This is not to be an insult or dig at white dudes and this is not a scholarly endeavor, I'm merely expressing my opinion about the world we live in.

I come from revolutionaries, how else would a black boy from Detroit have the name Abdul Olu Golden, but I never had any desire to follow that path myself, I've never even considered it, never given it a second thought. I've always been a capitalist; I had the high paying jobs, the seven figure real estate properties, the six figure vehicles and the diversified investment portfolio to prove it.

But now, after about 8 straight years of pretty extensive international travel, spanning several continents and countries, I began to see a pattern, one that I was vaguely familiar with from books and such. But I now saw it in all of its glory, live and in living color. The white man has left his mark on practically every spot in the world. I'm talking specifically about white Europeans. It's true that many cultures and races(yeah I know race is just a social construct) have left an indelible imprint on the world, but none as pervasive and devastating as that of the white man.

Colonization

Colonization by Europeans has arguably been this world's biggest evil. Wars, slavery, genocide, generational trauma, whitewashing of identities, history and culture, physical and mental torture and abuse. Over the centuries, colonization has destroyed animal life, plant life, natural resources and of course people, cultures, societies, and traditions. Many cultures practiced some form of colonialism, but none at the breadth of scale, stickiness and destruction as white European men. What's crazy is that everyone in the world knows this anecdotally, most may not want to admit it, but they know it.

But it isn't until you’ve actually traveled to some of the places touched by European colonialism that the magnitude of the impact comes to light. Name the country, name the continent, it's been touched in some way. Talk to the people, commune with what's left of the indigenous, and you will see how the languages, practices, traditions, religions, cuisines, dress, education, people's view of self, and their hopes and dreams have all been intentionally and negatively impacted by white men.

North America

Canada, indigenous people inhabiting the areas now referred to as Canada were nearly wiped out using the standard playbook. By now a lot of you may have heard the stories of how the children of indigenous people would be forcibly taken from their parents homes and placed into state run boarding type schools. On the property of one such school there was an unmarked mass grave found with the remains of hundreds of indigenous children. It was found after years of speculation and a major project using laser technology to help with the search for the graves. This was after decades of stories and rumors of all forms of abuse, kid disappearances and other strangeness.

United States, the annihilation of the indigenous via violence, systematic extermination tactics and disease imported by white men and their eventual sequestering to remote and desolate areas of the country. For the over 500 years of slavery, indentured servitude, Jim crow, lynching, physical, emotional, economic and political violence inflicted on imported Africans and their descendants.

The United Mexican States (Mexico). When I was a kid, I was so confused about how and why people in Mexico spoke Spanish when Spain is so far away. But now I know it's because of the annihilation of indigenous culture and people via violence, war and subjugation i.e. colonization.

The Caribbean islands, the annihilation of indigenous, the importation of enslaved Africans, the defiling of the ecosystem.

South America

Brazil was the modern world's first majorly significant destination for importing enslaved Africans, pioneered by the Portuguese for the purposes of working sugarcane and banana plantations. At one point enslaved Africans outnumbered white colonists by 2 to 1. The systemic white washing of the country still persist today with a strong repression of its African roots and pervasive colorism

Argentina - Colorism gone wild, this country has a long history of trying to literally kill off their entire population of imported Africans to have the country present as more white and closer to Europeans. They used tactics like forced military recruitment and intentionally putting them on the frontlines during wars as a way to “cull” the black population, as well as forcing them to live in squalor leading to yellow fever and cholera outbreaks and mass incarceration for made up crimes. To this day many Argentines consider themselves to be white Europeans more than anything else.

All over South America the practice of the genocide and subjugation of the indigenous along with the erasure of culture was pervasive.

Africa

The jackpot of colonialism, a vast land with untold riches of land, natural resources and people to enslave and subjugate. Europeans were falling over themselves to get their share of the loot. To the point where they were fighting and killing each other over it. Then came the Berlin conference hosted by the Germans with participants from the United Stated and the major European powers. Over the course of three and a half months from November 15, 1884 to February 26, 1885; Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Turkey, and the United States of America negotiated on how they would divide Africa among themselves and the rules for engagement to reduce the conflict amongst themselves. Not a single representative from an African nation was present or consulted.

Colonialism, intentional underdevelopment, entrenching of colonial systems meant to handicap countries and of course the exporting of resources and wealth has led to Africa being seen as one of the biggest ghettos in the world. If you ask people from anywhere in the world they will most likely say Africa is poor and will likely be able to list any number of negative stereotypes about the continent.

The transatlantic slave route from the continent has led to a worldwide African Diaspora and all over the world black and brown folks are looked at similarly, they live in very similar circumstances (disadvantaged in so many of the most important ways). Africa is like a collection of all the black neighborhoods in the world, the same pattern of disinvestment, underdeveloped, exploited and a place to put things that white folks don't want in their countries or communities.

