BlackEconomics.org®
Introduction
“Headline Thoughts” (HLT) reflect our contemplations of, and conclusions about, recent and important media headlines from a Black American (Afrodescendant) economic perspective. HLT No. 9 considers a current and two past developments that, to our knowledge, have not been presented clearly so that Black America and people around the globe have not been privy to a complete picture of what transpired nor the full implications thereof. We explore the potential future implications of the victor of New York City’s recent Mayoral Democratic Party Primary Election; a partial genocide of Native Hawaiian People; and whether Muhammad Ali could have been even greater? We conclude each HLT with a question.
New Yorks New Mayor
There are several noteworthy considerations about the very recent New York City Democratic Party Mayoral Primary Election. The most obvious for us is the continuing and rising wave of persons of South Asian descent in US politics. It is surprising because the South Asian population is about 5.4 million—less than 1.6 percent of the US population. A look back to the November 2024 US Presidential Campaign reveals that there were three candidates with South Asian heritage Kamala Harris, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy. When one asks the “Why” of it, one answer that bursts forth is that it is estimated that 71 percent of South Asian immigrants in the US today hold at least a college degree—many in high compensation STEMAIR fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotization). The important questions for Black Americans are: (1) What is the long-term agenda of the tightly knit and largely self-supporting South Asian population? and (2) What should be Black America’s strategic response to their rise? History tells us that Black Americans were instrumental in facilitating South Asians acceptance into the US long ago (albeit slow-paced), and that certain Black American families are the result of marital relationships between the two groups. Also, the important linkage between the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Mahatma Ghandi-inspired non-violent protest philosophy is undeniable. At the same time, it is well documented that that same Mahatma Ghandi called for a very clear distinction between his South Asian compatriots and Black South Africans in an Apartheid South Africa that was dominated by White Afrikaners. Should Black Americans not consider revisiting this history in the context of today’s developments and formulate a strategy so that the wheel of time is not reversed and we permit ourselves to contribute to a reversal of our fortunes—limited though they may seem?
“Partial Genocide of an American People”
Because of their geographical distance, most Americans know little about the final two states to enter the union in 1959: Alaska and Hawaii. It is not surprising that the inconspicuous entry of these states into the Union was accompanied by limited airing of historical facts about how they became states. The US purchase of the Alaskan Territory from Russia is much sharper in the historical vision of Americans concerning how Alaska became a state. Historical facts of Hawaii’s elongated accession to the Union, on the other hand, are cloudy and muddied to those who have not purposely studied the topic. And even if one studies the history of Hawaii and its entry into the Union, one might easily miss focusing on a very important fact. According to Pew Research, it is estimated that there were about 683K inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands when Captain James Cook made his “discovery” of “paradise” in 1778. Americans came to Hawaii mainly as traders during the early 1800s and established diplomatic relations with Hawaii in 1853. The US had engineered Hawaii’s classification as a US Territory by 1898. By 1920, the native Hawaiian population had declined to its low point of about 24K before beginning to rise again. Today’s Hawaiian alone population is estimated at less than 36%. How many Americans are aware of this history and is it safe to say that the US played a significant role in the partial genocide of the Hawaiian People? Considering the just-described history of the Hawaiian People, and the fact that the Black American population has not declined in absolute terms, but its growth rates has decelerated for six of the past seven US Censuses, should Black Americans contemplate the possibility of a total or partial genocide?
“Could He Have Been Greater?”
Given the just completed NBA season, the forthcoming 2025 NBA Draft, ongoing developments of the 2025 baseball season, and a slowly evolving focus on the upcoming fall football season at all levels, why not consider a question that, to our knowledge, has never been explored about professional boxing and “The Greatest.” We note that Muhammad Ali remains “The Greatest” in the eyes of most boxing experts 44 years after his final fight, and nine years after his passing. He defeated all but two of his 61 opponents at least once during a career that cheated him of 3.5 years of earnings at the prime of his career while he challenged a primarily White US Government on his right to claim conscientious objector status and who was unwilling to fight against non-White People of the world. The perplexing question of interest concerns Muhammad Ali and the religious organization that he helped make famous. We ask: Given the Nation of Islam’s boisterous call for a new Black man, woman, and child unified in struggle, trained to love and “do for self,” and to evolve a new mind that discarded old ways formerly imposed by White slave masters, “Why did Muhammad Ali not agree to only fight White opponents and why did he make so entertaining his devastating demolition of his own Black brothers in the ring?”
©B Robinson
062725
The dates and statistics cited in this HLT are easily available by searching the Internet. Data on the history of Hawaii’s population are from the Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/04/06/native-hawaiian-population/ (Ret. 062625).