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10 Things You Need To Know About Dr. Claud Anderson And PowerNomics

10 Things You Need To Know About Dr. Claud Anderson And PowerNomics

claud
By Autumn Keiko

Dr. Claud Anderson is known for being a great thinker on Black economics and how the Black community can empower itself. He is the president of PowerNomics Corporation of America, Inc. and The Harvest Institute, Inc. 

PowerNomics acts as an umbrella company that publishes his books and produces multimedia presentations focused on his concept of PowerNomics. 

“PowerNomics is the package of principles and strategies he developed to explain the concept of race and to offer a guide for Black America to become a more economically and politically competitive group in America,” according to the PowerNomics website.

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His popular book “PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America” not only gives a blueprint for empowerment but also reflects on his past entrepreneurial experiences, his academic research, business experience, and his varied political positions. 

The 411 On PowerNomics

Anderson created the concept of PowerNomics and it’s broken down in his book “PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America.” 

“The PowerNomics concept and plan teach Blacks how to pool resources and aspects of power so that they can produce, distribute, and consume in a way that creates goods and wealth,” according to the PowerNomics website.

Anderson feels Black Americans need to harness their buying power to better improve their community. “Black Americans made extraordinary contributions to American society despite the astonishing, unusual and unconscionable treatment they have endured in America. Blacks were the engines that drove the political-economic development of this nation for centuries. They should, therefore, value their exceptionality and let that sense of worth guide their group behavior. They should require that any business, political party or political candidate who seeks or benefits from Black support, always identify Blacks by name, commit and in reciprocity, deliver tangible, measurable benefits to Black Americans,” he wrote.

The Nipsey Hussle Connection

The late rapper Nipsey Hussle “followed Dr. Claud Anderson’s PowerNomics Principles, ‘building and buying the block,’ the real solution to combating the ill effects of gentrification in major cities across America that displace Blacks daily, even, for some, becoming homeless while working a job,” wrote Dr. Rosie Milligan, author of Black America Faces Economic Crisis, in the Pasadena Journal.

“Dr. Claud Anderson’s book, PowerNomics: The National Plan To Empower Black America, is the blueprint to save Black America. Also used by other ethnicities, it lays out the plan plainly to able Black America to dig from beneath the ‘economic rubbish’ — Nipsey Hussle followed that plan.”

He Writes

Dr. Anderson has authored a number of books. Among them are: “Black Labor, White Wealth: A Search for Power and Economic Justice” and “PowerNomics: The National Plan.” These two books are the foundation for Harvest Institute programs. His latest book is “More Dirty Little Secrets about Black History,” which he wrote with his son Brant.

He Speaks

Dr. Anderson lectures frequently to business groups, universities, churches and social organizations on economic, social, and political solutions for Black Amrica.

He Builds

Dr. Anderson is a seasoned entrepreneur. He built WaterLand Fisheries, Inc., a seafood factory he operates on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. “WFI has the capacity to produce a million pounds of live high quality fish annually in a controlled indoor environment. It is the largest aquaculture facility in Maryland and one of the largest in the nation,” Everipedia reported.

He also has ownership in radio stations (including the one he built and operated in Tallahassee, Florida), retail food outlets, and residential construction.

The Harvest Institute

The Harvest Institute is a think tank that conducts research, policy development, education, and advocacy to increase the self-sufficiency of Black America. A nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, it was launched to “develop policies, programs, conduct research, to advocate for and to engage in activities that lead to a Black America that is self-sufficient economically, politically, and is competitive as a group,” according to its website.

Government Ties

Anderson has worked inside the government to help bring about change, having had held the highest positions in federal and state government and politics. 

“He was State Coordinator of Education for Florida under Governor Reubin Askew during the tumultuous period of the 1970s. After successful social reform projects in Florida and leading President Jimmy Carter’s Florida campaign to a win in the state, Carter appointed Anderson as the Federal Co-Chairman for a Commission of governors in the southeast states. In that position (rank of assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Commerce), he chaired the commission, funded and directed economic development projects for the governors in those states,” according to the PowerNomics website.

When he was executive director of two economic development corporations for the city of Miami, Florida, Anderson oversaw the funding of more than 30 businesses.

Views On Immigration

According to Anderson, there are various ways in which immigration can harm native Black Americans that are related to government policies. “Executing immigration policies without mitigating the negative impact that those policies might have on Native Black Americans is illegal, unconstitutional and immoral. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted at the end of the 1860s Civil War, mandated that Black people be treated in all manners similar to whites. Since then, six succeeding generations of immigrants have been fast-tracked into full American Dream membership and have received socio-economic benefits over Black Americans, the nation’s official underclass and the most vulnerable citizens in the nation,” Claud Anderson wrote.

Learn From immigrants

According to Claud Anderson, Black people should learn from immigrants and practice group economics.“It is impossible to be a competitive group of people without a physical community or a broad sense of community,” he said. “… Within months immigrants would start building communities. There will be Japan towns, Mexican towns…”

Harvest Fest

Dr. Anderson proposes that Harvest Festival Day become an annual event that is celebrated at the beginning of the harvesting season, nationally and in local communities. It would take place on the second Saturday in August. It would include Black businesses, civil rights organizations, political entities, schools, and community organizations.