COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 1

Cooperative Economics: A Means of Unification to Combat Economic, Social, and Political

Injustices Plaguing the Black Community

Aniyah D. Lewis

Global Connections

Instructor: Gregory Falls

December 8, 2017
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 2

Abstract

African-Americans have tried for hundreds of years to provide their families with the resources

necessary to acquire wealth and financial stability, seeking out every possible channel to success,

but were thwarted every step of the way by the system itself. Its inherently discriminatory and

racist nature have made it nearly impossible for Black people to acquire their necessities, let

alone prosper economically. Furthermore, since politics is money, black people have been

disenfranchised and marginalized. Cooperative economics are a proposed solution to these

injustices because it is an economic system designed for the minority. By pooling knowledge and

resources, African Americans have the potential to gain financial freedom in the sense that they

will no longer have to be dependent on a system that does not want to see them succeed. There is

an immense variety of cooperatives in existence; some existing to provide basic resources, and

others designed to generate revenue and help it stay in the hands of those who need it most and

worked to make it available. It is quite an adjustment from the capitalist system that is dominant

within the US, but cooperatives have been successful both here and abroad, and specifically

within the African American community. Their contributions are more than monetary and the

sense of liberation and political autonomy that ensues is exactly what the Black Community

needs in order to promote unification and self-sufficiency, as a race.

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 3

Table Of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………................2

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….3

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Limitations………………………………………………………………………………………...5

Literature Review…………………………………………………………...……………………..6

Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………9

Comprehensive Definitions of Cooperative Economics and Its Various Forms………….9

Importance of Cooperative Economics in Combating Injustice…………………………11

Examples of Successful Cooperatives………………………………...………………....16

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….18

References………………………………………………………………………………………..19

Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………………....24

Appendix B……………………………………………………………………………………....25
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 4

Cooperative Economics: A Means of Unification to Combat Economic, Social, and Political

Injustices Plaguing the Black Community

Introduction

Turn on the tv at any given moment in the years 2014 into 2017, and what unfolds on the

screen is no new topic, but a strikingly alarming one nonetheless. Another unarmed black man

fatally shot by a white cop. Eyewitness accounts. No conviction. Video evidence. No conviction.

Body cam footage. No conviction.

As African-Americans protested, begging to be treated as humans, and not killed for

bloodsport, they were assaulted with claims of being unpatriotic. Unpatriotic for asking to live.

Unpatriotic for asking the men who take an oath to serve and to protect to be held accountable

for unnecessarily taking a life. And as black men and women marched, protested, and boycotted

any case of racial discrimination, to little success, it became apparent that this fight for social

equality was no different than the one during slavery, Jim Crow Era, Civil Rights Era, and all the

moments in between; it is ongoing battle, like a comic book rivalry between good and evil, not to

be viewed in isolation, as just a few bad apples, but requiring microscopic scrutiny at a failing

system for black america. Trying to rewrite a system so encapsulated in racism and injustice

would bring about no immediate results for those in such dire need of it.

These horrors only vindicated the need for black people to engage in cooperative

economics. Cooperative Economics allow disenfranchised and marginalized groups of people a

way to obtain autonomy, accumulate wealth, acquire and fairly distribute resources, and exercise

political power. It is the solution to the economic, political, and social inequities facing the

community; the same ones made so blatant in the hundreds of publicized police brutality cases.

Limitations
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 5

Geographical Limitations. The author has chosen to address inequities as relevant

specifically to the Black community residing within the United States, and therefore the primary

focus of the research paper is within one geographical area. The author does not discredit the

inequities faced within every country, but merely seeks to the narrow the issue so as to examine a

plausible, and implementable solution for one ethnic group in particular.

Personal Bias. The author herself is an African-American woman who has been

constantly exposed to political inequality, economic discrimination, and social injustices. From

subtleties like higher than average interest rates with regards to purchasing a vehicle, to outright

racial profiling like being tailed by a cop car, without its lights on, into the occupants own

driveway because “the car fit the description of a mysterious vehicle.” She is a proud proponent

of black unity and investing black resources back into black communities and black businesses.

The author passionately seeks a solution to hundreds of years of inequity and that is why she

chose this topic.

