The monetary system which creates and maintains the value of the almighty dollar was designed to reproduce imperialism, institutional racism and inequality. In a just world, the American dollar wouldn’t be a destructive economic cudgel used to compel submission to the capitalist order. Perhaps in this world money wouldn’t exist at all and humans would produce goods and services for common welfare with no regard for personal gain or capitalist acquisition.
Alas, black people must survive in the reality of our monetized market economy, thus we interact with banks and finance. From the the moment Afrikans stepped foot in the so-called Americas, we’ve been excluded from full access to safe deposits, savings, fair loans, and equity. Pecuniary knowledge or advancement has been denied to and taken from us despite the best efforts of our ancestors.
Black-owned or operated banks have attempted to lift our proverbial bootstraps since the end of the Civil War, starting with the Freedman’s Savings Bank. That bank, along with almost every other black bank has struggled and sunk due to mismanagement and corruption of white bureaucrats, inadequate capital reserves, inattention or plunder from government agencies, and the poverty of its black depositors imposed by racist discrimination. To this day, black banks’ proportion of American banking assets is far smaller than our share of the country’s population.
Nevertheless, black-owned and operated banks persist in providing our community with the services we need to live and thrive in this money-obsessed society. Despite the ongoing challenges, they continue to support their skinfolk with access to FDIC-insured accounts. Black communities are disproportionately underbanked, which makes them vulnerable to predatory lenders and check cashing costs. Invest in black people by divesting from your Wall Street bank. #BankBlack today! Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other behemoths might provide some relative convenience, but strong black banks can be the foundation for a movement away from our marginalization and towards liberation and self determination.
Here’s a link to a comprehensive list of all the Black banks and credit unions in the US. Also, please patronize one of the banks below:
OneUnited Bank
BLM BlackXmas Official Site 