The "Fight The Power Consciousness" Will Never Maintain A Community Bank Using The Antics That They Propagate

(Note - the radio broadcast was from Tuesday)

Today I listened to "Fight The Power" radio as they talked about the state of the US economy and the pending debt crisis.

As the radio host Derrick "Fight The Power" Bozeman got around to discussing the present housing and mortgage loan market I thought that we had reached an unfortunate point of agreement:  it is bad and the stagnant national economy is merely going to rake more people into the condition of default.

After this point the show took a radical turn toward radical and maniacal claims and conspiracies.  Under all of it was the purposeful agenda to take homes from Black people. "Fight The Power" claims that he has studied the metro-Atlanta mortgage market and he sees how 2/3rds of Blacks were railroaded into "Subprime Mortgages" which charged rates that were far higher than what they qualified for.

He then suggested that any person who is "underwater" on their loan - their former $300,000 house now being appraised at $100K - they should just WALK AWAY from their house and allow the BANKS - who got bailed out with "our tax payer money" to figure out what to do with yet another house in their possession.

Then a (White) caller called in to challenge Fight The Power on his suggestion, stating that it was irresponsible for him to make that claim AND that the people had voluntarily engaged into a contractual agreement without derision.  Fight The Power dismissed this claim.  He argued that the federal government chose to save "Wall Street" but not "Main Street" - "Game Must Respect Game" - this is his choice to play the game.

As I called in to challenge him - the phone was busy.   The key points that I would have reminded "Fight The Power" on are:

1. Over the past 12 years as the residential building boom too place in Atlanta - the talk show hosts on WAOK and the radio DJs on its CBS Radio sister station V-103 have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising dollars by setting up REMOTE BROADCASTS from the sites of - you guessed it - New Residential Developments.   The typical tag line was "We have mortgage loan specialists on site today.   Why RENT when you can OWN?   We can get you in to a house of your own today, paying less money on your mortgage than you pay in rent.  Come on down we will be here until 3pm".  - You must understand "Fight The Power" is never wrong and never COMPLICIT in the problems that the Black Community now faces.  As a "community organizer" he is always going to be out front on behalf of the Black community - leading the way for social justice against the enemies who seek to destroy us.
2. The same Black middle class area of "Cascade" in which even Black people with good jobs got railroaded into subprime loans are places where Black people were in on the game
1. Fight The Power is LOATHED to talk about all of the BLACK PEOPLE who operated as "Mortgage Brokers" - making personal contact with Black people to compel them to refinance or acquire a new loan.  They worked together to "pretty up" the paper work. The broker submitted the documentation to the underwriter.  In the eyes of Fight The Power the Banks (underwriters) had the fiduciary responsibility to confirm the data and reject the application (I AGREE WITH THIS).  He can't bring himself to see that (SOME) home owners and many brokers actively sought to defraud the system - which had relaxed lending standards in line with the bubble activity at the time.   
1. IF the banks had an overly restrictive loan underwriting policy in a Black area of town as compared to a White area - Fight The Power would have been out protesting in front of that bank - accusing it of RACISM - not realizing that by prompting for the loans he was placing more Blacks into peril 
2. I am thinking about a good friend who acquired an expensive house in the Cascade Heights area using an "Interest Only Loan" .  The house was far more than he and his wife would have otherwise entered into.   His plan was to live in the house for 5 years, allow the price to appreciate and then sell the house to someone else - at a great profit.  A win-win opportunity.  When the bubble burst - he could not sell the house.  The "interest only" loan's term had expired and he was forced to convert to a traditional loan.  After making the payments for several months - from money that he had saved up - they moved away as the house went into foreclosure
3. As New Years 2009 rang in - a friend invited me to a post New Years party at a friends house in Cascade.  I learned that this house was acquired for "pennies on the dollar" .  The basement of the house was furnished more elaborately than many people's main living area.  It seems that the original owner had invested a large amount of money in the house and then went insolvent.  The next buyer picked it up for a steal.  Fight The Power is unable to factor in the actions of Black people who used the system to their own advantage - VICTIMS only need apply

My Attempts To Reconcile Myself With The Rantings Of A Fool

I do not believe that "Fight The Power" is a bad guy.  I don't think that he has malicious intent.  He is merely the formation of a given ideology and world view.

In truth I am more disturbed with the (fellow bigots) callers that chime in to amplify and echo his world view.  From these exchanges in which he aggressively debates against REASONABLE rebuttals to his views but then soaks in any crazy conspiracy theory - is where I get my best understanding of "Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive-Fundamentalist Racism Chaser THOUGHT".   The fact that few crazy ass-ed conspiracy theories set against Black people are ever challenged by Fight The Power proves what I have noted previously among many of his kind:

• They prefer a Black person that AGREES with them but whom, when ensnared in a worthy debate and are unable to articulate a rebuttal as proficiently as "Fight The Power" and thus they resort to calling their debate adversary a racist or a Tom
• To the person (like me) who fully understands their argument - REBUTS IT and then gives them the reason why their strategy is flawed and its ultimate negative impact upon the Black community

As I thought about the angle by which these rantings could be put in check so that our people can understand the COST of allowing him unfettered influence I found the perfect manner by which to check him.

Fight The Power is always fighting against the system.  The corrupt banks that gained profit, ran into trouble and then gained tax payer money is a lock tight indictment that few could disagree with (even me).

I came to the point that as "right" as he was about the corrupt system - HE COULD NEVER SUSTAIN A BLACK OWNED/ COMMUNITY BANK - USING HIS SUGGESTED ANTICS

The answer to my challenge then is rooted in the "Organic Competency Development" agenda that is increasingly proving to be the macro-level fix for our problems as a community.

If a community owned bank were to finance the home purchases of an increasing among of property owned by Black people and then masses of the owners began to walk away from their contracts - the bank would suffer and the foundational goal of building up Black community wealth would also be imperiled. 

As much as we are inclined to hear "Fight The Power" talk about strategies to defend the honor and "social justice" for Black people against those who are up to no good - indeed the main weakness of his strategy is the lack of evidence of a pathway toward more independence and control of our own fiscal and economic future.  He will always have the balance of the mind share of "struggling Black people"