Asia

This was another very strategically important area of the world to European colonizers. The Portuguese, Spain and Great Britain’s race to Japan. The Opium Wars in China. Japan nor China were colonized but they were both influenced by and traded with European countries. The UK’s and the US mistreatment of China and its citizens is why a 200 year world domination plan was created by Chinese leaders. They are a little over halfway through that plan and it's working like gangbusters.

Full colonies were:

• Indonesia
• Vietnam
• Laos
• Cambodia
• India
• Burma
• Malaya
• Philippines

Australia and New Zealand

Very similar to what happened to indigenous people in lands now known as the United States and Canada, Aborigines were damn near wiped out. Those that are left are marginalized and left to scratch, claw and fight for some of the most basic human rights and everything else. There has been very recent news about the struggle of the Aborigines in New Zealand. So still to this day the negative impact persists.

Assimilation

In the United States and all over the world, black and brown folks were faced with assimilation, choosing to literally assimilate and subconsciously assimilating in order to participate in broader society. But in the process of assimilating, we’ve been lost. Our history, our traditional cultures and religions, our collective self esteem. Assimilation was the worst thing for us; we’ve lost so much of the fundamentals that made and make us great as a people.

I went through a phase where I was curious about the evolution of Clarence Thomas. I read his memoir and it was very enlightening, it helped me understand what's behind some of the things he does. I don't agree with many of his methods, but the one thing I do agree with him on is that we lost as soon as we started assimilating and that we would have been better off living in a separate society as it was during the height of segregation. It makes sense, black folks needed all the things required for living, but in a segregated society, we had to do for ourselves, which means we had to look out for each other, service each other and be of service to one another. This required a communal mindset and a variety of skills, doctor, lawyers, carpenters, plumber, mechanics, cleaners, pharmacies, stores, we needed everything and with only us to supply it. This way of living was much closer to how our pre colonial and pre slavery ancestors lived in Africa and we were much better off for it.

Neo Colonization

Even though many of the colonized African countries gained “independence” in the 60s and 70’s, ex colonial powers and western nations still have heavy influence and control of their ex colonies. France, for example, still requires its ex colonies to hold its federal reserves in French banks. It also requires them to remit about 85% of their budgets amounting $400 to $500 BILLION per year. Due to this financial albatross on the neck of these countries, they are forced to under invest in much needed areas such as infrastructure, education and other aspects of government, country and citizen’s development. They’re also forced to borrow money to fund its internal needs; and these loans are usually predatory in nature which just makes the overall financial problems worse.

Colonial era systems that are still in place have put Africa at an extreme disadvantage and created a worldwide underclass all while also pushing Africa at the bottom of the world’s value chain. It's been regulated to providing cheap labor and raw materials for western nations which exacerbates economic inequality and makes it very difficult to develop full fledged industries. Additionally, lack of economic control and well being translates to a lack of political sovereignty, since African governments are routinely pressured to accept highly unfavorable trade agreements and forced westernized style of economic reforms ignoring the nuances of the local environment, to gain access to aid, loans and world markets. And don’t be an African leader that tries to buck against this, you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of a coup de tau backed by the ex colonizers/imperialists or worse and unfortunately just as common, assassinated.

Like how neo-colonial situations economically disadvantaged African countries and restrict their political and financial freedom, systemic racism in the United States has created deeply entrenched disparities that limit opportunities and outcomes for black folks. The legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, redlining and other types of institutionalized discrimination resulted in large and stubborn racial gaps in wealth, income and other areas. These economic imbalances has created a cycle of poverty that's hard to escape and makes it very difficult for individuals that are struggling just to survive to participate in macro efforts to drive change to these systemic injustices, which again leads to lack of power, leverage, and choices when it comes to so many of the factors that affect their lives.

This history of discrimination and disenfranchisement has had ripple and cascading effects over the course of generations as demonstrated by the wealth gap that continually expands because wealth and capital increasingly compounds over time. Inheritance is a major factor in wealth-building, the legal and societal barriers combined with straight up terrorism and violence that prevented black Americans from building wealth in the past now means there is a lot less to pass on to future generations compared to many white families.

So What

History is just that right, it's water under the bridge and all of that. No need to dwell in the past. I agree, don’t dwell in the past, but we should reflect on it to see what has worked well and not so well for us and we can use that to inform our current and future approach. So what do we do about it? Look at the political environment right now; seem like all the measures put in place to try and rectify past injustices are under attack. Affirmative action, DEI, etc. are seeing assaults on all fronts. Efforts to even out the financial systems so people that are not wealthy or high income can participate in are being rolled back as well.

It does not look good for black, brown, poor and even middle class folks. One of the systems that has rotted the US and the rest of the world is capitalism, after all, money was THE main motivation behind colonialism and the slave trade, the race and racial stuff came a little later as a tool to control and divide, but that's a whole other essay.

