The REAL Reason Black Men Are “Broke”

The most LUCRATIVE capitol AND labor in American history are Black Men. If Black Men made their own money, America would go bankrupt - after Emancipation & today. This has nothing to do with spirit or work ethic, and everything to do about a system setup to discredit him and position him as a natural born criminal. In the early 1800s, enslaved People of African ancestry were considered loyal and nonthreatening; after 1865, they were considered criminals. Today, our systems are still designed to keep Black Men broke and working for free or very little, with a price tag attached for success. Dr. Venus discusses how when we’re talking about race, what we’re missing is dealing with economics. She reveals the ways Black Men are positioned to stay financially handicapped, from sharecropping to convict leasing, foster care to jail pens.  

Black Men are not broke because they are trifling or lazy. They’re broke because their hands are tied and they’ve been checkmated by a series of systems that they are born into. How do we begin to heal? Let’s talk. 

Key Takeaways:

[3:03] Most people do not understand the word system. Dr. Venus defines it as nothing more than a series of actions, practices, and procedures that are invisible to you that impact your behavior. You don’t have to see a system to feel it or be affected by it. 

[5:00] As Dr. Venus applies her brain on Black Men, she is dealing with the brutal brilliance of White Supremacy. While we are focusing on race, they are focusing on profit and keeping the money machine going for White Supremacy. 

[8:13] Dr. Venus breaks down the tricky manner in which they created many different ways to keep Black Men poor and criminals, all the way up to the 1940’s. Peonage is when you do a lot of work for a little bit of money, in order to work off a debt. It wasn’t just Black people affected by this and who couldn’t get ahead, it was White poor people as well. Sharecropping is a system where the landlord would allow the tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop, but the tenant would struggle to profit or leave due to inflation and a never ending list of labor.

[10:45] Convict leasing was also another way to replace slavery. They worked men to the bones, and when they died, they just replaced them with another convict. Dr. Venus needs you to get this: it’s the exact same system we have today - White Supremacy making money off Black Men and benefiting from free labor, most obviously through the prison industrial complex. 

[20:38] If you don’t know a White person who has the same kind of values that you have, you won’t make it through the system. There’s no Black person who has made it through any American systems without some type of support or help from some kind of abolitionist in whatever language they use. Black Men don’t have that type of help more readily than Black Women, and there’s always a price tag for the ones that do. Do not be seduced when they say there are Black millionaires and billionaires. Relative to how many White millionaire and billionaires there are, we’re talking less than 1%. 

[24:55] If you take away the people who helped you, you would not be here whether it’s a teacher, reverend, friend, etc. Black Men don't have the same type of help, and the ones who do always have a giant price tag attached to their success.  

[25:19] Black Men are caught in a cycle created by White Supremacy where from a young age they may get expelled from school, not able to further their education and land a job. To get by this may lead them to become a felon, and now they are in jail working for free. 

[27:22] Slavery had nothing to do with race and everything to do with profit and economics. 

If a Black Man has his own money, he doesn't have to go into racist structures to try to make money.

[29:13] Black Women hav