Power Conference for African Americans: 'We Are One'

I encourage all villagers to make plans to attend the We Are One Power Conference that will be held in Beaumont TX on November 20-21, 2009.

Compro-Tax and the Triplex African Heritage Society combine the 28th Annual CTI Awards Conference and the 11th Annual Cultural and Economic Summit in this remarkable 2-day conference for conscious people of African descent.

One of the most remarkable aspects of this event is the venue itself. In light of the fact that Black folks constantly discuss the obligations of Black businesses to “give back;” considering the fact that Black folks across this country conduct more meetings than most, in facilities owned by others; and in light of the dearth of Black owned venues in which to hold our conventions and conferences, it is worth noting that this year's conference will be held in the Compro Event Center, the full service, Black designed, Black constructed, Black operated, Black wired for the latest technology, and Black owned convention center.

Yes, my brothers and sisters ... a Black-owned business built a convention center – its own convention center. The Compro Event Center, located in Beaumont, not far from Houston, is the result of the determination and hard work of Compro-Tax Founder, Jackie Mayfield and his partners.

I remember attending a BDPA conference back in the day when Tony Brown admonished Black professionals to postpone some of our events and use the millions of dollars we would save to build hotels and convention meeting places. What if our large organizations had accepted that challenge? By now we would probably own meeting venues in major cities all across this land.

We didn't accept the challenge and now we see many Black organizations struggling financially to pay for hotel services to conduct their annual conferences.

What this company has done should be replicated from coast to coast by other Black owned companies. In order for us to be truly economically empowered we must own more assets, especially those related to the tourism and convention industry.

In any case, I hope that villagers will take a hard look at the wonderful speakers and agenda laid out for this 2-day conference in November. This is not a passive, non-participatory, rhetorical event. It is action-oriented and filled from beginning to end with solutions to the problems we face. Hundreds of conscious individuals attend each year, and villagers, a group of conscious individuals, should be there as well.