The Chinese do a hybrid version of capitalism, taking the most effective parts of communism and capitalism to form a hybrid of the two used as the main driver in becoming a world superpower that they are today. In this world where various flavors of capitalism dominate, the marginalized need to do something similar, we need to leverage the best parts of capitalism but use it for the good and growth of the people, We need to grow our individual and collective wealth, so that we have more political, and economic sovereignty, leverage and power within the current societal structures. Especially when it comes to important factors that affect us as individuals and as a people.

I call this Revolutionary Capitalism.

But How

We need to do things that build wealth, I'm not talking about a stock bump here and there, a great crypto trade, 7-12% yearly return of our 401k, or a nice real estate flip here or there. I'm talking 10x, 50x 100x, 500x even 1000x return on investment that allows you to retire, and retire your parents too. When millions of us have that type of wealth, it’s a lot easier to influence the powers that be. You’re probably thinking there's plenty of black folks with money, even a few billionaires. But that's just it, it's just a few billionaires; seven to be exact. There are more multi millionaires, but still not nearly enough. There are plenty of middle class black folks, but again not enough.

We need a critical mass of black and brown folks with money that will bring us power when used the right way. Black folks are influencing many different aspects of life all over the world, always have and always will, but worldwide, we’re still among the poorest. We need to fix that shit.

If I'm calling it Revolutionary Capitalism, then I need to be proposing something revolutionary and I am. Many of us have heard about, have talked about or are actually saving and investing, or maybe you've seen a few TikToks on the subject. Saving money, generating passive income, investing in stocks, options, crypto, mutual funds for our 401ks. Some of us may have a rental property or two, single family homes or duplexes or even apartment buildings or other commercial spaces. All very solid but basic ways to add a mix of cash flow and investment return to increase your net worth. But again, all of that is just the basics and most of us are not doing any of it on a scale big enough to create life changing generational wealth.

I’m suggesting using a completely different asset class to achieve the life changing wealth many are seeking and that we need to have more control over our individual and collective circumstances. One that's been used by some of the most successful billionaires in the world. Investing in startup companies. It's called angel investing. It's when you invest a sum of money in a new business or business idea in exchange for ownership interest in the business (equity).

I and hundreds of thousands of others believe the very best opportunity to strike it rich is the best time to invest in a startup before it hits the big time. This is because by the time it hits it big or is publicly available; the biggest gains have already been made by the people who invested super early, the angel investors. Angel investing gets in with companies on the ground floor, the risk is far greater, but so are the rewards. Here are a few examples of some well known angel investors, some of their investments and what that investment ended up being worth:

How to do Revolutionary Capitalism:

Here are some of the steps taken in RevCap Method. This is not the entire method; just some of its key elements.

1. Stop investing in stocks, options, mutual funds, crypto and NFTs
2. Don't buy investment real estate

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​Benefits:

1. More unfunded and underfunded startups will get the money they need to start and grow their business
2. These business will then be able to try and solve some of our biggest problems
3. These same business can help our communities and our economies by providing jobs, needed services and products, etc
4. As their businesses grow, the value of your investment multiplies.
5. As this cycle plays out, it produces more wealth for the investors and business owners, who can then use that wealth to help lift up our communities, increase power and leverage to effect social change and help elevate black and brown folks here and abroad.
6. This leads to a snowball effect of change with tremendous positive outcomes.
7. All of these benefits apply to black and brown Americans, Africans and the entire African Diaspora. But there is an additional long list of benefits specifically for Africa and her entire population.

Now why would I go against the “sound” financial advice of financial planners, advisors and other personal finance and investment pros. Well because their advice is based on the goal of feeding into the existing financial system, which may provide you with some gains, but it's really meant to allow the power brokers in the system to get richer and richer as our money flows to them. It's meant to skyrocket their wealth, not yours. Also this is Revolutionary Capitalism, so it needs to be revolutionary in both senses of the word.

We need to be helping those that need help, we have to buck the system. The big companies you’re investing in don’t need any help from us and most of them are not helping/contributing to us or our causes in any way; in fact many of them are actually hurting us. I’m saying invest that money in some black and brown founders trying to build something great. I'm saying meet the needs that they have because they are consistently ignored and undervalued just like many of us are in different aspects of our lives at one time or another. Put that money into your people, and we all can get wealthy. But not just in money, in good deeds, in meeting historically unmet needs of our community, in being a major factor in the exponential ascension of our people.

Wealthy people have been using this asset class for many decades, now is the time for the rest of us to tap into it. They are several generations ahead of us in economic power. The slow incremental approach to change that we’ve undertaken in the past 50 to 60 years is never going to work for us, and it never was gonna work because of the head start they have. We need a new approach and Revolutionary Capitalism is that approach. No one is going to save us, nor should they, we need to save ourselves. Be ready for hate, the vitriol and the mis-information that will come as we do it. But in the end it will be worth it because overall, we can’t lose with this strategy.

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