Time Constraints. The topic spans several hundreds of years and it is nearly impossible

to address the whole of black history in the United States in immense detail within the two

months the author had to write this paper in its entirety. Therefore the author had to, to the best

of her abilities, distinguish trivial history from the most relevant and vital aspects of history as it

pertains to this paper. Therefore there are decades in history discussed in great detail, and

decades elapsed.
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 6

Literature Review

The references used within this paper span a wide variety of topics. There are sources to

explain what a cooperative is, and what types of cooperatives exist. Some sources delve into the

complex world of injustice and are further divided into economic inequities, while others choose

to discuss social injustices, and others still, discuss political inequities. Then, to support the

claims that cooperatives economics are a way to combat these injustices, there are sources

proving the success of such a system.

The International organisation of industrial and service cooperatives, or CICOPA, Social

Economy Arizona, and Co-OpLaw.org, are all sources describing what a cooperative is and what

types of cooperatives exist today. They validate the established argument that there is a

cooperative for every type of person, every potential business owner and consumer. As the

author conducted her research, she was adamant about finding a solution that could be plausible

for all African-Americans to implement. The author wanted to ensure that there would be no

stable arguments to dispel cooperative economics as a solution to injustice save lack of desire.

Embedded within the explanations are examples of successful cooperatives and their many

beneficial impacts on the community to which they belong.

Further research was conducted to delve deeper into each cooperative that the author was

unfamiliar with or those that primary sources proved to be bare or minimalistic. The press release

from Upwork and Freelancers Union entitled “Freelancers predicted to become the U.S.

workforce majority within a decade, with nearly 50% of millennial workers already freelancing,

annual “Freelancing in America” study finds,” a report written by Wilhelmina A. Leigh and

Danielle Huff entitled African Americans and Homeownership: Separate and Unequal, 1940 to

2006, and the report entitled HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RACIAL AND ETHNIC
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 7

MINORITIES 2012 drafted by Margery Austin Turner, Robert Santos, Diane K. Levy, and

Douglas A. Wissoker were three of those kinds of sources. The first offered explanation for what

a freelancer is, how crucial they are to the workforces, and alludes to the necessity of strong

freelancer cooperatives for the healthy development of freelancer efforts. It offered context, such

as that, companies like Uber and Lyft, fall into the freelancer category, offering individuals a

flexible working schedule which is the primary factor of a freelancer. The second and third

sources supplied empirical evidence of social inequity which can be very difficult to prove.

However, these sources have charts, graphs, and tables showing that potential African American,

Latino, and Asian- American homebuyers and renters receive fewer calls than their white

counterparts and significantly viewings, especially within those home are in predominantly white

neighborhoods. If African-Americans are barred from the tools they need to succeed how can

they ever expect to overcome poverty and achieve financial freedom. It validates how

“Whites Have Huge Wealth Edge Over Blacks (but Don’t Know It)” written by Emily

Badger, “Blacks and Latinos Will Be Broke in a Few Decades” written by Josh Hoxie, and

“White people are really confident that things are getting better for black people” written by

Tracy Jan are all discussing the reality of the severity of the income gap between minorities and

White Americans versus the perceived state of the income gap across all ethnicities within the

United States. The conclusive finding was that American grossly understated wealth and income

between minorities and white people and the “progress” being made towards narrowing the gap.

There were two sources, both recorded lectures, one a Ted Talk, and the other a video

dating back to circa 1992. With one entitled “Blueprint for Black Power” it is apparent that it

confirms authorial bias: Cooperatives are essential to empowering Black People. It is openly pro-

black, anti-capitalist (in regards to the success of African Americans) and it is a call to action.
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 8

Amos Wilson’s entire life’s work is devoted to this very issue that the author has chosen to

study. The Ted Talk entitled Fire the Boss and delivered by Nikki Okuk, is of similar like. It is a

presentation delivered by a woman of both african and european descent discussing the

advantages of white privilege and how she leveraged what she possessed in order to better the

African American Community. She is, however, a capitalist as of yet, a business owner to a

company entitled RCO Tires that employs ex-felons in the predominantly minority-resident area

of Crenshaw, and her dream is for them to fire the boss: her, so as to have a cooperative in which

the workers pouring their resources into the company can benefit from it.

