By Alice T. Crowe
“When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion,” goes an Ethiopian proverb. In other words, when people work together, they become strong enough to accomplish big goals.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Michael Kodjo Anani, who founded and leads the African Diaspora Council, spent years studying poverty in communities of color and thinking about ways to help African immigrants and African Americans overcome it. He took action, and after 19 years, he launched the African Diaspora Federal Credit Union.
This not-for-profit financial institution, started by the African Diaspora Council in St. Louis, Mo., aims to help African-American and African immigrant communities build wealth and support their families. This unique collaboration offers an alternative for the “unbanked,” people who don’t have bank accounts because of a distrust of large financial institutions, given banks’ long-established history of systemic racism. Cultural collaboration is the type of group unity we need, one that includes members of the African Diaspora. One that pools our collective resources and ingenuity together. We’ve tried everything else. Nothing else has worked.
Now, if we can duplicate this wherever there’s a lack of sustainable financial resources in the African-American and African immigrant community, granting access to capital may lead to more businesses, housing, jobs, schools, and more solutions to chronic problems.
A Federal Reserve report states that 6 percent of adults in America do not have checking, savings or money market accounts. The unbanked are primarily low-income, Black, Hispanic and disabled individuals. These “unbanked” adults rely on alternative financial services such as money orders, check cashing, pawn shop loans, auto title loans, payday loans, tax refund advances and paycheck advances. Black credit unions and banks can replace predatory lenders and counter the effects of redlining.
The launch of The African Diaspora Credit Union couldn’t have come at a better time. Civil rights are eroding, and Jim Crow is playing golf at a private Florida golf course. The proposed Regulation B rule changes made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, if adopted, will roll back consumer protection laws and make it easier to bamboozle Black consumers.
We cannot solely rely on states and government agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect the African-American and African immigrant communities from scammers and predatory lending schemes. Group unity and self-help are two solutions we have not yet tried. Credit unions are a viable force to counter the unregulated financial free-for-all that might be before us if federal consumer protection laws get rolled back to the Jim Crow era.
Michael Kodjo Anani and the people of St. Louis have spun their collective webs to solve a significant issue by joining forces. Their approach can serve as a model for other communities to build and support Black banks and credit unions. To be successful, the African Diaspora Federal Credit Union must be trustworthy, navigate cultural differences within African and African-American communities, and keep money circulating among other Black institutions. Only then can they tie up a lion and push back against the predatory practices that exploit and drain the wealth of the Black community.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.