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scoop VALERIE C. DIXON TOO BLACK TO SUCCEED: THE FINSAC EXPERIENCE
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ANGELINE BENJAMIN
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: COVER STORY
MEET
Valerie C. Dixon Valerie Dixon has launched her thought-provoking book- Too Black to
VALERIE DIXON
Succeed – The FINSAC Experience and describes it as “a book full of uncomfortable but necessary truths.” NOMADIC
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"the Beloved Author who aims to sensitize people" The main purpose of the book, Too Black to Succeed: The FINSAC Experience, is to educate, enlighten and empower those courageous enough to read it, and to encourage discussion regarding the inequities in the system, based on evidence. The Author aims to sensitize people, especially the millennial generation, to be more conscious of the important socio-economic factors of the past and present, which have determined, and are still determining, our quality and standard of living, and also to inspire persons to find solutions in their own settings, and in so doing rise above the expected status quo.
Oh, hello. I see you there, reading this article. Thanks for dropping by. I'm Valerie C. Dixon Author of "Too Black to Succeed"
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TOO BLACK TO SUCCEED: THE FINSAC EXPERIENCE
By: Valerie C. Dixon
FIND ME ON
To justify their barbarity to black people, Europeans needed an ideology. Enslaving humans is disturbing, but by relegating them to being animals that work to produce profit for human benefit is eminently justifiable. Thus, was born the monster of modern racism which made way for the perception that black people, as lesser beings, could not, and should not expect to succeed like regular humans. The main purpose of the book, Too Black to Succeed: The FINSAC Experience, is to educate, enlighten and empower those courageous enough to read it, and to encourage discussion regarding the inequities in the system, based on evidence. The Author aims to sensitize people, especially the millennial generation, to be more conscious of the important socioeconomic factors of the past and present, which have determined, and are still determining, our quality and standard of living, and also to inspire persons to find solutions in their own settings, and in so doing rise above the expected status quo. It was Alvin Toffler who said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” The book, Too Black to Succeed: The FINSAC Experience, though written from a Jamaican setting, is easily relatable to black people anywhere on the globe with the experience of a European past or presence. -
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Nina's Blues
BY CORNELIUS EADY
Cornelius Eady, "Nina's Blues," from Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems, published by Putnam. Copyright 2008 by Cornelius Eady. Reprinted by permission of the author. Source: Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems (Putnam, 2008)
Your body, hard vowels In a soft dress, is still. What you can't know is that after you died All the black poets In New York City Took a deep breath, And breathed you out; Dark corners of small clubs, The silence you left twitching On the floors of the gigs You turned your back on, The balled-up fists of notes Flung, angry from a keyboard. You won't be able to hear us Try to etch what rose Off your eyes, from your throat. Out you bleed, not as sweet, or sweaty, Through our dark fingertips. We drum rest We drum thank you We drum stay.
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H T T P : / / W W W . C O R N E L I U S E A D Y . C O M
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CARIBBEAN CULTURAL VIBRATIONS
Caged Bird
BY MAYA ANGELOU
Maya Angelou, “Caged Bird” from Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? Copyright © 1983 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House Inc., 1994)
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. -
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H T T P : / / M A Y A A N G E L O U . C O M /
R E V E R E N D
L O U I S E
M
S M I T H
You were born to solve a problem.
Live by wise principles. Be honest and have integrity.
Never allow anyone else to determine your value. You must know
Create a plan. You will be led to the right people who can
you're worth to demand your worth and receive it.
help you get there.
To know your worth is to know your gift. Your gift determines your
Choose your friends wisely, be persistent, and have
worth. If you don’t know your gift, you will never know your true
perseverance. Always spend time with GOD (YAH), for He
worth. Your gift makes you wealthy without sorrow. When you
is the one who gave you the gift to make it happen. Share
know your gift, you will know your source and from which it came.
your gift free at every opportunity. The more you share, the
“This is
more value you give it, and remember that GOD is
the heritage of the Lord.” Know the difference between source
rewarded. You cannot beat his giving,
and resource, your source is from above and your resource is
Copyright Reverend Louise M Smith
from the earth. We are all born with a gift; some may have more than one, but we all have a gift that is unique to us and to us only. All have gifts and many persons may never seek to know their gift nor are they aware that they even have one. Most people will spend their whole life never knowing their worth (value,) they will only operate from their skills and not their gifts. As long as you are working from your skills others will determine what your worth is. Your skills are what you have been trained to do, for instance, your education level, your choice of study, or on-the-job training technical skills. Yes, in some cases your skill can also be your gift however your skill is your job, where your gift is your work. For your gift, you go to bed thinking about it, wake up thinking about it, and excited to do it. Your gift is your worth. It will bring you peace, fulfillment, and wealth while at the same time helping others. Your gift will always be involved in helping others. When you operate from your skills there is a limit on your value and others can tell you what you are worth because they can always train others to do your skill. No one else will ever be able to train for your gift as it is GOD-given and only for you. Others can try to imitate it, but they cannot have it, it will only be a counterfeit. You have the original. Your gift is priceless no one can be trained for it. Now is the time to get to know your purpose, know your strength. Don’t chase success or money. Know your gift and money will chase you; be unique this is what makes you valuable. Always do more than what is required of you. When you find or determine what your worth is, stand boldly not arrogantly, be unmovable.
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The book is replete with cases of injustices from the past to the present, but it also shows many examples of how black people have found unique solutions to overcome many of these social and economic problems. One sterling example of such persons is the author’s own mother who, knowing that education was the only way out of abject poverty for her dark-skinned child, outsmarted a racist principal who refused to enroll the author, then six years old, in a school run by the state church (the Anglican Church) meant for whites and browns, because of her dark complexion, but her lighter skinned sister was admitted without a problem. Another example is the case of black people being prohibited from joining the white banks, devising creative informal ways to handle their finances.It is through such schemes that many, even during the time of slavery, were able to buy their freedom, and also contribute to the establishment of Free Villages soon after Emancipation (Too Black to Succeed: The FINSAC Experience, page 74). One of these schemes (the partner) led to the establishment of their Peoples Cooperative Banks and Credit Unions, which allowed black people to have surplus income.
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By: Valerie C. Dixon
Many people, especially those who embrace the ideology of white supremacy and the attendant status of having ‘white privilege’, fail to understand that as Jimmy Kimmel 'said‘ "'White privilege’ doesn’t mean your life hasn’t been hard, it simply means that your skin color isn’t one of the things making your life harder,” as it is with black people, for whom this has been a standard for the past 400 years, even though white colonials in many cases, have been replaced by black leaders. The FINSAC experience demonstrated that even in the 21st century, black people are still perceived as being too black to succeed.
By: Valerie C. Dixon
“Century National Bank (CNB), established in 1984, was one of the many new institutions that were added to the banking sector. CNB became one of the fast-growing financial institutions largely because of the dynamic, expansionist personality of its chairman, Don Crawford, who had graduated from the ranks in banking. As a member of the black middle class, he was also particularly welcomed, in keeping with the policy expectation that private ownership of the heights of the economy would be more mixed racially in the future than it was in the past.Don Crawford received effusive praise publicly from the Minister of Finance, Omar Davies, for his expansion programme. ”- Edward Seaga