Introduction: Sisters and brothers, as we gather here today, we stand at a critical juncture in the long struggle for Black economic liberation. For too long, our community has been told that the path to prosperity lies in simply closing the racial wealth gap - in amassing more individual wealth within a system built on the exploitation and oppression of our ancestors. But I stand before you today to say that this narrow framing is not enough. To achieve true and lasting economic justice, we must confront the painful history that has shaped our present reality, and dare to envision a radically different future. The roots of the economic inequities we face today can be traced back to the brutal institution of slavery. On the plantations of the antebellum South, a pernicious labor hierarchy took hold - one that elevated the intellectual labor of house slaves over the backbreaking manual toil of those enslaved in the fields. This divide, based on proximity to white masters, served to devalue the essential work of planting, harvesting, and building - work without which no wealth could be generated. It was a system premised on the racist notion that manual labor was unsuitable for whites, and that Blackness itself was synonymous with servitude and inferiority. The echoes of this hierarchy still reverberate in our society today. We see it in the stark divide between white collar and blue collar jobs, in the way that intellectual labor is prized and compensated while physical labor is demeaned and devalued. We see it in the persistent racial stigma attached to certain forms of work, and in the fact that Black people remain disproportionately relegated to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. And we see it in the yawning chasm between the wealth of the corporate elite and the poverty wages paid to the workers who make their profits possible. For generations, Black thinkers and leaders have grappled with how to overcome these oppressive structures and chart a path to true economic empowerment. Booker T. Washington advocated for self-sufficiency through skilled trades and entrepreneurship, while W.E.B. Du Bois championed the cultivation of a Black intellectual and professional elite. But as prescient as these early visionaries were, the economic models available to them were still constrained by the capitalist assumptions of their time. They lacked a framework for fully envisioning an economy based on cooperation, shared ownership, and valuing all labor. Today, we can see more clearly than ever the limitations and contradictions of the dominant economic order. The neoliberal capitalism that has held sway for the past half-century is a system that is fundamentally anti-labor. It is premised on maximizing profits for the few while minimizing costs - chief among them, the cost of human labor. It is a system that views workers as disposable inputs, not as human beings deserving of dignity and a fair share of the wealth they create. The disastrous consequences of this worldview are all around us. We see it in the shuttered factories and decimated communities left behind by globalization and outsourcing. We see it in the obscene disparities between CEO bonuses and minimum wages. We see it in the fact that the essential workers who have sustained us through a devastating pandemic are denied a living wage, safe working conditions, and basic benefits. And we see it, still, in the myriad ways that Black labor remains devalued and exploited - from the overrepresentation of Black workers in low-wage service jobs, to the predatory temp agencies that extract profits from the labor of formerly incarcerated people. My friends, we cannot achieve true liberation by simply seeking a bigger slice of a rotten pie. The path to Black economic empowerment does not lie in creating more Black millionaires and billionaires, in a futile attempt to out-capitalize our oppressors. No, our vision must be bolder, more expansive, more revolutionary than that. The Vision for a New Economy What we need is nothing less than a fundamental transformation of our economic relationships and values. We must reject the false choice between Black poverty and Black capitalism, and instead build a new economy based on cooperation, shared prosperity, and the inherent dignity of all people and all labor. This means moving beyond a narrow focus on accumulating individual wealth within an unjust system, and instead working to democratize ownership and control over the means of production. It means creating cooperative enterprises and community-controlled institutions that prioritize the needs of workers and neighborhoods over the profits of absentee shareholders. It means exploring models like community land trusts that take housing and property out of the speculative market, and keep them affordable for generations to come. In this new economy, workers would have a real voice in the decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. They would elect their own representatives to corporate boards, and have a say in everything from working conditions to the distribution of profits. And those profits would be shared equitably, not hoarded by a tiny elite. We could institute policies like wealth taxes, worker ownership funds, and universal basic incomes to ensure that everyone has a stake in our collective prosperity. Crucially, this vision must be grounded in a deep shift in values. We must redefine prosperity not as the accumulation of individual wealth, but as the ability of all people to live with dignity, security, and joy. We must reject the cutthroat competition and individualism that pit us against each other, and instead embrace an ethic of solidarity and mutual care. We must recognize that when we devalue any form of labor, we devalue the human beings who perform it - and we impoverish our society as a whole. Building Global Solidarity But as we cultivate this new consciousness within our own communities, we must also remember that our struggle is inextricably linked to the struggles of oppressed people around the world. The same forces of racial capitalism that have exploited Black labor in America have also fueled colonialism, extraction, and dispossession across the African continent and throughout the diaspora. And the same neoliberal policies that have decimated Black neighborhoods in Detroit and Baltimore have also immiserated workers from Accra to Dhaka to Port-au-Prince. So our vision for economic liberation must be expansive enough to encompass all