Labor vs. Wealth

meets

The Black Infrastructure Trust Model

In all my articles, I give my readers "The Problem" facing the Black community. I do this because I was saddened by all of the posts that highlighted racism, white supremacy, and targeted oppression of our community without any attempt whatsoever to provide a solution. Any solution.

I firmly believe that openly speaking about the harm America has done and continues to do is important. For too many years, we have listened to and were even forced to learned the Mythology of white supremacy in silence. We endured having horrible atrocities done to our ancestors and to us, and being told to " just get over it" or " why make everything about race," or told that our history is not American history. Something separate from what America is. Therefore, I believe that to change, a clear "Solution" should always be included with our lament. Here is the problem.

There are only three ways people gain possibilities in this country:

Education – what you know.

The Economy – what you do.

Elections – who’s in charge.

These lanes should be our path to freedom. But for us, they have always been blocked, narrowed, or stolen.

Education is defunded. The economy is consolidated. Our labor is exploited. Elections are manipulated. Protections we fought for are stripped away.

From the start, these systems were never built for us. They were built for a few. Who set the rules of knowledge, wealth, and power—and decided who could even vote. When we opened the doors, they pushed back. Always contested. Always threatened.

And it’s not just laws—they even attack our culture. They attack our language. They take our words, twist them, and then tell us they’re wrong. Why? Because if they can make our words feel wrong, they can make us feel wrong. If we believe we’ve already lost, we give up before the fight even begins.

Look at D-E-I. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. Words meant to signal fairness. Words meant to signal justice.

Diversity means we exist. They call it a threat.

Equity means fair access. They call it favoritism.

Inclusion means belonging. They call it weakness.

And then there is woke. Once our word of vigilance. Once our signal to stay awake during Legal Segregation was called Jim Crow. Once our shield against oppression. Now? They stole it, turned it into a joke, an insult. They fear the awake, because an awake people are dangerous to their power.

This is the pattern. Every word that could empower us is first tolerated, then mocked, then weaponized. They want us to abandon our language. But we will not. These words are our truth. They are our survival. They are our claim to wholeness.

"How valuable is your time on earth? Time is the only thing we truly own. The only resource that can't be replaced. Don’t keep trading your life for crumbs. "

Labor, Wealth, and the Stripped Promise

Labor is an effort of the body. Wealth is the command of vision. Hard work alone does not build freedom. Money obeys thought, not time.

One man digs the hole. Another sells the shovel. Who builds generational wealth?

Showing up every day is not enough. Ownership goes to the one who builds leverage—systems that work long after the shift ends.

For generations, Black people have been forced to sell our hours( our Lives) for another man’s empire, never realizing the law of freedom: money obeys thought, not time.

A man can work his entire life in toil and still be passed by the one who dares to build a system. One man digs a hole, the other owns the company that sells the shovel. Who do you think builds generational wealth?

Our people have been trained to value effort and say, "I worked hard. I showed up every day." But hard labor alone has never built freedom. The reward goes to those who create leverage—the capacity to multiply effort through organization, ownership, and systems.

From Ama Ata Aidoo enters The Black Infrastructure Trust

In a searing 1987 interview, Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo looked squarely into the camera and said:

“Since we met you people 500 years ago, look at us, we’ve given everything, and you are still taking. Where would the whole Western world be without Africa — our cocoa, our timber, our gold, our diamonds, our platinum, our whatever. Everything you are is us. And in return for all of this, what have we got? Nothing. Nothing.”

Her words strip away the polite lies of history. For five centuries, Africa and her children have fueled the engines of the West:

• The Middle Passage carried millions into slavery, generating trillions in stolen labor.
• Colonialism and extraction stripped the continent of natural resources, enriching Europe and America.
• Postcolonial systems of debt, trade imbalance, and cultural domination ensured the theft continued.

And what did we receive in return? Not development. Not respect. Not repair. Instead: indoctrination against ourselves, infectious diseases brought across oceans, and a literature that declared us less than human.

Ama Ata Aidoo did not exaggerate. She simply named the truth.

