uncommon sense and the secrets of brayan loabe --brayan and niambi --marshall plan pt. 1
by d sekou (javascript : alert the e-mail address and profile information for the individual posting this message is not available ) on saturday , july 27 2002
"what's this you're describing man , black liberation , amway style ?" the image and voice of a laughing , beautiful , young niambi at age 27 , her perfect teeth glimmering like pearls , filled brayan's mind as memories began wandering past .
"well maybe you could say it that way " , he recalled , slightly irritated , but having to laugh at her analogy .
"the idea is to quietly build a network of entreprenuers , each independent and capable through various and deliberately diverse endeavours , of amassing personal fortunes in the one to ten million dollar range " , loabe had explained .
"each of them , in return for the necessary training , handholding , motivating and coaching that the network would have to steadily provide , would agree to make a one time donation of 1/10 of their fortune " , he continued , carried forward by obvious , but still tentative enthusiasm .
"and of course , this ten percent goes right into your pocket ...nice hustle mr. coach " , niambi frowned , her disappointment unable to restrain her sarcasm .
"NO" , brayan almost angrily but patiently reassured , "i'd never touch a penny of it . it would be set up so that NO ONE could . it all goes into a corporation specifically created for one purpose and one purpose only ... to fund sustainable redevelopment of africa and the diaspora ...a black generated , self directed , self sustaining marshall plan on automatic pilot , operating for africa and the rest of the black world ."
"oh " , the young woman apologetically replied , "marshall plan? you mean like the supreme court brother ...umm...thurgood marshall ?" niambi trying to appear supportive once again , sheepishly asked .
"um... not quite " , answered brayan as he thumbed through contents of the open briefcase on the large wooden library table . he found a xeroxed copy of a document that was part of his research and with revived enthusiasm , handed it to niambi .
in the dry and air-conditioned chill of that saturday morning , her usually bored and distracted ten year old son , sat intently with colored pencils and newsprint pad , sketching imaginary super-heroes at the other end of the table .
opposite the preoccupied boy, in the almost deserted university library , his mother , an overworked single parent , desperately struggling to finish her bachelor's degree , curiously read aloud from the paper loabe had presented her .
"it's an interesting idea " , niambi also tentative , now offered , "so how much did it end up costing , and how much do you think your plan will cost ?"
encouraged by her thoughtfulness , brayan silently , almost forgave her for being enrolled in college and still unaware of what the marshall plan was , and the role it had played in modern history .
"about 50 billion dollars " , he answered , "but the Us got much more in restored business partners and new customers after the european nations were rebuilt . "
"how much do you think africa will need ?" she inquired with a hint of caution still evident in her voice .
"the information that i've seen says that the asian tiger economies as of the year 2000 had already invested two trillion dollars in building modern infrastructure ."
eying her carefully , he paused partly for effect and partly from a 'parental" reluctance to subject his 'child' to outer criticism .
"ideally , i would give a rough estimate of at least half that amount to really get us on track , and start to put our global house in order " , was loabe's answer .
"A TRILLION DOLLARS! " the woman's words echoed with surprise and anger from the expensive shelves filled with books and periodicals .
"fool are you crazy !" she blurted out , "nigger , you can't raise no trillion dollars !" she stared angrily and incredulously at loabe before realizing what she had said .
"um... i'm sorry ...brayan " , she gloomily repented after a pause , her inward suspicions about this man finally confirmed . "but that's an impossible amount " . she looked around apologetically to see if anyone had overheard her shameful faux pas .
down at the far end of the table , her son continued on as if totally absorbed with his drawing , out of a sense of loyalty and protection , as if pretending never to have heard his mother slip .
during most of these saturday morning study sessions that he had quickly grown to despise , but grudgingly learned to tolerate for his mother's sake , ra usually behaved as if unaware of the presence of the two adults ...his mother and , "that crazy old man " , as ra preferred to think of brayan ...a man that the young boy was sure was only interested in hitting on ra's pretty mom .
