What Did Huey P. Newton Say About Black Capitalism
As a philosopher and conscious business coach and consultant, I often chat with entrepreneurs from historically marginalized communities who are sabotaging their businesses because their financial success makes them feel guilty. These heart-centered bosses love their communities deeply and are committed to championing social justice issues. They volunteer their time and labor often and they can’t hide the fire in their belly when it’s time to champion feminism, decolonization, racial justice, or the climate crisis.
They CARE deeply!
Yet, they often feel a bit of shame about the wealth that they’re accumulating in their businesses. Why?
Because we’re all acutely aware of the negative impacts of predatory capitalism. We see how it shapes everything from anti-blackness, policing, and gender discrimination to environmental degradation, and militarism on the global scale. So, the whole idea of business sometimes feels tainted, because we ask ourselves:
“Are we contributing to the problem when we decide to create a company?”
“Are we the champagne socialists that the young people deride on TikTok?”
“Is all of our marketing and selling icky?”
“If we set a premium price for our products or services, are we being exploitative? Are we accessible enough to our communities?”
And so on…
These are big questions and I’m glad that we’re asking them. It shows that we aspire to be a heart-centered entrepreneur!
However, if you identify as an entrepreneur who is also Black, Indigenous, a Person of Color, LGBTQ+, from a working class background, neurodivergent, or disabled, I want to offer you some thoughts on race and capitalism from Huey P. Newton, philosopher, activist, and co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self- Defense (commonly known as the Black Panther Party).
Now, I’m not going to say that I have all of the answers or that Huey P. Newton was always right. However, I am here to say that we can learn a great deal from Huey’s writings. He was, after all, a philosopher and revolutionary who organized on the vanguard of one of the most iconic Black liberation movements in the U.S., and globally.
Huey Newton (right) with Bobby Seale at Black Panther Party headquarters in San Francisco in 1967. Ted Streshinsky/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Image
I’ve read a few of Huey’s pieces. Namely, The New Huey P. Newton Reader edited by David Hilliard and Donald Weise and Huey’s Revolutionary Suicide.
I want to zoom in on his June 1971 essay, “Black Capitalism Re-Analyzed,” and pull out a few generative quotes.
This is what Huey said about:
Power
“What we seek, however, is not power over people, but the power to control our own destiny. For us the true definition of power is not in terms of how many people you can control. To us power is, first of all, the ability to define phenomena, and secondly the ability to make these phenomena act in a desired manner.”
Merging Theory and Practice
“So the Black Panther Party has always merged theory and practice in such a way as to serve the true interests of the community.”
Revolutionary Cultists
Huey admitted that the Black Panther Party had become revolutionary cultists, and offered up this definition of the revolutionary cultist.
“One of the primary characteristics of a revolutionary cultist is that he despises everyone who has not reached his level of consciousness, or the level of consciousness that he thinks he has reached, instead of acting to bring the people to that level.”
Black Capitalism
“We want an end to the robbery by the CAPITALISTS of our Black Community.” That was our position in October 1966 and it is still our position. We recognize that capitalism is no solution to the problems we face in our communities. Capitalist exploitation is one of the basic causes of our problem. It is the goal of the Black Panther Party to negate capitalism in our communities and in the oppressed communities throughout the world.”
“However, many people have offered the community Black capitalism as a solution to our problems. We recognize that people in the Black community have no general dislike for the concept of Black capitalism, but this is not because they are in love with capitalism. Not at all. The idea of Black capitalism has come to mean to many people Black control of another one of the institutions in the community.”
“In the past the Black Panther Party took a counter revolutionary position with our blanket condemnation of Black capitalism.Our strategy should have been to analyze the positive and negative qualities of this phenomenon before making any condemnation.”
When Huey re-analyzed the Black Panther Party’s original position on Black Capitalism, he decided that it was possible to offer a more nuanced position. One, Huey offers us some distinctions between Black Capitalism and Corporate Capitalism. There appears to be a redemptive arc that’s possible for the so-called Black capitalist. That redemption was found in the capitalist’s relationship to the community. Huey notes that we don’t necessarily want Black businesses to go out of business because then they won’t have the resources that can help the Black community. He notes that if Black entrepreneurs love their community and remain committed to service, “Black capitalism will be transformed from a relationship of exploitation of the community to a relationship of service to the community, which will contribute to the survival of everyone.”
However, here’s the caveat. If the Black so-called capitalists don’t give back, then he says they’re a parasite in the community, and their businesses may suffer as a result of having an antagonistic relationship to their community.
So, here’s what we can gather from Huey’s insights on Black capitalism…
Enterprise is not inherently immoral for the entrepreneur from a disadvantaged background. We have to redistribute wealth and resources in our community and building wealth is a part of that journey. However, as we build our businesses, we have to be mindful of the relationship that we have with our community. Do we serve? Do we give back? Are we exploitative and extractive? Or are we leveraging our resources to design free present-futures in collaboration with our people? Have we succumbed to the predatory capitalist logic that teaches us to crave power over people? Or are we desiring a different form of power, the power that we need to shape our destinies?
Let me know what you think!
Need help growing your conscious, purpose-driven brand? Schedule a call with me! I’m Dr. Hadiya Sewer, a decolonial philosopher, serial entrepreneur, and social impact advisor. I offer 1:1 Conscious Business Coaching to entrepreneurs and leaders who want to build 6 & 7 figure purpose-driven brands. Together, we’ll work on defining your values, scaling profits, and maximizing your social impact. Apply to join here!
