Like all conduits of marketing that lead to well established venues of self-consuming capitalist ideology, Black Enterprise Magazine is a powerhouse in the black community probably because there is no viable wealth to speak of and hence, no competition; after all, who wants to expend energies for a majority share of an already rapidly depleted market, especially when  that market is likely to come over to your side anyway of it's own volition? With it's near absolute control on commanding the entire focus of just about every black professional who desires to read more than tea leaves, I must admit, I have no love for them - a fact that is aggravated more so by their cowardice to challenge a system with a runaway Press than by anything else. BE balefully capitulates to it's own dismemberment by failing to provide the kind of financial reporting that could save it's own black readership. And because this is so, they are allowed to meander a while longer or at least until they are no longer needed to lull their hapless black patrons to sleep. They know this, but since their only interest is money, they don't care. A complete sham these guys are! The BE magazine is a poor facsimile of Business-Week, The Economist, Forbes, and every other financial publication in the white-owned media establishment but it is unfair for me to say such things, especially when I know that they are only following the dictates of Capitalism. Nevertheless, they are slaves with longer chains than the rest of us, who can easily be bought off to cajole us into moving here or there; into investing with this or that company, etc., etc.

In Their November 2010 Issue, Talking Points Section:

A list of the top 5 States for black businesses are given: (drum roll please) California, Texas, New York, Georgia, & Florida. First of all, I thought we were already heavily located in these areas. This looks like a very clever way to get these clowns over @B.E. to lead the teeming mass of blacks located throughout the U.S. back into already over-populated & balkanized areas to further disenfranchise the entire lot of them/us.

* From what I gather, California has all but been reclaimed by the "blood-thirsty" Mexicanos who are hellbent on reacquiring all it lost during those frontier years of white Manifest destiny. Of late, their vicious Chicano gangs lay waste to black gang bangers and black innocent bystanders alike, while the press is mum; Ultimately, they wish to force them out of communities in which they've always resided.  Aside from this fact, which is under-reported if at all or mis-characterized as simply gang-related activity, it has a record of police brutality and blatantly overt racism toward blacks - but  let's face it, what place doesn't!? Remember the Watts riots; what about the execution of Tookie Williams by the governator (Arnold Schwarzenegger); the list goes on. Lastly, of all the states that are likely to collapse FIRST, as a result of this new economic paradigm we are currently experiencing, various experts around the nation suggest that California will be the first to crack under the weight of it's own mismanagement. And BE is suggesting that business prospects here seem promising!? Do they want us to integrate into a burning house!?
   
* And Texas is no better. Personally, I would never choose to live in a state that has the highest incarceration rate of black men. Incidentally, it also has the highest number of executions of death row inmates as well. You wanna guess what percentage of them are black?

* I once read that virtually all businesses around the world have monies flowing through this place called New York; this is on account of the New York Stock Exchange & NASDAQ, to use a single term, Wall Street. It is practically the center of the universe as far as commerce is concerned and yet, black unemployment is commonly as high as 50% - a fact that is also under-reported. This, coupled with the Giuliani-years of breaking heads in black communities, shoving objects up their anuses while in police detention like the Abner Louima case back in 97' (click here), or shooting unarmed citizens are undeniable indicators that the NY is a very very hostile place for blacks. Today, New York is just short of a police state. Armed Guards patrol the streets and subway stations with bomb sniffing dogs and reserve the right to search whomever randomly and w/o cause or adequate justification. Sure 9/11 happened, but should we all now live like prisoners in our own country suspicious of one another?

* The state of Georgia has a history of some of the most horrendous acts of violence against blacks ever. Unmistakably, nestled in bible-belt as one of the most religious god-fearing states, it has unabashedly, shamelessly, and most vigorously fought to deny and keep blacks from exercising the full measure of their unalienable rights, which are guaranteed protection by the Constitution. It's right up there with Alabama. Even today, it follows this path with blinding tenacity ...albeit, more subtlety given today's coincidental runaway diplomacy brought swiftly back into by the implementation of the one of the oldest tactics: Divide & Conquer. So I'm sorry, but Georgia is not on my mind.

* My home state of Florida is perhaps the most difficult for me to comment on given the inevitability of harping upon topics that will only inspire the most vitriolic and unsavoury of responses. Nevertheless, it is with a heavy heart that I do so... (Conclusion is forthcoming)