There are many ways to combat poverty and political economic inequity in urban communities. I believe the integration of tens of thousands of asset-rich U.S. Blacks into our asset-poor U.S. Black communities would be one of the most effective ways. A higher percentage of asset-rich and asset-poor Blacks lived within only a few blocks of one another during the first half of the 20th Century. The income and asset gaps in between them were much smaller than they are now for a number of reasons, but one of these reasons was asset-poor Blacks were able to benefit from living in the same communities and political districts as asset-rich Blacks. William Julius Wilson, Ph.D. writes in his essay Jobless Poverty: A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto: “Because of the steady out-migration of more advantaged families, the proportion of nonpoor families and prime-age working adults has decreased sharply in the typical inner-city ghetto since 1970.” He goes on to write: “In the face of increasing and prolonged joblessness, the declining proportion of nonpoor families and the overall depopulation has made it increasingly difficult to sustain basic neighborhood institutions or to achieve adequate levels of social organization.” I call this out-migration from our predominantly Black communities, the Black Exemplar Exodus. Soon after the first half of the 20th Century, asset-rich Blacks were given legitimate opportunities to leave predominantly Black communities en masse. Many of them left in order to take better jobs, to build better lives for their families, to strive for the American Dream. I don’t fault them for that. However, so many of us have achieved the American Dream, so many of us have become asset-rich U.S. Blacks. And, I believe tens of thousands of us should make plans to take some of our assets back to the communities that were weakened by the Black Exemplar Exodus. Tens of thousands of us should make plans to serve our country via three-, five-, or ten-year Tours of Duty for Black America.

In his chapter, Assets for All, for the recently published Ending Poverty in America, Michael Sherraden, Ph.D. explains:

”The term “assets” has many potential meanings. Those include financial wealth, tangible property, human capital, social capital, political participation and influence, cultural capital, and natural resources.”

With this rich definition of “assets” in mind, I’d like you to consider the incredible transformation that could take place in our most asset-poor Black U.S. communities, if thousands of asset-rich U.S. Blacks would choose to live in these communities for three, five, or ten years. Dozens of U.S. Blacks are members of the U.S. power elite. Thousands are members of aristocratic families. Millions of U.S. Blacks are members of the U.S. middle-class and upper-class. These are our asset-rich Black Americans. We have great educations, social connections, political influence, financial wealth, or other assets. Many of us are doing good work for other Black Americans in courtrooms, in boardrooms, in classrooms, in think tanks, in nonprofit organizations, in government cubicles, through Black America-focused institutions, through our writings, or through our art. However, far too few of us live with or near the asset-poor Blacks who could benefit from us most.

Talented, asset-rich, and heroic Blacks, such as Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker, will invest several decades of their lives in building predominantly Black communities. This type of heroism should be buttressed by another type of heroism, one that would not require as much sacrifice from other asset-rich Blacks. All of us who have or will have, thanks to talent or hard work or pedigree or privilege or social connections or luck, ample wealth, power, and prestige should help leaders like Cory Booker as much as possible. When leaders like him call on us, we should write checks and share our social capital or political capital. But we could do much more than use our wealth, power, and prestige from afar to help our asset-poor Black communities. By moving back into these communities for several years, we could share some of our assets with those who need us most and greatly improve Black communities in predictable and unpredictable ways.

So, why aren’t many thousands more asset-rich Blacks choosing to live three, five, or ten years in asset-poor Black communities?

When I ask my asset-rich Black friends this question, they often explain that 1) they want to provide their children with a quality social environment and quality schools, 2) they don’t want to live in high-crime areas or constantly fear for their safety, 3) they want to enjoy the fruits of their labors by living in beautiful homes and suburban neighborhoods, or 4) they want to live near where they work. Asset-rich Blacks who are concerned about how moving into asset-poor Black communities would affect their children could do their Tours of Duty before they begin their families or after they will have guided their children to their adult lives. Asset-rich Blacks who don’t want to live in high-crime areas could do their Tours of Duty in asset-poor Black communities that don’t have high-crime rates. Asset-rich Blacks who want to enjoy the fruits of their labors by living in beautiful suburban homes might consider even briefer one- or two-year Tours of Duty, or they might invest in two or more homes and live 75% of the time in suburban neighborhoods and 25% of the time in asset-poor urban neighborhoods for three, five, or ten years. Asset-rich Blacks whose jobs would require them to commute more than thirty minutes a day if they were to live in asset-poor communities could do their Tours of Duty after they retire.

QUESTIONS

A) How could asset-rich Blacks help asset-poor Black communities more effectively than by serving their country via these Tours of Duty for Black America?

B) How would you promote the Tour of Duty for Black America to asset-rich Blacks?

C) Would a mass Tour of Duty for Black America social movement require a formal, well-defined institution in order to motivate and persuade tens of thousands to serve their country in this way?

D) What are some other reasons why asset-rich Blacks might not want to move back into our asset-poor Black communities?

E) How might some view the Tours of Duty for Black America concept as being antiBlack?

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