For generations, we have spoken the truth about our oppression. We have pointed to the theft, to the lies, to the violence of white supremacy. Yet often, that’s where the conversation ends — at lament.

The problem is that naming the wound does not heal the wound. Naming the theft does not stop the theft. If all we do is recite our suffering, the world nods and moves on.

Ama Ata Aidoo gave us the foundation: the problem, in all its brutal clarity. But the question before us is — what comes next?

The ultra-rich, the very people who sit atop this system of extraction, pass down to their children a simple wealth-building playbook. It rests on three words: Hold. Borrow. Die.

• Hold. Buy appreciating assets — stocks, real estate, businesses. Never sell. Wealth compounds quietly, untaxed, across decades.
• Borrow. Need cash? Don’t sell. Borrow against those assets. Loans aren’t taxed. Liquidity without liability.
• Die. When they pass away, tax law resets the value. Children inherit wealth with minimal tax. Dynasties are born.

This is not genius. It’s not even secret. It’s simply strategy, repeated generation after generation — and it works because they act collectively within families and financial systems designed to preserve their wealth.

The Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT) exists to take that same playbook and adapt it for us — not as individuals scrambling for survival, but as a people committed to liberation.

Here is how BIT flips “Hold, Borrow, Die” into a collective pathway:

• Hold Together. BIT acquires land, housing, businesses, and investments on behalf of its members. Instead of wealth slipping through our hands, it is held in trust, appreciating in value, untouched by extraction.
• Borrow Together. Instead of selling off assets, BIT leverages its holdings to borrow capital. That capital does not disappear into yachts and vanity projects. It funds childcare centers, affordable housing, schools, and medical clinics — infrastructure that directly serves our people.
• Pass It On Together. Wealth is not drained into private estates or lost at death. It remains within the Trust, preserved and expanded for future generations. Each child born into our community inherits access to this collective legacy.

Ama Ata Aidoo told us: “Everything you are is us.” She reminded the West that its modern wealth is built on our backs, our land, our resources.

The task before us is to take her indictment and turn it into a blueprint. If everything they are is us, then everything we need to be free is also within us.

The next 500 years cannot look like the last 500. Where our ancestors were forced to give everything and get nothing, we will now hold everything together and build wealth that cannot be stolen.

This is the work of the Black Infrastructure Trust.

The Erosion of Civil Rights: Free Speech Under Attack

Framing the Problem:

Hypocrisy: The same people who spew hate call their words “free speech.” But when we speak the truth, it’s labeled “hate speech.” The rules bend depending on who holds power.

AG Bondi’s statement on “hate speech”

After the murder of Charlie Kirk, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said her administration will “absolutely target” people using hate speech. Critics responded that the laws, as they stand, do not permit punishing non-threatening speech just because it's hateful.

• Lies: They twist language itself — freedom becomes control, patriotism becomes exclusion, and dissent becomes dangerous. This is narrative warfare.
• Exploitation: Our communities are targeted, surveilled, and punished first. Employers, schools, and courts enforce silence by threatening livelihoods. The system profits from our silence and disunity.

• Violence: When speech isn’t enough, the system escalates — from policy violence (housing, healthcare, policing) to literal violence, whether abroad in the empire or at home in our neighborhoods.

• 
  

  Recent adverse actions affecting Black communitiesFrom The Washington Post (2 days ago):

• The Trump administration has cut or cancelled nearly 22 projects aimed at helping Black communities in the South — environmental justice, sanitation, flood protection, etc. The Washington Post
• Examples:

I want to be transparent: I’m not rich, I’m not a politician, and I’m not coming to you with all the answers.

I’m just like you — retired, on a fixed income, living paycheck to paycheck. I know the feeling of confusion, of worry, of doubt. I experienced Jim Crow firsthand.

I’ve asked myself the same question you may be asking right now: What power do I have as one person?

For me, it was writing my solution to the problem.

The truth is, alone, not much. But together, everything. That’s what the Black Infrastructure Trust is about. If each of us puts in just $1 a week (there are 20 million of us), we transform that doubt into action, that confusion into clarity, and that paycheck-to-paycheck struggle into collective strength.

