i'm back on that again.


basically, i'm looking for a vision that takes where we are as a people as a starting point, and says, if we had to do it ALL by ourselves, where would we be in 5 years, 10 years, 20, thirty? what do we need to do now to position ourselves for where we want to be and need to be in the future? LexM (i think), had posted this before, and it didn't get archived, but i promised to revisit the topic. (i'm also on deadline for an article on the same subject and although i have most of it in my mind, y'all are very insightful and i'm not ruling out other perspectives).

in sci fi, notice that back in the day, you never saw blacks in the 'future'. eff all that, we need to put ourselves there. (an although aunt jemima got a perm and jar jar is a senator now, we can 'do better').

i'm outlining some broad areas for focus, and want to form the basis for extrapolation in an almost sci-fi sense, where you take a set of conditions and (hopefully) intelligently hypothesize how that can play itself out over the coming years.


Technology - this has transformative potential. society and economy can be swept up and rapidly changed by technological advance, for good or ill. look at the rise of the 'net. and the fact that we communicate across thousands of miles and share ideas. people are talking digital divide, yada, yada, and truth is that we should have been more prepared, but i think we've done pretty well
***what new trends should we be aware of?
***what should we be wary of? (i called it on microchipping of dogs 3yrs ago, now some dude in florida 'voluntarily' got chips for him and his fam b/c of some dire medical condition. what i'd said a few years ago was that they'd lead with the beneficial sh*t, and then do a norplant move, targeting certain folks for their own good, like drug addicts, prisoners, etc)
***cashless society?

Economy - the old 'sweat of our brow' jobs are going away, quickly, and we need to be sure that we aim for the right targets, as opposed to wasting efforts. even to fix cars, nowadays, you hafta know computers and own expensive diagnostic equipment, which requires investment (if you do your thing under the shade tree) or getting down with a big company. anecdotally, i've noticed a lot of folks from my generation (early to mid thirties) getting into 'ownership', rehabbing houses, owning investment property. this is both folks who went the college route, and ex-drug dealers (a lot of whom are ahead of the game, having parlayed previous profits). its an interesting counterpoint to gentrification.
***impact of globalization? (do we take a principled stand, form pragmatic alliances, or work blindly in ignorance of short term or strategic self-interest?).
***increasing need for education to even participate in economy
***ownership (plight of black farmers? new class of landlords)
***supplemental education in financial matters (this isn't taught at all in public schools, but we definitely need to do something on our own. work w/ kids, volunteer to do credit counseling, educate folks on homebuying. investment vs. saving).

Society - rapid changes here. race remains the daily drama. do we see us getting past that (mongrelization of culture - whites have long looked to blacks in US for cutting edge for pop culture, but is degree of wiggerism (i'll find a better word) today somehow more endemic or lasting? i read a sci-fi book (don't remember which) predicting that in the 80's, young people would file their teeth like certain tribes in the amazon and africa. i was at disney 2 weeks ago, and saw white kids (of the pierced variety) w/ disks in their ears like some indigenous people in africa (where the ear lobes and lips are stretched using increasingly larger disks/objects until they are like big hoops of flesh). it was bugged out.
*** multiculturalism - how do we deal w/ imminent (second biggest minority status)?

leadership- will we ever get past the all the eggs in one basket approach we've favored for so long (which is so very, very prone to disruption by assassination and other dirty tricks in the interest of democracy).


there's more, but this is long enough for now. holla back.

peace & blessings,

x.