.Coms and technology startup companies within the African American Community


buckwheat

buckwheat

Well-Known Member
Did anyone watch the Soledad O'Brien show last night? We meaning african americans spend a lot of money on buying the latest technology gadgets but we are not producers of these websites, gadgets, etc. Is it that we are not concerned? I know we are innovative but looking at that show, it showed that for the Silicon Valley area we are pretty-much non existent out there. The young white kids and asians are dominating the market out there.


http://youtu.be/y0Hl-K3njrM

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We don't have capital. We still have less than 50% first time college grads. We still have a large high school drop out rate. We have made it out, but we still ain't made it up the road to far yet.
 



CEE DOG said:
We don't have capital. We still have less than 50% first time college grads. We still have a large high school drop out rate. We have made it out, but we still ain't made it up the road to far yet.
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But there are still a lot of people with startup .coms that are making money. During the show the african americans that were trying to get their .coms financed talked with this Indian guy. He told them basically you guys meaning African Americans don't support each other or help each other. He said the Indians come to this country to help each other succeed. We already know that we have this crabs in the barrell mentality. I think that is what is holding up back. If there is one of us in a key position or has knowledge to share we should be willing to share with others of us that are trying to make it also.
 
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I feel what you are saying. You gotta realize, we are born here, integrated into this society, so our view has become just like true Americans. They support each other because they are raised that way in their culture. Once we were able to walk in the front door, and attend integrated schools, we lost that train of thought. We separate ourselves into classes. Other groups don't do that, but we are proud of it in our society. Ever notice how quick we are to say "My education is better than your because I went to so and so", or "I live in so and so, you live over there". It is a mentality.
buckwheat1911 said:
But there are still a lot of people with startup .coms that are making money. During the show the african americans that were trying to get their .coms financed talked with this Indian guy. He told them basically you guys meaning African Americans don't support each other or help each other. He said the Indians come to this country to help each other succeed. We already know that we have this crabs in the barrell mentality. I think that is what is holding up back. If there is one of us in a key position or has knowledge to share we should be will ing to share with others of us that are trying to make it also.
Click to expand...
 
CEE DOG said:
I feel what you are saying. You gotta realize, we are born here, integrated into this society, so our view has become just like true Americans. They support each other because they are raised that way in their culture. Once we were able to walk in the front door, and attend integrated schools, we lost that train of thought. We separate ourselves into classes. Other groups don't do that, but we are proud of it in our society. Ever notice how quick we are to say "My education is better than your because I went to so and so", or "I live in so and so, you live over there". It is a mentality.
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True, I understand your point. So basically we are f'd as a culture if think we are going to get it together and start supporting each other again.
 
Some black business owners spoke out after they heard about this story, but prior to it being aired that they are out there but aren't getting the opportunities.
 
buckwheat1911 said:
True, I understand your point. So basically we are f'd as a culture if think we are going to get it together and start supporting each other again.
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That is why we like the big rims, expensive cars and clothes. We saw that as being the way when we were poor, then when we started working we wanted to show a status. I like to refer to it s the Buckhead vs the Bankhead theory. Growing up in Atlanta in the 70's and early 80's, Buckhead is where all the millionaires and good eating places were. Bankhead had all the good cheap eating joints and working class families. So all the young cats wanted to live the Buckhead life. They got into the dope game never realizing, if you have a Bankhead mentality, you will never have a Buckhead class.
 
buckwheat1911 said:
True, I understand your point. So basically we are f'd as a culture if think we are going to get it together and start supporting each other again.
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What culture though buck? There's only one culture now: american. There's a small part of me that wishes that thing called "african-american" would go the hell away. We're not "african-american." :confused: We're americans, who are birthed darker in complexion than the other americans because our culture is actually their culture. Theres's so much euro- in all of us until it almost wreaks.

