Power is the Center

by Marcus Littles, Founder & Senior Partner

The month of August sorta gets slept on. I am from Alabama and live in Washington, DC, and so when I think of August, I think of how damn hot it is outside. On the bright side, August has more birthdays than any other month, and we observe International Beer Day, Coloring Book Day, and International Childfree Day.

This year, I also realized that three newish holidays that are important to my personal and professional identities are also in August:

Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) was incubated in 2001 and launched in 2011 by Dr. Jackie Copeland as a global celebration and concerted campaign to elevate African-descent giving and funding equity. At Frontline Solutions, much of our work is at the intersection of philanthropy, racial justice, and organizational development. Thus, Black Philanthropy Month resonates deeply with our identity as an institution and collective of individuals.

National Black Business Month was founded in 2004 by historian John William Templeton and engineer Fredrick Jordan Sr to acknowledge and appreciate Black-owned businesses in the US and ‘drive the policy agenda affecting’ their success. For nineteen years, Frontline has been a proudly Black-owned business. We partner with several clients whose economic mobility and wealth-building initiatives include targeted efforts to support, invest in, or advocate for policies that strengthen Black-owned businesses. So, National Black Business Month is also a celebration and call to action relevant to our firm's past, present, and future.

Black August is an annual commemoration honoring r Black political prisoners and freedom fighters, and highlighting? Black resistance against racial, colonial, and imperialist oppression globally. It was initiated in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, when a group of incarcerated people came together to pay homage to brothers Jonathan P. Jackson and George Jackson . My colleagues and I at Frontline know that our North Star of Justice and Liberation won’t be realized through our consulting engagements. It will take a revolutionary movement. We’re proud that many of our team members are activists and political and community organizers. Every person on our team is influenced by a family member, community member, or ancestor whose actions to combat oppression and fascism have benefited us and those we love. Black August matters to us because it stirs up reminders of the necessity of resistance.

It was only this year that it struck me that these vital commemorations occur in the same month. Perhaps I passively knew, but this was the first time I wrestled with the significance of this synchroneity. In that light, it seemed inadequate to construct a LinkedIn post saying, “Happy Black Philanthropy Month,” in Anton font, overlaying stock photos of attractive and respectable Black people in caps and gowns or cute Black kids with really white teeth. Nor did it seem sufficient to superimpose a gold ribbon on our website and social media images touting Frontline as a certified BLACK-owned business. It also seemed inauthentic to release a series of posts sharing resources and readings about Black August.

As I constructed this article in my mind, I shared some half-baked thoughts about the interconnections and aspirations of these Black celebrations with my colleague Aisha Alexander-Young. Her immediate response was, “Power is the Center.”? This resonated with me, so instead of the aforementioned social media posts, I am offering three reflections about how these holidays collectively invite us to reckon with, imagine, and fight for collective power as the true center of Black giving, enterprise, and resistance.

1. Black Philanthropy Reminds Us That Black Enterprise and Black Resistance Serve ALL Humankind

It is not lost on me that this is a time of pervasive polarization. I am unclear whether society's political and moral divisions cut deeper or if longstanding chasms are being acknowledged, discussed, and interrogated more intensely and publicly. Regardless, these divisions coincide with efforts to normalize the fallacy that the explicit naming of race and other identities is a divisive act.

Black Philanthropy is the historical and cultural legacy of the African Diasporan (Black) practices and traditions to love ALL humankind—which is the true meaning of philanthropy.? These practices and traditions offer us all a reminder and an invitation. Its origins were not about ‘leveling the playing field’ but collating the Diaspora's time, talent, treasure, and trust to create a world that loves all humanity. The restorative mission of Black philanthropy is a response to societies and systems that do not adequately or equitably include Black people as benefactors or beneficiaries.

Similarly, the products and services, inventions, and innovations of Black businesses and entrepreneurs have long been consumed by, provided benefits to, and served all of society. The ‘demand’ for what Black businesses offer is universal, as evidenced by how often what we create is copied and co-opted. Yet, the structural barriers to scaling the ‘supply’ of Black businesses still necessitate shifting policies and practices for more Black businesses to thrive. Black resistance has historically targeted systems of oppression that disproportionately marginalize Black people—including the carceral, healthcare, education, and labor systems. However, these same systems also fail countless other communities, such as LGBTQIA+ folks, Indigenous and other communities of color, immigrant communities, and working-class folks of all races. Black resistance is for the collective liberation of all.