There is quite an extensive plethora of sources discussing mass incarceration and the

Prison Industrial and it because the dynamic between the black community and law enforcement

is so crucial to understanding the complexities of political inequity. The power imbalance stems

from the catch-22 scenario that is incarceration, and the sources such as “The Black Male

Incarceration Problem Is Real and It's Catastrophic." by Antonio Moore, "White People Commit

the Most Heinous Crimes, So Why Is America Terrified of Black Men?" by Lisa Bloom, "The

Prison-Industrial Complex." by Eric Schlosser, and a report done by the Bureau of Justice

Statistics entitled "Identity Theft Reported by Households, 2005-2010 from the Bureau of Justice

Statistics." provide evidence and context.

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 9

Discussion

Comprehensive Definitions of Cooperative Economics and Its Various Forms

According to the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), a cooperative is “an

autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social,

and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled

enterprise.” There are seven principles: voluntary and open membership, democratic member

control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training and

information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for community. These ideals help to

ensure that a cooperative is beneficial to all of its members. There are several different types.

Producer Cooperatives. Business owners from separate businesses purchase, market,

and/or hire collectively, to the benefit of all its members. They are most often instituted within

the agricultural industry because this type of cooperative conglomerates business owners who

sell the same or a similar product. It is an effective way to keep wealth concentrated within the

location from which it originates because it is owned by members of the community. The very

same people who go to the grocery store in their town could own a dairy farm that sells milk to

the local market. For MinWind, a minnesota wind turbine installation company, the owners

include two grocers, a newspaper editor, and several nearby farmers (Co-opLaw.org).

Worker and Consumer Cooperatives. They mimic traditional businesses in that the

owners create products or produce services in order to yield a profit for their shareholders.

However, worker cooperatives are generally locally owned, prefer to preserve jobs rather than

maximize profit by any means necessary, and dedicate themselves to promoting worker well-

being, exercising environmental responsibility, and contributing to the overall morale and wealth

of the community. Worker & Consumer cooperatives are more deeply intertwined within their
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 10

community and their businesses are incredibly beneficial to the society. These entities fill needs

in the community with the purpose of giving consumers more power over the services being

provided.

Credit Unions. Ideally credit unions exist to afford its members the opportunity to invest

and build their wealth within reasonable monetary parameters, such as sensible interest rates.

These financial institutions are owned by their members on a non-profit basis. When the

institution profits it returns money to its members in the form of bonus dividends, something that

banks, payday lenders and other financial institutions fail to do (Bartlett, 2017).

Freelancer Cooperatives. Freelancing offers an alternative to traditional jobs. People

are given the flexibility to construct their own schedules and be their own bosses. “Freelancers

make up 34% of the U.S. workforce, and that number is expected to grow to 40% by 2020” (Co-

opLaw.org). With a growing field of workers preferring freelancing above customary workplace

opportunities, it is imperative that there be a collective strategy enabling them to thrive.

Freelance cooperatives can provide insurance and countless other services, help freelancers to

find clients, and advocate for much needed policy changes. According to research conducted by

the Freelancers Union, “20% of full-time freelancers still don’t have health insurance” (Podfelt,

2017). It is possible that cooperatives could help to relieve this issue.

Social Cooperatives. A social cooperative functions like any other cooperative but with

the specialized goal of empowering “disadvantaged and marginalized workers” (CICOPA).

Childcare and housing cooperatives tend to fall under this category as they help to promote

social equity.

Importance of Cooperative Economics in Combating Injustice

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 11

It is a means of resource acquirement when the capitalist system fails to provide for a

group of people. It not only ensures economic equality, but also promotes social and political

engagement, conversely it is shaped by economic, social, and political inequities.

Economic Inequities. Despite high morale from a majority of Americans: White, Black,

wealthy, impoverished, and every income level in between, the financial state of African

Americans is not progressing, and the heightened sense of optimism that black people are

achieving greater economic prosperity is unfounded. According to a study published in the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,“The average black household made 60

percent of what white households made in 2016….For every $100 of wealth accumulated by a

white family, a black family has little more than $5” (Jan, 2017). The system cannot fix an issue

that it does not even believes truly exists. According to Jennifer Richeson,

...our beliefs about racial progress and economic equality are fairly inconsistent

with reality….The magnitude of the misperception is shocking, and it’s an

obstacle to actually achieving the progress that everyone seems to be

celebrating….We need to stop deceiving ourselves….Wealth inequality based on

race is baked into this country’s founding, and we cannot handle it. It is not that

these individuals don’t work hard enough or are genetically inferior.