When we started sitting @ the same counter, eating from the same tables, attending the same classroom settings, and having the same opportunities as the lighter-complexed folx, that was the end of what little bit of descendant black culture people of color natively born in this country had. I saw some pix from one of my mother's fam reunions from 1971. 100% of the folx in that original big portrait were black ppl (looked black anyway lol). I looked @ a pic from last year's deal, and I PROMISE you, ~40-45% of the folx in that pic were anglo-looking. They've married into the family males and females alike :smh:, they brought their siblings/parens w/ them to our fam deal, and their offspring are those light-complexed damned near anglo-looking ppl. Damned near half of the ppl in that pic from 2010 were anglo looking. :smh: I looked to my left and right, Bob and Jenny were eating on that goat and 'c**n just like the rest of us were. @ the same damned table man. Skinnin' and grinnin' and then got up and started doing that wobble dance w/ the rest of our folx. :smh:

Oh, it gets deeper for me. I have 4 nieces, 2 married. The 2 married are married to Kish and Mark. Both anglo. :| Have great-niece and great-nephew. Both of them use Alberta V05. Feel me? The 2 youngest nieces, date anglos exclusively and have already indicated they both are @ ut-austin and aTm bound - I could never mention PVAMU to either of them lol. :smh: IT, whatever it is, is here and IT is evident. I've learned you either live w/ it or it'll consume you, I guess. :confused: When Mark and Kish call me "Uncle" man.... :smh: I have to semi-grit my teeth a lil' bit. :smh:
 
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Panther88 said:
What culture though buck? There's only one culture now: american. There's a small part of me that wishes that thing called "african-american" would go the hell away. We're not "african-american." :confused: We're americans, who are birthed darker in complexion than the other americans because our culture is actually their culture. Theres's so much euro- in all of us until it almost wreaks.

When we started sitting @ the same counter, eating from the same tables, attending the same classroom settings, and having the same opportunities as the lighter-complexed folx, that was the end of what little bit of descendant black culture people of color natively born in this country had. I saw some pix from one of my mother's fam reunions from 1971. 100% of the folx in that original big portrait were black ppl (looked black anyway lol). I looked @ a pic from last year's deal, and I PROMISE you, ~40-45% of the folx in that pic were anglo-looking. They've married into the family males and females alike :smh:, they brought their siblings/parens w/ them to our fam deal, and their offspring are those light-complexed damned near anglo-looking ppl. Damned near half of the ppl in that pic from 2010 were anglo looking. :smh: I looked to my left and right, Bob and Jenny were eating on that goat and 'c**n just like the rest of us were. @ the same damned table man. Skinnin' and grinnin' and then got up and started doing that wobble dance w/ the rest of our folx. :smh:

Oh, it gets deeper for me. I have 4 nieces, 2 married. The 2 married are married to Kish and Mark. Both anglo. :| Have great-niece and great-nephew. Both of them use Alberta V05. Feel me? The 2 youngest nieces, date anglos exclusively and have already indicated they both are @ ut-austin and aTm bound - I could never mention PVAMU to either of them lol. :smh: IT, whatever it is, is here and IT is evident. I've learned you either live w/ it or it'll consume you, I guess. :confused: When Mark and Kish call me "Uncle" man.... :smh: I have to semi-grit my teeth a lil' bit. :smh:
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It's rare that you have that many anglo's in your family. I have a few in my family but the majority of us are black. We still identify as AA and we know honestly speaking that we're not considered as american by SOME people in this KKKountry.
 
jsupop33 said:
Cee,
You should see how all of these Africans are moving to the DC area and starting businesses.
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Are they starting tech/consulting companies or just businesses like dollar stores, hair supply stores? I'm mainly talking about the technology/consulting companies.
 
