Somebody out there help me. The recent dance over Imus' comments seems like deju vu...all over again! The usual suspects trot out the predictable set of warmed over ideas. African Americans are expected to apologize for the nominal benefits a few receive from hip hop smut, while whites can feel superior because, after all, Imus'got his verbal ammunition from African Americans in the first place.Last time I checked, few African Americans controlled music distribution, in the US or anywhere else. Granted, we write and perform the songs, but -- as is the case in history -- we don't sign ourselves to contracts, book tours, and roll ourselves up in the billions the music generats.Yet African Americans are expected to apologize for creating hip hop culture. Apologize to who? For what? Our system has reached its highest level. Those who control the media and public opinion have gotten the art of target shifting down to a science. Want to deflect public attention from the basic problem of an amoral economic system? Turn the discussion away from fundamental ideas. Focus instead on devolved themes....and lacking a useful framework from which to accurately evaluate oursevles in the context of this society, we freeze.

Inner City Economic Empowerment: A Tale of Two Cities

Research Paper
Summary:This case study, based on 19 interviews conducted with African American entrepreneurs, business and civic leaders in North Carolina, details enabling factors in the development of inner city businesses, how they impact the breath and depth of networks and how they result in the development of jobs and minority/resident owned inner city businesses. It suggests additional areas of inquiry to be pursued using quantitative methods.