I’m not asking you to believe in me. I’m asking you to believe in us. This is our way to liberation.

In just the past two days, nearly two dozen federal programs meant to protect Black communities from environmental harm — programs fighting pollution, sewage, flooding — have been cancelled or downgraded. Projects in Alabama, Virginia, and Louisiana — some of the most neglected places — are now left exposed.

This isn’t a small administrative shift. It is violence by omission: when the state removes protection, abandons regulation, erases historic land designations, it is saying: your health, your safety, your dignity — all optional. Yet these are the same communities that have borne the burden of environmental racism for generations.

And what we see now is the hypocrisy in sharp relief: talk of free markets, free speech, individual liberty — but in practice, government chooses which lives get protected, and which are not worth the trouble.

I see a way forward. A way that is only “too good to be true” if Black people continue to do nothing but beg and complain. Twenty million Black people giving $1.00 a week each is not a fantasy. It is a concrete, achievable, and powerful act of collective responsibility. This is not about luck or waiting for the benevolence of our oppressors. It is about building our own infrastructure — our own power, our own community, our own future.

Because the truth is: the time for performative outrage is over, and our window to liberation is closing.

What I’m here to do is connect with the ones ready to move—ready to think differently, build differently, and live free on our own terms. This is about one thing:

Liberation under Black management.

Until the next episode:

Stay sharp. Stay Building. And stay Black on Purpose.

Recent adverse actions affecting Black communities

America is in crisis. What we see today is not a sudden collapse but the outcome of centuries of white supremacy organizing itself into power. Since 1872, when the federal government abandoned Reconstruction, white America decided it was acceptable for traitors and terrorists to control the African population by terror. That system of domination held until the Civil Rights Movement exposed the hypocrisy of democracy.

But for the past fifty years, those same forces have been regrouping. Patiently and deliberately, they have captured statehouses, installed judges, and taken control of the Supreme Court. Now they are preparing for what amounts to another civil war.

It is essential to understand that white supremacy itself is not unified. There are two factions. One is the enslavers—those who glory in open brutality, violence, and domination. The other are the beneficiaries—those who prefer to profit from oppression while pretending to uphold democracy. These two factions are fighting each other for the soul of America.

Yet no matter who wins that internal battle, Black people lose—unless we act. The Trump administration has already thrown in its lot with the enslavers. And while some white people may imagine their whiteness will protect them, the truth is that once brutality is unleashed, it consumes everyone. Their false sense of safety will not save them.

So, what does survival and liberation look like for Black people in this moment?

The answer is not to wait for America to rescue us. The answer is to rescue ourselves. We must build and sustain our own systems of care, security, and survival. This is where the Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT) comes in.

BIT is rooted in the oldest of African traditions: communalism, which in African tradition means shared responsibility for the well-being of the village. Our ancestors survived centuries of violence and exile not because America cared for them, but because we cared for each other. Where America withheld, we provided. Where white supremacy sought to destroy, we built.

BIT carries that tradition forward. Through small, collective contributions, it will secure the essential pillars of Black life—childcare, housing, healthcare, food, and economic autonomy. Structured as a national trust with local collectives, BIT guarantees equal membership, equal responsibility, and equal power. Every dollar becomes infrastructure. Every member becomes both guardian and beneficiary of our shared future.

Now I have outlined the problem, given a solution to said problem, and if you need a step-by-step explanation about how my solution works and whether it is feasible, visit my website, hegearl.com, for the blueprint.

This is not charity. This is not a dependency. This is self-determination. It is the blueprint for Black survival and Black flourishing in a nation that has never stopped waging war against us.

The next civil war is already being prepared. The question is not whether America will face it—the question is whether Black people will be ready.

If you're still here, it's because something real hit you.

But understand this—Real Talk ain’t here to entertain, go viral, or win likes. We don’t move for algorithms—we move for liberation.

So don’t just listen. Reflect. Connect. Build.

I’m not looking for clicks—I’m looking for commitment.

Because the truth is: the time for performative outrage is over.

