August 28 marks the 50th year since 250,000 people peacefully filled the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. make his famous “I have a dream” speech. That outpouring helped spark the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Interestingly, Dr. King began his speech with prepared remarks, saying he was there to “cash a check” for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” and warned his fellow protesters not to “allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”
It was then that he departed from his script and began the “I have a dream” theme he’d used on prior occasions. This speech drew on both “the American dream” and religious themes, and described an America where his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. His passionate words continue to resonate with us these many years later and are particularly relevant in the work we do at ELI and with our clients.
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Unfortunately, America has selected memory. Equally unfortunate, Black Americans have forgotten King’s work in developing an economic framework upon which Black Americans could grow jobs and build generational wealth. Today, we speak idly about social interactions, social justice, civil rights, etc. But we are inept at speaking the language of 21st century innovation and economics. We lack the vernacular to engage in strategic planning based on a knowledge-based, tech-driven globally competitive innovation economy that’s reliant upon a pipeline of STEM-educated innovators in the tech-based workforce and a bumper crop of tech-driven job-creating high-growth entrepreneurs fueled by risk capital investments.
Beyond the March on Washington, what are Black and White Americans doing together to capitalize upon the rate of entrepreneurial growth in Black America that has yet to manifest beyond 1% of GDP?
What’s the economic imperative for a multicultural America that continues to ignore the fact that non-whites are the fastest-growing sectors (while Black and Latino Americans remain the most disconnected from participating fully in the innovation economy)?
Let’s come together. Let’s partner. Let’s create a 21st century economic movement that benefits all of America.
The pace of innovation is extreme. Our pace cannot be any slower if we intend to succeed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-green/march-on-washington-2013-_b_3820752.html
http://blackinnovation.org/march-on-washington-misses-huge-opportunity/