Black philanthropy offers us a reminder that also rings true for Black enterprise and Black resistance: All humankind benefits from the generosity and brilliance of the Black Diaspora. Society benefits from the products, services, and ideas created and produced by Black businesses. And, Democracy is strengthened by the system reforms and reimagining resulting from Black resistance.

Power is the center. Black philanthropy, enterprise, and resistance are critical forms of Black power. Black power is (and has long been) a path to liberation for ALL.

2. Black Businesses Exemplify the Double Consciousness of Participating in Systems that We Simultaneously Seek to Dismantle and Reimagine

Organizational identities—like personal ones—are fraught with contradictions. At Frontline, we leverage management consulting to shape a more equitable world, centering people, community power, and justice to help our partners break barriers, create opportunities, foster inclusivity, and drive sustainable change. At the same time, Frontline is a Black-owned business that endeavors to be financially profitable. We are anchored in a set of values, and we desire to grow our profit margins and capacity to be a sustainable business and employer.

Many of our nonprofit and philanthropic clients hire us to support them in implementing strategies and ideas to create a more economically just society. We have clients who are mission-focused on dismantling capitalism and others who are designing and piloting strategies to reshape and reimagine how capitalism works. These institutions compensate us for what our services are ‘worth,’ or in other words, the value the market has decided for our deep skills, expertise, and thought partnership.

According to the Brookings Institution, while the number of Black-owned employer businesses increased by nearly fifteen percent in 2021, the overall share of Black-owned employer businesses remained disproportionately low relative to their share of the U.S. population. So, I am proud to own a Black business that employs brilliant, principled folks because Frontline—the company and the people—represents a small slice of economic power.

As individuals, most of my colleagues and I share a firsthand appreciation for how vital Black resistance is for us, our parents, our children, and those to come. Many of us - probably all of us - have first-hand and current accounts of ways in which capitalism and its siblings of racism, ableism, sexism, and homophobia have injured our minds, bodies, and spirits. And we are all either supporters of or participants in resistance and efforts to dismantle these systems. I am proud to be working with my colleagues and in a community of people and institutions fighting to resist and reshape economic systems that have historically and continue to strip Black people of power.

My personal and institutional pursuit of power, economic and otherwise, is rooted in my commitment and anchoring in Black philanthropy—love for all humankind.

August validates my double consciousness. It also reinforces that power is the center.

3. Black Power is a Discipline

I learned a tremendous amount as I researched more about the origins and history of Black August. Equally fascinating are the different ways that individuals, institutions, and communities commemorate the month-long holiday. While the remembrance practices are varied, many are associated with the theme of discipline. One national membership movement institution even organized a month-long virtual study group designed to explore the origins of Black August and what it means for the members to ‘study, train, fast, and fight.’

Initially, the theme of discipline in association with Black August stood out because Black Philanthropy Month and National Black Business Month seem more focused on celebrating, advocating for, and acknowledging the importance and power of Black giving and Black Enterprise, respectively. Black August invites us to remember, but it also challenges us to prepare.

However, researching and reflecting on all three commemorations made it clearer that Black Philanthropy Month is also a call to be disciplined, intentional, and strategic to maximize the power of Black giving. While patronizing and investing in Black businesses are vitally important, sustaining these businesses and changing policies and barriers to scale them require coordinated, strategic, and disciplined campaigns to shift systems and power.

Black Philanthropy Month and National Black Business Month are as much about discipline, action, and strategy as Black August. Power is the center. Black power is not just a belief, catchphrase, or image of a Black fist in the air. Black power is a discipline.

At Frontline, Black power is a constant theme. Still, from now on, August will always be a time for us to wrestle even more deeply and intentionally with how we can strategically use our resources to advance the collective strength and genius of the Black community. We invite you to join us by sharing your reflections.

?