What I’m here to do is connect with the ones ready to move—ready to think differently, build differently, and live free on our own terms. This is about one thing:

Liberation under Black management.

Until the next episode:

Stay sharp. Stay Building. And stay Black on Purpose.

Resources, Not Rhetoric: Why Our Youth Don’t Listen Anymore

We raised our kids to believe that in order to “be somebody,” you’ve got to make a lot of money. We raised them to be conspicuous consumers. And now that they are exactly what we raised them to be, we’re asking what’s wrong with them. The truth is simple: they are a printout of what adults have always believed about themselves.

If we want to get them back, we must do more than preach. We must provide them with resources and opportunities. Without that, we won’t get their attention.

Beyond Religion and Culture

Let’s be honest:

In the church, we give them religion.

In the community, we give them culture.

But that’s not enough. Young people are asking:

What jobs do we have?

What training programs do we offer?

What small business grants exist for us?

They are not wrong to demand this. As long as the white man controls the resources and opportunities, he will continue to take the best of us. Until we organize our money and create systems, institutions, and programs, we will keep losing our young people.

Is the Generational Divide Real?

Yes, there is a generational divide. But here’s the bigger truth: the divide is not the main issue. The real issue is disorganization and dependency.

Older generations often criticize youth instead of building infrastructure. Younger generations distrust leadership because they don’t see results. This cycle of blame distracts us from the real task: creating resources and opportunities that speak louder than rhetoric.

Religion as Sedation

Too many of us walk around with an invisible insurance card in our pocket. We think, as long as I stay prayed up, everything will work out. That’s not faith—that’s docility.

It’s not the religion itself, but the way it’s been taught to Black people. Religion has been weaponized to sedate us, to keep us waiting on divine rescue instead of practicing divine agency.

The message must shift: God empowers us to act. Liberation requires agency. Prayer without work is empty.

Focus Where It Counts Another hard truth: we’re not going to take everybody with us. Some Black folks will protect white power before they protect their own people.

Jesus said, go fishing. Fishing means knowing that not every fish will be caught. Out of every ten people, maybe two are ready to be saved, to be organized, to build. The other eight may not be.

That’s not failure—that’s strategy. Therapists know this too: the first session is about deciding whether the client even wants to change. You don’t waste energy on someone who refuses to act.

The same principle applies to our liberation work: invest in the willing.

The Bottom Line

The generational divide is real, but it’s not the real enemy. The true battle is against passivity, disorganization, and dependency on others for survival.

To win back our young people and secure our future, we must:

Change the mindset from dependency to agency.

Build systems of jobs, training programs, and small business funding.

Stop chasing everyone—focus on those ready to work.

Organize our money to create real opportunities.

That’s the difference between talking about liberation and actually practicing it.

Enter the Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT)

The Black Infrastructure Trust is our vehicle for practicing liberation. BIT exists to do the one thing we’ve never done on a mass scale—pool our money, organize it, and use it to create jobs, training programs, housing, medical care, and business opportunities for our people.

Where the church gives religion and the community gives culture, BIT gives infrastructure. It ensures that when our young people ask, “What jobs do you have? What opportunities can I access?” we have a real answer backed by real resources.

Join the Founders Circle

Every movement begins with a committed few. That’s why we’re building the Founders Circle—the first wave of members who will put their weight behind this vision and make it real.

I know what it feels like to live paycheck to paycheck. One car repair, one illness, one accident — and the whole balance of life is at risk. Many of us are carrying that same burden. That’s why I believe in starting small.

That’s why I believe in the Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT).

BIT is a cooperative system owned by us — Black people pooling resources to build childcare centers, affordable housing, and healthcare access that no one can take away. Not charity. Not handouts. Ownership.

And ownership starts with a decision: we must start somewhere.

To legally establish BIT, we need to cover some real costs: incorporation, 501(c)(4) filing, bank account, membership system, and basic digital infrastructure. This isn’t glamorous — but it is essential. Without this foundation, BIT remains just an idea.

The total startup cost I have estimated is about $2,500.

Instead of chasing big donors or outside money, we’re building this from within. That means 25–40 of us stepping up as Founding Members.

