Builder Wealth Together
“We inherit not only what was left to us, but also the imagination to build what has not yet been made.”
Most people are told that money is simple: get a job, save money, and maybe you’ll pass something on one day. But that story leaves out the bigger picture. For Black families especially, wealth has always been about more than paychecks and savings accounts. It’s been about survival, memory, and building together when the system tried to shut us out.
If you’re 14 and reading this, here’s the truth: you are already part of a money story. The question is whether you’ll just inherit the struggles, or help build something stronger for those who come after you.
Genealogies of Resistance
Think about this: your great-grandparents may have had almost nothing, but they found ways to fight back against unfair systems. Some Black farmers put their money together to buy land they could all share. The Pullman porters—Black men who worked long train shifts—took their paychecks and built credit unions so their people could borrow money when banks said no.
And then there was Tulsa’s Greenwood District, “Black Wall Street.” It wasn’t just businesses—it was a whole community where money stayed in Black hands before it left town.
These are blueprints, not just history lessons. They show you that wealth can be built together, even in the hardest times.
Rituals, Narratives, and Wealth Literacy
Money isn’t just numbers; it’s stories. Maybe your family has sayings like “don’t trust the bank” or “never talk about money at the table.” Those sayings come from history—like when Black families lost savings after Freedman’s Bank collapsed. Silence can carry forward like a curse.
But stories can also heal. Imagine sitting down with your grandmother and asking, “What did money mean to you when you were my age?” Write it down. Keep a money journal. Map out how your family spends and saves across three generations. These small steps turn money from something secret and shameful into something you can actually work with.
That’s wealth literacy: not just knowing how to count, but knowing how your family’s story about money got written—and how you can rewrite it.
Structural Leverage Points
Wealth grows or shrinks depending on the structures around it. For too long, the structures were built against us: redlining neighborhoods, unfair loans, locking people out of Social Security when it first started.
So what now? Communities are building their own scaffolding. Some start investment clubs where neighbors pool cash. Some protect housing through land trusts so developers can’t push families out. Others use credit unions or Black-owned banks to make sure money stays local.
Look around: in Detroit, people are reclaiming housing through community land trusts. In Baltimore, Black investors are buying commercial property together. In the South, Black farmers are forming cooperatives. This isn’t theory—it’s happening.
Guardrails and Radical Imagination
But let’s be real: not every growth story is good. Payday lenders, shady mortgage schemes, or “diversity” programs that just grab headlines—they can all take more than they give. That’s why guardrails matter: laws, community rules, and strong education that keep wealth safe from predators.
Then comes imagination. Ask yourself: what if wealth wasn’t just about money? What if it also meant freedom—time to rest, play, and create? What if you grew up expecting to inherit something solid instead of fearing debt? Radical imagination pushes us beyond survival and toward a future where joy is part of the balance sheet.
A Call to Action
You don’t have to wait until you’re an adult to start building scaffolding. Here are some steps you can take now:
Make a family money map. Ask your parents or grandparents about past jobs, debts, or property. Draw it out and see where money flowed.
Write down stories. Keep a money journal. Record not just what you spend, but the money lessons you hear from family.
Join a group. Maybe it’s a school investment club, a faith circle, or even a small group of friends pooling lunch money to learn how savings grow.
Support Black-owned businesses. Every dollar you spend is a vote.
Speak up. Learn about local policies on housing, banking, or lending. Your voice matters, even before you’re 18.
Each of these actions is like laying one beam in the scaffolding. Alone, it’s small. Together, it’s a structure.
Conclusion
Scaffolding wealth isn’t just about adults—it’s about you. When you know the stories, when you ask questions, when you make small moves to build and protect, you’re already shaping the future. The blueprints are waiting. The choice is whether you’ll step in and start building.
The question that remains: will you leave your children sand to run through, or a solid foundation they can stand on?
Critical Question for Readers:
What can you do, right now, to make sure your family’s money story looks different in the next generation?
Citations
Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (Penn State University Press, 2014).
Hannibal B. Johnson, Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District (Eakin Press, 1998).
National Archives, “Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company,” archives.gov.
Mehrsa Baradaran, The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap (Harvard University Press, 2017).
Thomas Shapiro, The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (University of North Carolina Press, 2019).
Detroit People’s Platform, “Detroit Community Land Trust Coalition,” detroitpeoplesplatform.org.
Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy, bred.coop.
Lisa Servon, The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017).
Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017).