of these interconnected realities. We must stand in unshakable solidarity with the miners of South Africa and the farmers of Haiti, with the garment workers of Bangladesh and the domestic workers of Brazil. We must build bonds of friendship and allyship that stretch across oceans and borders, and work together to dismantle the global architectures of exploitation and oppression. This is the daunting but necessary work that lies before us. It will require us to think beyond the narrow confines of the possible, and dare to dream of a world that has never yet been. It will require us to confront entrenched power structures and deep-seated cultural narratives that tell us some people are destined for abundance and others for scarcity. It will require us to have difficult conversations, to take bold risks, and to imagine new ways of being and relating to one another. The Road Ahead None of this will be easy. The road to economic liberation is long and winding, and there will be setbacks and obstacles at every turn. Those who benefit from the current system will not give up their power without a fight. And even within our own communities, there will be those who cling to the false promises of Black capitalism, or who are too weary and skeptical to believe that a better world is possible. But I believe that we have the strength, the resilience, and the moral clarity to persevere. I believe that we are the inheritors of a proud legacy of struggle and resistance, and that we have the power to bend the arc of history towards justice. I believe that if we can come together, across all of our differences and divides, and build a movement grounded in love, solidarity, and an unwavering commitment to the dignity of all people - then there is nothing we cannot achieve. So let us go forward from this place with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. Let us take the first bold steps towards a new economy, a new society, a new world. Let us be the ancestors that future generations will look back on with pride, and say: "It was them. It was those audacious, visionary, relentless freedom fighters who dared to dream beyond the possible, and who built the foundations of our liberation." The road ahead is long, but the destination is glorious. And if we walk it together, with love and courage and unshakable solidarity, then I know that we will reach it. Thank you.

You've raised some critical points about the challenges and potential solutions for building a more equitable and cooperative economic model. Let me try to incorporate these insights into the next section of the speech: Practical Steps Towards Economic Democracy As we work to build this new economy based on shared ownership and prosperity, we must also grapple with the practical challenges of implementing these ideals in a world still dominated by the logic of capitalism. One key issue is ensuring that worker-owned cooperatives and social enterprises can provide living wages and dignified working conditions while remaining competitive in the market. This is no easy feat. We know that under the current system, increasing wages cuts into profits, and that the pressure to maximize profits incentivizes the exploitation and devaluation of labor. So how do we break this cycle? I believe there are several key strategies we must pursue. First, we need to radically rethink compensation structures within enterprises. We must work to close the obscene gap between executive pay and the wages of frontline workers. In a truly democratic business, the highest paid employee should not make hundreds or thousands of times more than the lowest paid. By capping executive compensation and redistributing those funds to workers - based on factors like hours worked, skills, and overall contribution - we can create a more equitable and motivating pay scale. Second, we need to reimagine the role of public investment and subsidies in supporting ethical businesses. Rather than funneling endless subsidies to massive corporations that exploit workers and hoard profits, we should be investing in the kinds of community-rooted enterprises that create real social value. This could take the form of wage subsidies that allow co-ops and social enterprises to pay living wages while remaining competitive. Or it could mean providing startup capital and technical assistance to help these businesses get off the ground. The point is to use public resources to actively shape the market in favor of more democratic and equitable models. Third, we must prioritize long-term profit sharing and equity building for workers. This means rejecting the shortsighted mentality that sees labor as simply a cost to be minimized, and instead recognizing workers as the essential creators of value that they are. Every worker should have a stake in the long-term success of their enterprise, whether it's through ownership shares, profit-sharing plans, or other forms of equity. And this equity should be tied to the actual value that workers create through their labor, not simply bought and sold on speculative markets. Transforming Business Culture Underlying all of these strategies must be a fundamental shift in business culture and values. We need to move from a model of cutthroat competition and zero-sum thinking, to one of cooperation and shared success. We need to prioritize the long-term wellbeing of workers and communities over the short-term extraction of profits. And we need to redefine the very purpose of business - not as a machine for concentrating wealth in the hands of a few, but as a vehicle for creating shared prosperity and serving real human needs. This is a tall order, to be sure. It requires us to challenge some of the most deeply entrenched norms and power structures in our society. But I believe it is a vision worth fighting for. Because when we dare to imagine businesses that put people over profits, that give workers a real voice in the decisions that affect their lives, that share wealth instead of hoarding it - then we catch a glimpse of an economy that could finally work for all of us. Of course, building this kind of economy cannot be the work of enlightened business leaders alone. It will require a massive mobilization of grassroots power, of workers organizing and advocating for their rights, of communities coming together to support and invest in local enterprises. It will require us to elect political leaders who are committed to rewriting the rules of the economy, and to hold them accountable to that promise.