• 25 people × $100 one-time = $2,500

or

• 40 people × $65 one-time = $2,600

That’s it. A one-time buy-in to launch the Trust. After that, membership is just $1/week for everyone.

Founders aren’t just donors. They are co-owners of the Trust, with tangible benefits:

• Voting rights at the first national assembly, where we ratify the bylaws.
• Lifetime recognition in the BIT Founders’ Roll.
• Priority access and discounts to future BIT services (childcare, housing, healthcare).
• Direct role in history as the group who made BIT possible.

Later members will join for $1/week — but they will never be Founders.

Every generation has said it: “We need to build our own.”

But talk without structure fades.

We now have a clear, step-by-step framework. We know the numbers. We know the cost. All that’s missing is commitment.

And here’s the truth: $65–$100 will not destroy us — but it could build something that protects us for generations.

We must start somewhere.

If you’ve ever said “we need our own schools, our own housing, our own healthcare” — this is the beginning.

We are calling for 25–40 Founders to make a one-time contribution of $65–$100. With that, we establish the Black Infrastructure Trust. From there, $1/week from every member sustains it.

Each Founder commits to:

1. One-time contribution of $65–$100 to establish BIT.
2. Recruiting at least 10 members at $1/week within the first year.
3. Being ambassadors — telling family, friends, church members, coworkers: “This is ours. It belongs to us. Join us.”

The Trust grows because Founders multiply. Your $65–$100 launches BIT, but your commitment to recruit 10 more members is how we get our weight up. One step at a time, one member at a time — until we have a nation behind us.

Become a Founder today: [Hegearl.com]

History will remember who stood up first. Will your name be written among the Founders?

The First Step: Founders’ CircleWhy Become a Founder?Why This MattersYour Call to Actionwe must start somewhere.

BlacknessAmerica had a choice in the 1940s to build universal healthcare, just like other industrialized nations. But instead of creating a system that would benefit everyone, the U.S. rejected it. Why? Because universal healthcare meant Black people would have access to the same hospitals and the same level of care as whites. That was too much for white America to stomach. Public housing in America was never designed to uplift Black families. In its earliest years, public housing projects were segregated. Only poor white families were allowed in. Then came the FHA, VA loan programs, and the GI Bill. These programs opened the door for those same white families to leave the projects and move into the suburbs. But those loans were explicitly denied to Black families.Discriminatory housing policies contributed significantly to the racial wealth gap in America. The white middle class was not the product of “hard work” alone—it was built by government underwriting loan guarantees, and housing subsidies. At the very same time, Black and Brown neighborhoods were targeted for so-called “urban renewal.” Highways were run through the heart of our communities. The result was predictable: neighborhoods stripped of wealth, segregated by force, and written off as “the hood.”The ProblemWhen this history is hidden, the story gets flipped. People assume Black neighborhoods are poor because Black families failed, not because they were systematically robbed. Children grow up believing their communities are broken by choice, rather than by design. That lie poisons identity, erases truth, and leaves us stuck in a cycle of blame rather than repair.From Homes to Subscriptions: How Wall Street Stole EquityBlackstone didn’t buy 274,000 homes to be landlords. They spent $1 trillion turning shelter into subscription housing. Families still dream of white picket fences, but Wall Street dreams of permanent tenants. This isn’t real estate investment—it’s wealth extraction on a national scale.The playbook is simple:

• Bulk buying power — Outbid families with Wall Street money, often 30% above asking price.
• Artificial scarcity — Celebrate declining construction because fewer homes mean higher rents.
• Minimal renovations — Lipstick on profitable pigs.
• Algorithmic rent hikes — “Revenue management software” sets prices in entire zip codes, forcing competitors to collude. The DOJ calls it price fixing.
• Strategic concentration — Buy enough homes in one area to dictate the rent market outright.