buckwheat1911 said:
It's rare that you have that many anglo's in your family. I have a few in my family but the majority of us are black. We still identify as AA and we know honestly speaking that we're not considered as american by SOME people in this KKKountry.
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The anglos here? I don't too much understand quite a few of them in my past in all honesty buck. Their heart? I dunno' man... I grew up there and truth be told, I owe a LOT to a LOT of them for giving me an opportunity to excel, and they eagerly and enthusiastically helped guide me. My entire undergrad education? Financed 100% by an anglo male in the community. He wanted to give back to the local HS so for me and valed/salut both, he said ANY public state undergrad school, he'd pay for all 4-5 yrs and then give each of us 100$ @ the end of every semester for every "A" grade earned - excepting the valed also got an Exxon gas card to spend up to 200$ per mo and a clothing card to spend up to 500$ per semester (I think) @ a store called Lord&Taylor's-Galleria Houston, if memory serves correct; salut got 200$ gas card - he made those diffs between all 3 although our gpas were identical lol (4.42 on 4.00 scale). He personally flew (listen to me: he had <b>one</b> of his pilots fly him to PV's fball field in one of his helicopters - owned 2 lol) and walked an 80,000$ check to PV's then admin bldg on my behalf my sr yr HS. My undergrad educ cost a whopping 13.7K$. Told me face to face that he wanted to "effect not only me but my children and their children as well and education is the key," even after he was dead and gone (knew he had terminal cancer). He passed my soph yr but wrote me into his will to continue the "A"4-100$ deal. A stranger man. Never met that man pre-graduation from HS but he sought me out to help me. All those aggie-localers, they had a full-4-yr deal for me to do Bryan/College Station, why? (well, I eventually came to know why they wanted me there lol - graduation rate for blacks @ aTm lol )

What kind of heart did those ppl possess? They could've easily turned their back on me or others like me but chose not to, why? I could never throw salt on any of them. They did too much directly for me - their encouraging words, their direction, their patience, ... just like I was their own child. Why?
 
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Panther88 said:
The anglos here? I don't too much understand quite a few of them in my past in all honesty buck. Their heart? I dunno' man... I grew up there and truth be told, I owe a LOT to a LOT of them for giving me an opportunity to excel, and they eagerly and enthusiastically helped guide me. My entire undergrad education? Financed 100% by an anglo male in the community. He wanted to give back to the local HS so for me and valed/salut both, he said ANY public state undergrad school, he'd pay for all 4-5 yrs and then give each of us 100$ @ the end of every semester for every "A" grade earned - excepting the valed also got an Exxon gas card to spend up to 200$ per mo and a clothing card to spend up to 500$ per semester (I think) @ a store called Lord&Taylor's-Galleria Houston, if memory serves correct; salut got 200$ gas card - he made those diffs between all 3 although our gpas were identical lol (4.42 on 4.00 scale). He personally flew (listen to me: he had <b>one</b> of his pilots fly him to PV's fball field in one of his helicopters - owned 2 lol) and walked an 80,000$ check to PV's then admin bldg on my behalf my sr yr HS. My undergrad educ cost a whopping 13.7K$. Told me face to face that he wanted to "effect not only me but my children and their children as well and education is the key," even after he was dead and gone (knew he had terminal cancer). He passed my soph yr but wrote me into his will to continue the "A"4-100$ deal. A stranger man. Never met that man pre-graduation from HS but he sought me out to help me. All those aggie-localers, they had a full-4-yr deal for me to do Bryan/College Station, why? (well, I eventually came to know why they wanted me there lol - graduation rate for blacks @ aTm lol )

What kind of heart did those ppl possess? They could've easily turned their back on me or others like me but chose not to, why? I could never throw salt on any of them. They did too much directly for me - their encouraging words, their direction, their patience, ... just like I was their own child. Why?
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Cool, it's good that someone to a chance and provided you an opportunity. We need to start doing the same thing for each other.
 



Good points!