Throughout time the rich have only gotten richer and the poor, poorer. African

Americans are among the chronically impoverished and this is because the collective $1.4 trillion

that they possess in purchasing power goes into mega-stores that do not reflect the needs of the

community. In any predominantly black neighborhood, and most often, lower-income area, there

are liquor stores, corner stores, pawn shops, hair stores and unhealthy fast-food restaurants, and

furthermore, most of these businesses are owned by non-black people of color, mostly asian-
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 12

americans. Consumer and Worker cooperatives reduce exploitation by giving the power to the

community. It is the sort of grassroots economic initiative that they require. It has been

implemented in the past. “Immediately after the Civil War, some Blacks organized themselves

(or were organized) into intentional communities and communes, where they could live and

develop under their own leadership, creating their own economy,”(Pease and Pease 1963;

DeFilippis 2004).

Social Inequities. There seems to be an elephant in the room that no one wants to

address. The general atmosphere towards race and its ramifications in regards to wealth, and

virtually anything else, is that the system has been repaired and that the issues just simply

vanished into thin air. What people fail to realize is that discrimination and racism is embedded

in the system, in fact, it is the system. Housing discrimination, bank loan refusal, credit denial,

and countless others barriers set in place to blockade African Americans from achieving

financial freedom have been successful in stratifying wealth between black and white people.

Since the 1940s, African American homeownership has maintained well below the national

average by at least 20 percentage points, and far behind the rate of ownership for white

americans by about 23 percentage points (Leigh & Huff, 2007). The gap is so expansive, that

even with the percentage having doubled from 1940 to 2000 for African Americans, they are still

26 percentage points behind their white counterparts. Blatant methods of discrimination are far

less common than they used to be 50 years ago, but there are still underhanded procedures to

undermine attempts within the black community to seek homeownership. Black families seeking

to rent or purchase a home are consistently told about and shown less homes than their white

counterparts (Turner, Santos, et al, 2012). In fact, “Black renters who contact agents about

recently advertised housing units learn about 11.4 percent fewer available units than equally
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 13

qualified whites and are shown 4.2 percent fewer units” (Turner, Santos, et al, 2012). Social

Cooperatives could prove to be a key combatant, providing a wide variety of sources such as

healthcare, education, and housing. According to W.E.B Du Bois,

Mutual Aid Societies and Beneficial Societies provided joint purchasing and

marketing, revolving loan funds, and sickness, widow and orphan, and death

benefits. They often operated informally through Black religious organizations

and Black independent schools….Often white landlords, insurance agents, banks,

and even the federal government created barriers to thwart the success of these

businesses by raising the rent, refusing a line of credit, withdrawing an insurance

policy, or even accusing the company of fraud.

Political Inequities. The US has managed to continue its long-lasting, inescapable legacy

of profiting from the ill-compensated labor of black people, especially young, able-bodied black

men. In this day and age within the United States, slavery doesn’t look like cotton fields and

large southern plantations, instead it looks like assembly lines lined with prisoners making office

furniture and textiles for pennies on the dollar. The truth of the matter is that black men play a

crucial, but involuntary role in the growth and success of prison industry due to an unjust justice

system, disproportionate convictions, and privatization.

Slavery has been illegal in the United States since 1865, except for those who have the

misfortune of coming in contact with the justice system. Within this process, one demographic in

particular is the target of police harassment and racial profiling until he is indicted. He is then

presented to a jury of people who are considered to be his peers but often times share no

connections in home life, economic status, or educational training, and yet are charged with

determining his fate. He is chained and condemned to a system. The situation described is an
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 14

inevitable part of life for 1 in 3 black men. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, “except as

punishment for crime” effectively keeping people as chattel and fostering the Virginia Supreme

Court declaration of prisoners as“slaves of the state,” that came 6 years after the abolition of

slavery. The United States Economy went from one form of slavery to the next. It foreshadowed

the bleak outlook for men who hope(d) someday to leave the system (Prison Policy Initiative).

