“In a race-based capitalist society, it’s not what you know – it’s what you own.”
In a race-based capitalist society, it’s not what you know – it’s what you own. Dr. Claud Anderson makes this point crystal clear: knowledge without ownership is dependency. Ownership means control. And control means survival. If you don’t own land, capital, businesses, or media platforms, you are at the mercy of those who do. For Black America, this reality has defined our economic condition for centuries. Anderson’s framework of PowerNomics is not merely a critique – it is a blueprint for reversing that condition.
Socio-Cultural Layer 1: Race-Based Capitalism
The American economy has always been racialized. From its inception, it was engineered to preserve white wealth. Dr. Anderson reminds us that the U.S. Constitution itself functioned as an “affirmative action plan for whites.” Property rights, voting laws, and inheritance structures were all designed to lock Black people out of wealth-building while enshrining white economic dominance. Fast forward to the 20th century and we see the same story: redlining, exclusion from Social Security in its earliest form, and racially biased lending practices. To pretend America is “colorblind” in its economic system is to ignore its DNA.
Socio-Cultural Layer 2: Education’s Limits Without Economy
Education, while essential, is not enough on its own. Degrees without assets mean dependency on someone else’s paycheck. Anderson critiques the overemphasis placed on education as the single solution to inequality. You can earn multiple degrees, but if your community doesn’t own businesses, banks, or land, then the educated must go begging for jobs from others. In truth, education must be paired with economic infrastructure. Knowledge should be a tool that fuels ownership, not a substitute for it. Otherwise, as Anderson argues, education without an economy only reinforces the cycle of dependency.
Socio-Cultural Layer 3: Media Ownership
Narratives shape economics. If you do not own your image, someone else will distort it for their gain. From minstrel shows to modern-day stereotypes in film, music, and news, Black Americans have historically been portrayed in ways that undermine economic agency. Anderson insists that owning media outlets – newspapers, radio, television, and now digital platforms – is as vital as owning factories. Controlling how our stories are told creates dignity, unity, and trust. Without it, even our economic wins can be erased or minimized in the public imagination.
Socio-Cultural Layer 4: Economic Ecosystems
The heart of PowerNomics lies in building economic ecosystems. These are systems where communities produce, distribute, and consume their own goods and services. Currently, the Black dollar circulates in the community for only six hours before leaving. Compare that to Jewish, Asian, or white communities, where the same dollar circulates 10 to 12 times before it exits. This short circulation is an economic hemorrhage. Building businesses that serve our own communities – grocery stores, banks, clinics, schools – ensures that dollars stay longer, multiplying their impact before leaving.
Socio-Cultural Layer 5: Black Labor, White Wealth
Anderson’s earlier work, Black Labor, White Wealth, laid the foundation for understanding how this imbalance was created. For centuries, Black labor fueled white prosperity – from cotton fields to industrial factories – while Black families were denied the opportunity to accumulate assets. Even today, industries like sports and entertainment profit disproportionately from Black talent, but the ownership structures remain overwhelmingly white. PowerNomics is about flipping that equation so that Black labor begins to build Black wealth.
Solutions: The Five Floors
Dr. Anderson’s solutions can be summarized in what he calls the Five Floors of Power:
Community: Build local manufacturing, service enterprises, and cooperative ventures to recirculate dollars.
Politics: Push for Black land trusts, tax incentives, and exclusive development zones that give our entrepreneurs first access.
Courts/Police: Use the legal system to fight for reparations domestically while pressing claims internationally under human rights law.
Media: Expand ownership of Black digital platforms, streaming networks, radio stations, and print outlets to reclaim our narrative.
Education: Reframe education so that every level – from elementary to university – ties directly to entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
Final Closing
Dr. Claud Anderson gave us the blueprint. But blueprints mean nothing without builders. The question is not whether PowerNomics works – the question is whether we will work it. Each generation has a responsibility: to move beyond symbolic victories and claim structural ownership. We must treat wealth not as an abstract dream but as a mandate of survival. If America is truly a race-based capitalist society, then building Black wealth is not just an economic option – it is a cultural necessity, a political strategy, and a moral obligation.