"he don't want us " , the boy thought , angry over the dejection he was strangely feeling .
"and she sure can do better than HIM ", he figured in his child's way , without ever really wanting to 'lose' any of his mother's attentions to loabe , or any other man .
"he old . look at them corny clothes . he carry that dumb-lookin briefcase insteada bookbag . and look at them shoes ! the man wear LOAFERS ! why he bothering with my mom for anyway ? he prolly got a wife an kids AN a dum girlfrien somewhere. ...AHHHh! i wish we could just go already . i wanna go outside an play . i hate this !"
"brayan " , a 'reformed' niambi started again in a voice slightly stronger than a whisper . "you're a nice man . a bright man . and i don't think of you as insincere , but BE for real ! there is no way on god's green earth you can even dream of raising THAT kind of money . tell me what exactly what was in your pipe when you dreamed up that dream ?"
she laughed weakly , transparently , hoping that an attempt at humor would cut through the tension now hovering thickly over the table between them .
she hoped also , to peel away the aching embarrassment that her own unfortunate remark in front of her child had left in her .
she hoped to restore the amiable tone that up until her miscue , her budding friendship with loabe had always exhibited .
"why do you want to do THIS ? and why do you think that you HAVE to ? i mean , IF it were possible , and i'm not agreeing that it is , do you think you'll get a PRIZE ?" she offered , shaking very very softly , barely noticibly , her own two luscious natural prizes visible above the concealment provided as she sat at the heavy , thick table .
in her confusion and embarrassment , she unconsciously sought to return the conversation to more familiar ground , where more sure of her footing , she could operate with greater confidence.
ten year old ra , still pretending to be focused elsewhere , noisily flipped the incomplete drawing on the newsprint art pad and began a new sketch on the following page .
brayan , disappointed by resistance , yet also stubbornly prepared for it , instinctively wet his lips and began his explanation .
"what's this you're describing man , black liberation , amway style ?" the image and voice of a laughing , beautiful , young niambi at age 27 , her perfect teeth glimmering like pearls , filled brayan's mind as memories began wandering past .
"well maybe you could say it that way " , he recalled , slightly irritated , but having to laugh at her analogy .
"the idea is to quietly build a network of entreprenuers , each independent and capable through various and deliberately diverse endeavours , of amassing personal fortunes in the one to ten million dollar range " , loabe had explained .
"each of them , in return for the necessary training , handholding , motivating and coaching that the network would have to steadily provide , would agree to make a one time donation of 1/10 of their fortune " , he continued , carried forward by obvious , but still tentative enthusiasm .
"and of course , this ten percent goes right into your pocket ...nice hustle mr. coach " , niambi frowned , her disappointment unable to restrain her sarcasm .
"NO" , brayan almost angrily but patiently reassured , "i'd never touch a penny of it . it would be set up so that NO ONE could . it all goes into a corporation specifically created for one purpose and one purpose only ... to fund sustainable redevelopment of africa and the diaspora ...a black generated , self directed , self sustaining marshall plan on automatic pilot , operating for africa and the rest of the black world ."
"oh " , the young woman apologetically replied , "marshall plan? you mean like the supreme court brother ...umm...thurgood marshall ?" niambi trying to appear supportive once again , sheepishly asked .
"um... not quite " , answered brayan as he thumbed through contents of the open briefcase on the large wooden library table . he found a xeroxed copy of a document that was part of his research and with revived enthusiasm , handed it to niambi .
in the dry and air-conditioned chill of that saturday morning , her usually bored and distracted ten year old son , sat intently with colored pencils and newsprint pad , sketching imaginary super-heroes at the other end of the table .
opposite the preoccupied boy, in the almost deserted university library , his mother , an overworked single parent , desperately struggling to finish her bachelor's degree , curiously read aloud from the paper loabe had presented her .
the marshall plan
as the war torn nations of europe faced famine and economic crisis in the wake of world war two , the united satate proposed to rebuild the continent in the interest of political stability and a healthy world economy . on june 5, 1947 , in a commencement address at harvard university , secretary of state george c. marshall first called for american assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure of europe . western europe responded favorably ,and the truman administration proposed legislation . the resulting economic cooperation act of 1948 restored european agricultural and industrial productivity . credited with preventing famine and political chaos , the plan later earned general marshall a nobel peace prize
"it's an interesting idea " , niambi also tentative , now offered , "so how much did it end up costing , and how much do you think your plan will cost ?"
encouraged by her thoughtfulness , brayan silently , almost forgave her for being enrolled in college and still unaware of what the marshall plan was , and the role it had played in modern history .