Rather than rehabilitate, and diverge men from becoming repeat offenders, recidivism is high, in

fact, “Five years after release from prison, black offenders had the highest recidivism rate (81

percent),” (Bureau Of Justice Statistics, 2014). As multi-platinum recording artist, J.Cole once

stated, “the cyclical nature of doing time continues.” These men have very little hope of starting

anew once they complete their sentence because the odds are just not stacked in their favor.

Though the US accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for 25% of the

world’s prison population. Blacks are incarcerated at “nearly three times their rate in

population,” (Bloom, 2014). These morbid statistics can be attributed to a system that is

unusually harsh on crimes than in other countries receive alternative repercussions such as drug

treatment or community service (Schlosser, 1998).

African Americans compose 1 million of the total 2.3 million of people incarcerated

(Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, 2017). Blacks represent nearly half of the prison population in the

United States, although they are but 15% of the United States population. African Americans are

incarcerated at “nearly six times the rate of whites,” (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, 2017), which

means that there are more African American men incarcerated in the United States than the total

incarceration populations in “India, Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Finland,

Israel and England combined,” (Moore, 2017). Numbers do not lie but they can be skewed, and

while there are more black people incarcerated for drug and property crimes, that does not
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 15

indicate that they commit more drug and property crimes than any other race in the United

States, rather it shows the use of racial profiling on a mass scale to enslave a race of men for

profit. Police are concentrated in low-income, predominantly black areas to arrest for petty

crimes because if blacks were arrested at the same rate as whites, prison populations would

decline by approximately 50% (Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, 2017).

Black men have and always will be an essential component to the prosperity of the

United States economy. Mass incarceration is so prevalent and has been since the “war on drugs”

because they are the source of wealth in the nation. The government invests deeply in it,

spending about $70 billion dollars on it yearly (Peleaz, 2016). Money that could be allocated to

programs that would help to prevent incarceration before it happens, such as after school boys

and girls clubs and other outlets so as preoccupy the youth. Instead, prison has become one of the

fastest-growing independent industries with “its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites,

and mail-order/Internet catalogs” (Peleaz, 2016). The prosperity of private prisons hinge upon

black inmate labor and there are corporations who lobby for stricter drug sentencing because of

this (Peleaz, 2016). People’s live are being auctioned off to the highest bidder, and people are

being treated as expendables whose only purpose is to make money.

The Prison Industrial Complex has managed to keep the United States stagnant in its

treatment of blacks and consequential use of slave labor. Working for pennies on the dollar for

major corporations, African-American men drive the prison industrial complex as indicated by

the overwhelming arrests, excessive convictions, and private companies pouring of wealth into

the industry.

Likewise, in many states, when individuals are incarcerated and even upon release from

prison, their right to vote is suspended, in some cases, indefinitely. Without the right to vote,
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 16

they are powerless, they lose faith in the justice system and the political system as a whole, and

political efficacy is obliterated. Members of the black community either fear law enforcement or

have a burning animosity towards it and it is because of the power imbalance. Black people are

painfully aware of their positions as pawns in the grand scheme of governmental affairs and

change is being demanded. That much can be seen in the recent rise of the black lives matter

movement and growth of the Pro-Black platform. There is a cry for black people to uplift and

empower one another because it has become clear that the United States Federal Government

will not.

Examples of Successful Cooperatives

Historical Examples. The Colored Farmer’s alliance was founded in the late 1880s as a

union with over 1 million members, it was likely to have been “the largest Black organization of

its time” (Nembhard, 2013). The member’s worked together to share agricultural methods. In

1901 The Mercantile Cooperative Company was founded as a black-run cooperative stores.

Selling $5 shares, by 1928, they were able to buy supplies, a truck, and hire 3 employees. The

