogo did not exist in 2008 when Obama won the presidency. A mere eight years later, they are now responsible for billions of dollars in transactions that Wall Street has nothing to do with. Crowdfunding has liberated the brainiacs from the sociopathic money men whose motto is: “Too Much Is Not Enough!”

And crowd funding can liberate “Black folks with a self-centered, historical view of the world” from their terminal dependence on this same political and economic elite that will exploit its own shadow for being slightly behind. In a surreptitious and brilliant way, Barack Obama has handed the collective Black community a mechanism that can be utilized to accomplish tactical and strategic goals aimed at making our community more competitive across the globe. Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, Section 4(a)(6) creates a securities-based crowdfunding market. What that means is that instead of getting a t-shirt proclaiming your status as a "donor", you can now get an ownership share in the company -- equity -- and share financially in its potential success.

Here we have two pieces of a business infrastructure emerging contemporaneously -- Cannabis and Crowdfunding -- that are heretofore unencumbered with the traditional barriers to entry, which gives us an opportunity to be competitive. This is big for us!

“When the script is written about this particular time in history, the fact that the first Black president of the United States was the one to usher in this revolutionary piece of legislation won't seem at all coincidental. It will, in fact, be looked at as a master stroke of strategic and tactical planning and execution in the never-ending competition for civic efficacy amongst social groups. Obama will look like a genius in 50 years ... but only if we seize this moment, this opportunity, to turn our collective pennies into investment dollars to Fund The World We Want To See!”

Black folks have long been associated negatively with weed, from the abusive arrests that fed the cheap labor needs of corporations and municipalities throughout the United States, to the local weed dealer that always seemed to be a Rastafarian with a record store. Can that negative association be transformed into a strategic asset? Does the rush to legalize being funded by these billionaire social engineers mean that the business opportunity train has already left the station? There are a couple of indicators that I will be monitoring to determine whether we can flip the script on the negative association and turn it into a competitive brand that can fuel opportunities to build an infrastructure of self-sufficiency. First and foremost, money. We will have to take serious the ole’ adage, “you’ve got to pay the cost to be the boss.” Crowdfunding via the Internet is a game changer; equity crowdfunding is a nuclear strike against the house of Wall Street. I am personally promoting the crowdfunding proposition, CulturalGrassroots.com, as the best approach to building a portal focused on increasing Black competitiveness worldwide. If we can get past asking ourselves questions like, “Why Do We Need a Black Crowdfunding Portal?”, that will be a significant sign that important segments of our community are thinking strategically about our collective progress.

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*List of industries represented at the Cannabis trade show: Accounting & Insurance Services, Advertising & Marketing Agencies, Banking & Payment Processing Services, Botanicals, Containers, Bottles, & Packaging, Dispensing & Vending Machines, Displays & Fixtures, Grow Lights, Hemp Products, Hydroponics & Cultivation Products, Infused Edibles & Beverages, Inventory Tracking, Lawyers & Legal Resources, Licensing Services, Medical Resources, Paraphernalia (Head Shop & Smoke Shop Goods), POS & Management Software, Private Equity & Investment Resources, Professional Training & Education, Security Services & Equipment, Seed Banks, Testing & Lab Services, Tinctures Tonics & Topicals, Vaporizers.