Listen Siblings, I come in peace,
“The need for a Black currency continues.” — Onitaset Kumat
Today’s article from the television program has a significant importance. You will see that even White folk think that making their own currency is valuable. We can learn from their undertaking. We can have our own currency. Gain more subscribers, and strive to build African Blood Siblings Community Centers. For more information write us. Subscribe, Share, Love.
Of Creating Our Own Currency (Black Coins)
By Onitaset Kumat
Black Tulsa was an Oakland city which was bombed for being a successful Black enterprise. It has had the famed “Black dollar” which allowed for its wealth to be nationally recognized. The need for a Black currency continues; I have learned that Upstate, New York’s Ithaca has its own currency called “Ithaca Hours” so I will repeat what one can see from its website http://www.ithacahours.org/ .
“What are Ithaca Hours?
Ithaca Hours is a local currency system that promotes local economic strength and community self-reliance in ways which will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations in and around Ithaca, New York. Ithaca Hours help to keep money local, building the Ithaca economy. It also builds community pride and connections. Over 900 participants publicly accept Ithaca HOURS for goods and services. Additionally some local employers and employees have agreed to pay or receive partial wages in Ithaca Hours, further continuing our goal of keeping money local.Why Should I Join?
If you have a business or provide a service there are three main reasons to join the HOURS network.
It’s good for your business – being listed in the print version of the HOURS Directory and on the HOURS website provides additional customers who have HOURS to spend and are looking for businesses that take them.
It supports the local economy – unlike dollars HOURS keeps money in the community to build our local economy.
It pays for itself immediately – you pay $10 for a single listing in the Directory and we immediately give you 2 HOURS, worth $20 (4 HOURS if you join or renew at our Annual Meeting).
The main concern a business often has when considering accepting HOURS is what will I do with the HOURS I get from customers or clients? The first thing to note is that you decide what rate of HOURS you will accept for purchases or services. Some member businesses accept 100% HOURS but many limit the HOURS they will accept.You should calculate a rate of HOURS that is proportional to your ability to put them back into the local economy. In thinking about this you may be surprised to learn that in fact there are many outlets for the use of HOURS. If you look in the Directory you will find many other places you can easily spend HOURS. Or write us for help (info@ithacahours.org).
If you don’t sell any goods or services there are still good reasons to join Ithaca HOURS. Ithaca HOURS is our local currency. It keeps money local, building our local economy. It builds community pride and connections. And you will be participating in the oldest and largest local currency system in the U.S.
It’s also fun to get and use something other than dollars (remember how much you enjoyed or still enjoy using monopoly money), and unlike monopoly money Ithaca HOURS really are accepted just the same as US dollars at hundreds of Ithaca-area merchants and service providers. But unlike US dollars when you spend an HOUR you know it is going to stay in our community, keep circulating, supporting our economy and maybe even end up right back in your pocket. And also unlike dollars this is your system. You can get to know the people who run the system (HOURS Board of Directors) as well as those business people that accept HOURS, and you can even help make the decisions which make the system run (by attending the Annual Meeting, electing and talking with members of the Board, or even running for a seat on the Board yourself. “
(In another space on this website.)
“Hours Help In Tough Times
Times are pretty tough these days, with the housing and credit crises, record oil prices, and now, soaring food prices.
Among Hours businesses, some have cut back on Hours acceptance, hard-pressed for scarce dollars.
It’s a sensible reaction. But in the long run, the reality is that dollars are going to keep getting scarcer, and going faster.
That’s where local currency comes in.
In 1991, Ithaca Hours began developing a legal currency for our town. Today, there are over $100,000 worth of Hours in circulation. It’s money for you. You can earn it. You can spend it.
Unlike dollars, it is money that stays in our community. You spend it, but you spend it with your neighbors. It stays here, for you to earn back. Meanwhile, you’re building our local economy. You’re helping people who will help you back.
It is money based on sharing, not scarcity. You make money just by joining. Then you have hundreds of prospective places to spend it, and hundreds of prospective customers who want to do business with you.
You can get started with Hours right now, using the membership form on this website.
If you have any questions about how Hours can help you, please call me during business Hours”
–
This here is an example of a non-African initiative speaking for itself. The design is outlined, the philosophy is outlined, the success story is outlined; African people merely need to take action. “Organize, organize, organize.” If we do not know how to support our own, the creation of a directory can let us learn. And to those who think that it’s bad to solely spend in one currency, we shall ask, what have we been doing these last hundred years?
The fact is that we have a continent that has currency and we merely need to exchange with it. Though it is said that dollars are more expensive than coins, so let us make coins. But let’s not debate over who should be on the coins. Put Taharqo, put Nanny, put Nzingha and then put it together. Let’s not dwaddle on debate and lose the purpose of our mission: We want to support our own, with our own currency and our own industry of currency. Let us return to Black Tulsa.
I understand that there is a hesitation on the listener’s part. The listener may hear and applaud, but may not stand up and move. Why? Because a currency is a big deal. Even if White men in Upstate, New York can do it unchallenged, that does not mean that African people, the most beat-up and put-down, can do the same. Nevertheless, this step can help us and it is very doable–it’s being done Upstate! Look at their website, http://www.ithacahours.org, look at it. I alone can make that website and I alone can design that directory. You need to tell me to. Then we need to talk to our continent, abounding with minerals and metals, on how we can make coins or cowrie for our currency. That’s what needs to be done! We need to get together and organize this effort: the sooner the better.
Why? Because when we exchange our own currency for our production, we sponsor our production and with a sponsored production our services are independent of this national, deteriorating economy. That said, we are independent of the mismanagement so intrinsic in the European’s economy and we thereby avoid the natural downfall of our dependency–receiving the brunt of economic abuses.
But if you still can not stand up. I still love you. Just please talk about Black coins and the ABS. Just talk about it. Then, go to the website, or email us at AfricanBloodSibs@aim.com. Tell us what you’ve said about Black coins and let us talk with our continent, with our cities and our communities about coin-making and creating our own currency.
Hotep (Peace)!
Onitaset Kumat
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Malcolm X: What you and I have to do is get involved — Get Involved!
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