Invitation Homes owns 53,000 houses. American Campus controls 144,000 student beds. Mobile home parks see lot rents triple overnight. Even “affordable housing” is folded into corporate portfolios where scarcity becomes the business model.The BIT AlternativeThis is why the Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT) matters. Wall Street buys homes with trillions of dollars from investors. We buy homes with collective power—a dollar a week from 18 to 20 million Black people.BIT is not just resistance; it is ownership. With pooled capital, we acquire land in Black neighborhoods before corporate investors do. We build housing cooperatives where members—not Wall Street—set the rules. We keep rents affordable, ownership attainable, and wealth circulating in our own community.Our first projects will be childcare centers and academies, which is proof that the model will work. Housing is the next frontier. Where Blackstone builds corporate plantations, BIT builds community-owned freedom projects. This is economic strategy rooted in justice.We are not asking our people to build a new world for free while still surviving the old one. The Black Infrastructure Trust is a pathway out of capitalist dependency, and that means creating an economy where every Black man, woman, and child can be employed, dignified, and protected.The end goal is simple but revolutionary:A society where our people work for each other—not for the corporations or systems that exploit us.

America’s Hypocrisy and the Urgency of Black Infrastructure

The Core Problem

By the plain reading of the Constitution, Confederates who raised arms against the United States were traitors. They were never punished. Traitors reshaped the narrative of their treason, re-casting themselves as “heroes” enshrined in monuments and history books.

That hypocrisy echoes forward: America has always excused treason when it comes draped in whiteness.

Trump Administration & Racial Harm

• Illegality: Trump was convicted in 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records; numerous aides and allies have also been convicted or sentenced.
• Housing: The administration moved to gut HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule and weaken the disparate impact standard.
• Civil Rights Enforcement: Cutbacks in grants and federal enforcement reduced protection against discrimination in housing, employment, and lending.
• Education: Rolled back federal guidance on racially disparate school discipline, leaving Black students more vulnerable.
• DEI Suppression: Ordered agencies and contractors to halt anti-racism and implicit bias training.
• Economics: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act widened the racial wealth gap.

The Black Infrastructure Trust (BIT): Our Way ForwardIf this trajectory continues, Black America faces:

• Housing insecurity and reinforced segregation
• Widening wealth gaps and blocked access to capital
• Education setbacks through biased discipline and erased DEI pipelines
• Weakened civil rights protection, with fewer enforcement avenues
• Rising bias incidents, legitimized by political rhetoric

Step 1: The Collective20 million Black working adults x $1/week = $20 million/week: Month 1: $80 million available

That’s startup capital that requires no bank loans, no government grants, no charity.

Step 2: Priority Needs in the Black Community

Childcare is perfect for this because:

• Black families spend up to 20–25% of their income on childcare.
• Accessible, affordable childcare directly helps working parents (especially mothers).
• Centers create stable jobs (educators, cooks, maintenance).
• It builds community trust—people see where their dollar is going.

• Step 3: What $80 Million Buys in Childcare

Costs vary, but here’s a conservative sketch:

• Startup cost for one mid-sized childcare center: $500,000–$1,000,000 (facility, licensing, staff, equipment).
• Annual operating budget: $1–2 million (mostly salaries).

👉 With $80 million, BIT could:

• Open 80–160 childcare centers nationwide in the second month.
• If focused only on major cities (let’s say the top 50), that’s $1.6M per city, enough to launch and cover first-year operations.

Each childcare center:

• Serves 100–200 children daily.
• Creates 25–40 jobs per site.
• Reduces family expenses by $6,000–$12,000/year per child.
• Reinforces Black ownership of institutions.
• 4: The Value ReturnSo in Month 2, BIT wouldn’t just “open centers”—it would put money back in families’ pockets, employ Black workers, and circulate dollars locally.

If you're still here, it's because something real hit you.

But understand this—Real Talk ain’t here to entertain, go viral, or win likes. We don’t move for algorithms—we move for liberation.

So don’t just listen. Reflect. Connect. Build.

I’m not looking for clicks—I’m looking for commitment.

Because the truth is: the time for performative outrage is over.

What I’m here to do is connect with the ones ready to move—ready to think differently, build differently, and live free on our own terms. This is about one thing:

Liberation under Black management.

Until the next episode:

Stay sharp. Stay Building. And stay Black on Purpose.