Freedom Quilting Bee created in 1966 started as a supplement to their family’s sharecropping

income but quickly grew into its own entity. By 1968, they were able to purchase 23 acres of

land in order to build a factory and were then able to give plots of land to 8 families who had

been evicted due to civic engagement such as voting and attending speeches. Then of course,

there is Black Wall Street, one of the most well known examples of the successful institution of

cooperative economics. A thriving black neighborhood located in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma,

that came to its demise in 1921. It featured black owned cinemas, banks, retail stores, and

restaurants and served as a symbol of black unity and wealth. Perhaps one of the most iconic

models of economic cooperation, but not the first and certainly not the last . There are countless
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 17

other examples such as the cooperative stores/exchanges and mutual insurance companies

sprouting in the late 19th century, early 20th century that offered much more affordable interest

rates for loans and discounted prices for products. The truth of the matter is that African

Americans have been engaging in cooperative economics for decades, and they have been

effective.

Current Examples. In the South Bronx, Cooperative Home-care Associates is a worker

co-op started by Black and Latina home-care workers, which provides full-time employment,

sufficient living wages, benefits, and if the company turns a profit, a dividend back on their

ownership. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives has been in existence since the late 1960s,

supporting rural farmers and marketing co-ops, housing co-ops, and rural co-op development, as

well as Black land retention. Ujamaa Women’s Collective,founded in Pittsburg is a group of

Black female entrepreneurs that make cosmetics, food, and sewn items. Operating cooperatively,

these women were able to buy a permanent space where they each sell their goods, advertise

together, and “practice collective business development and management” (Galvis, 2015).
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 18

Conclusion

How do you even begin to eradicate an extensive and deeply embedded history of

discrimination and disenfranchisement when you are still fighting to be viewed as human? What

do you turn to for resources and support when formal political and economic institutions are

turning you away on no other premise save the color of your skin? How can you possibly thrive

in a society that doesn’t even want you alive? These are questions that have plagued the black

community for centuries. When the black population decided they would not go on being

mistreated, and then coerced into silence, they organized boycotts and sit-ins, held protests, and

coordinated marches. African Americans have engaged in unconventional political means for

decades because their voices would go unheard otherwise. Black people fought for such

fundamental rights as liberty and life that were deprived to them, while being barred from

achieving economic success, obtaining social equality, and developing any sort of real political

power. The capitalist system as well as the justice system inhibits any sort of efforts made within

the Black community to better itself. That is why the answer is cooperative economics. It

operates outside of traditional, formal institutions and allows minorities to unify and collectivize

their needs and desires. Black people have not only been able to provide for themselves and the

greater community under this model, but have been able to thrive and empower one another.
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 19

References

Badger, E. (2017, September 18). Whites Have Huge Wealth Edge Over Blacks (but

Don’t Know It). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/upshot/black-white-wealth-gap-

perceptions.html

Bartlett, M. (2017, November 27). Ascend Federal Credit Union returning $5 million to

members. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://www.cujournal.com/news/ascend-

federal-credit-union-returning-5-million-to-members

Black Cooperatives in the United States: An Excerpted History from Research by Jessica

Gordon Nembhard[The following narrative is directly from information about Black

cooperatives in America thanks to the work of Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D. (John

Jay College, City University of New York; and Grassroots Economic Organizing). The

photos and inserted “notes” are from the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land

Assistance Fund (2013). (forthocming) Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Collective Courage: A

History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, The

Pennsylvania State University Press]. (2013).

Bloom, L. "White People Commit the Most Heinous Crimes, So Why Is America

Terrified of Black Men?" Alternet. Counterpoint Press, 13 May 2014. Web. 29 Mar.

2017.

Bragg, K. (2016, July 20). #BlackMoneyMatters: Bank-Ins May Be The Way to

Empowerment. Retrieved December 06, 2017, from

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-dollars-matter-bank-ins-may-be-way-

empowerment-n607231
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 20

Caliendo, S. M. (2018). Inequality in America: race, poverty, and fulfilling democracys

promise. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. doi:305.5120973 C15312i

CICOPA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from http://www.cicopa.coop/What-is-a-

cooperative.html

"Criminal Justice Fact Sheet." NAACP. NAACP, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

Incarceration, Inc. Youtube. Al Jazeera English, 6 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Initiative, Prison Policy. "Section III: The Prison Economy." Section 3 The Prison

Economy - Prison Labor - Prison Index | Prison Policy Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr.

2017.