"about 50 billion dollars " , he answered , "but the Us got much more in restored business partners and new customers after the european nations were rebuilt . "
"how much do you think africa will need ?" she inquired with a hint of caution still evident in her voice .
"the information that i've seen says that the asian tiger economies as of the year 2000 had already invested two trillion dollars in building modern infrastructure ."
eying her carefully , he paused partly for effect and partly from a 'parental" reluctance to subject his 'child' to outer criticism .
"ideally , i would give a rough estimate of at least half that amount to really get us on track , and start to put our global house in order " , was loabe's answer .
"A TRILLION DOLLARS! " the woman's words echoed with surprise and anger from the expensive shelves filled with books and periodicals .
"fool are you crazy !" she blurted out , "nigger , you can't raise no trillion dollars !" she stared angrily and incredulously at loabe before realizing what she had said .
"um... i'm sorry ...brayan " , she gloomily repented after a pause , her inward suspicions about this man finally confirmed . "but that's an impossible amount " . she looked around apologetically to see if anyone had overheard her shameful faux pas .
down at the far end of the table , her son continued on as if totally absorbed with his drawing , out of a sense of loyalty and protection , as if pretending never to have heard his mother slip .
during most of these saturday morning study sessions that he had quickly grown to despise , but grudgingly learned to tolerate for his mother's sake , ra usually behaved as if unaware of the presence of the two adults ...his mother and , "that crazy old man " , as ra preferred to think of brayan ...a man that the young boy was sure was only interested in hitting on ra's pretty mom .
"he don't want us " , the boy thought , angry over the dejection he was strangely feeling .
"and she sure can do better than HIM ", he figured in his child's way , without ever really wanting to 'lose' any of his mother's attentions to loabe , or any other man .
"he old . look at them corny clothes . he carry that dumb-lookin briefcase insteada bookbag . and look at them shoes ! the man wear LOAFERS ! why he bothering with my mom for anyway ? he prolly got a wife an kids AN a dum girlfrien somewhere. ...AHHHh! i wish we could just go already . i wanna go outside an play . i hate this !"
"brayan " , a 'reformed' niambi started again in a voice slightly stronger than a whisper . "you're a nice man . a bright man . and i don't think of you as insincere , but BE for real ! there is no way on god's green earth you can even dream of raising THAT kind of money . tell me what exactly what was in your pipe when you dreamed up that dream ?"
she laughed weakly , transparently , hoping that an attempt at humor would cut through the tension now hovering thickly over the table between them .
she hoped also , to peel away the aching embarrassment that her own unfortunate remark in front of her child had left in her .
she hoped to restore the amiable tone that up until her miscue , her budding friendship with loabe had always exhibited .
"why do you want to do THIS ? and why do you think that you HAVE to ? i mean , IF it were possible , and i'm not agreeing that it is , do you think you'll get a PRIZE ?" she offered , shaking very very softly , barely noticibly , her own two luscious natural prizes visible above the concealment provided as she sat at the heavy , thick table .
in her confusion and embarrassment , she unconsciously sought to return the conversation to more familiar ground , where more sure of her footing , she could operate with greater confidence.
ten year old ra , still pretending to be focused elsewhere , noisily flipped the incomplete drawing on the newsprint art pad and began a new sketch on the following page .
brayan , disappointed by resistance , yet also stubbornly prepared for it , instinctively wet his lips and began his explanation .
posted by dsekou at 10:44 AM
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