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buckwheat1911 said:
Cool, it's good that someone to a chance and provided you an opportunity. We need to start doing the same thing for each other.
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I'm thinking, now, that those in my past knew that I would be very objective and never see "race" while returning to the home area w/ a plethora of fortunte-5+ corp contacts, who make things happen - ala grants/funding, for localers. I helped secure a 100,000$ and 37,000$ technology grant w/in the last few for my old school district. I live 252 miles away from hometown. I think they knew I'd be fiercely loyal and productive to help impact that area in a positive manner, which is some of what they instilled in me. @ some point soon, I'm going to gift the top HS grad old HS a full schol to the school of their choice (public school) here in Tx w/ those remaining funds/interest from my deal. Zero of my kids will ever attend PV so I'm yanking those $$$$ out of that trust to be used elsewhere for someone elses who is worthy. :read:
 
Buckwheat how do you feel about the indian man explaining to the group that they would need a white man to be their front man in order to pitch their idea? I know a lot of people that I was watching it with had a fit. It kind of reminded me of that scene out of the Five Heartbeats when they put the Five Horsemen on their album cover because they knew it would not sell with a bunch of black guys on it. I liked it over all, but I will admit it got under my skin to see another person of color encouraging an entire race to get a white person to be their front man in order to succeed. However, I know we have to play the game, but that is a little too much for me. Thoughts?
 
TSUGIRL07 said:
Buckwheat how do you feel about the indian man explaining to the group that they would need a white man to be their front man in order to pitch their idea? I know a lot of people that I was watching it with had a fit. It kind of reminded me of that scene out of the Five Heartbeats when they put the Five Horsemen on their album cover because they knew it would not sell with a bunch of black guys on it. I liked it over all, but I will admit it got under my skin to see another person of color encouraging an entire race to get a white person to be their front man in order to succeed. However, I know we have to play the game, but that is a little too much for me. Thoughts?
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To be honest, I kind of had a problem with that also. I know it's not fair and racist, but you have to play the game. Maybe he was saying that to say that how he and other Indians have done in the past.
 
TSUGIRL07 said:
Buckwheat how do you feel about the indian man explaining to the group that they would need a white man to be their front man in order to pitch their idea? I know a lot of people that I was watching it with had a fit. It kind of reminded me of that scene out of the Five Heartbeats when they put the Five Horsemen on their album cover because they knew it would not sell with a bunch of black guys on it. I liked it over all, but I will admit it got under my skin to see another person of color encouraging an entire race to get a white person to be their front man in order to succeed. However, I know we have to play the game, but that is a little too much for me. Thoughts?
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It's also dependent on whether or not you're in the business to make a quick million or stay in for the long hall. A lot of startups are in the business to make a lot of money. You can sell your business and never have to work again. The Indian guy said that he had several businesses that he had before that he sold. He probably made a lot of money off of those companies. You start one company and sell it and create another.
 
jsupop33 said:
the latter, I was just saying how they will start something though.
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Understood! Africans that come here see an opportunity just like other groups and start a business. They know America has a lot of opportunites and they take advantage of it. The only thing I don't like about Africans is they look at us like we're ignorant. I have a lot of African friends that say that about American blacks. I have to get them straight.
 
Black people hate each other and it's
probably in our DNA.
Look @ how Africans fight each other in Africa, & always have
selling us into slavery and shti

Black people always wanna one -up somebody, changing cell phones
every few months and shti

Black folks always on that fugg shti about look @ me. feel me
but never wanna help a mofo
we don't give a damn about group uplift we wanna be that super star alone

we are the most exclusionary race of people on earth toward each other
but we will accept almost anything from other races

are we cursed, stupid, ain't worth shti,
destined to be last always or what?
 
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Tony said:
<b>Black people hate each other and it's
probably in our DNA.</b> :read:
Look @ how <b>Africans fight each other in Africa, & always have
selling us into slavery and shti</b>

<b>Black people always wanna one -up somebody, changing cell phones
every few months and shti</b> :read:

<b>Black folks always on that fugg shti about look @ me. feel me
but never wanna help a mofo
we don't give a damn about group uplift <u>we wanna be that super star alone</u></b> :read:

<b>we are the most exclusionary race of people on earth toward each other
but we will accept almost anything from other races</b>

are we cursed, <b>stupid, ain't worth shti,</b>
destined to be last always or what?
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Man my brain is on max-overload right about now. Thx Tone. :emlaugh:

Damn... that was a lot for me to process. lol But I could relate to 100% of it. Dammit Tone.
 
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