Galvis, A. (2015, October 28). The Legacy and Current Growth of Black Cooperatives.

Retrieved December 07, 2017, from https://foodfirst.org/the-legacy-and-current-growth-

of-black-cooperatives/

Howard, S. (2016, August 09). How Black Co-Ops Can Fight Institutional Racism.

Retrieved December 06, 2017, from https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jmk8qk/how-

black-co-ops-can-fight-institutional-racism

Hoxie, J. (2017, September 19). Blacks and Latinos Will Be Broke in a Few Decades.

Retrieved November 28, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/09/19/racial-inequality-

wealth-gap-america/

Jan, T. (2017, September 18). White people are really confident that things are getting

better for black people. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/18/white-people-are-really-

confident-things-are-getting-better-for-black-people/?utm_term=.6b8570f534aa
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 21

Leigh, W. A., & Huff, D. (2007). African Americans and Homeownership: Separate and

Unequal, 1940 to 2006(pp. 1-9, Rep. No. 1). D.C, Washington: Joint Center for Political

and Economic Studies.

Moore, A. "The Black Male Incarceration Problem Is Real and It's Catastrophic." The

Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Feb. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Munk, N. (2013). The Idealist: Jeffery Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty. Toronto: Doubleday.

Nembhard, J. G. (2014, April 8). Cooperative Economics and Civil Rights [Interview by

L. Flanders]. Retrieved October 18, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TVIghQMkBg

Nembhard, J. G. (2014, April 28). The Deep Roots of African American Cooperative

Economics [Interview by M. Luna]. Retrieved October 22, 2017, from

https://www.shareable.net/blog/interview-the-deep-roots-of-african-american-

cooperative-economics

Okuk, N. (2017, January 17). Fire the Boss. Retrieved November 27, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3h9I4vcX00&pbjreload=10

Pelaez, Vicky. "The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of

Slavery?" Global Research. Global Research, 26 Aug. 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

Pofeldt, E. (2016, October 31). Freelancers Now Make Up 35% Of U.S. Workforce.

Retrieved November 27, 2017, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2016/10/06/new-survey-freelance-economy-

shows-rapid-growth/amp/
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 22

Quigley, B. (2017, October 18). Blueprint for The Most Radical City on the Planet.

Retrieved December 06, 2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blueprint-for-

the-most-radical-city-on-the-planet_us_59e78fc3e4b0432b8c11ebf2

Schlosser, Eric. "The Prison-Industrial Complex." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media

Company, 01 Dec. 1998. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Statistics, Bureau Of Justice. "Identity Theft Reported by Households, 2005-2010 from

the Bureau of Justice Statistics." Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). N.p., 22 Apr. 2014.

Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

Tierney, B., & Shear, B. (2017, June 06). Columnists Brennan Tierney and Boone Shear:

Vision for a community-driven economy. Retrieved December 06, 2017, from

http://www.gazettenet.com/Columnists-Brennan-Tierney-and-Boone-Shear-describe-

cooperative-development-10494427

Turner, M. A., Santos, R., Levy, D. K., Wissoker, D., Aranada, C., & Pitingolo, R.

(2013). HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

2012(pp. 5-18, Publication). D.C, Washington: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development .

Upwork and Freelancers Union, FIA. (2017, October 17). Freelancers predicted to

become the U.S. workforce majority within a decade, with nearly 50% of millennial

workers already freelancing, annual “Freelancing in America” study finds [Press release].

Retrieved November 27, 2017, from

https://www.upwork.com/press/2017/10/17/freelancing-in-america-2017/

University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Web Developer Network. (n.d.). Types of Cooperatives.

Retrieved December 06, 2017, from https://ncdc.unl.edu/typescooperatives.shtml

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 23

What are cooperatives (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from http://www.co-

oplaw.org/co-op-basics/what-are-cooperatives/

What is a Cooperative? (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from

http://socialeconomyaz.org/whats-a-cooperative/

Wilson, Amos. “Blueprint for Black Power.” 1992.

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 24

Appendix A

Median Income Gain or Loss for Tran’s (2017) Article

COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS & BLACK UNIFICATION 25

Appendix B

Median Household Income for the Past Decade Tran’s (2017) Article