In reflection of the Obama Administrations there appears to be a constant flow of deception, immorality, and plain out corruption. Oh, I guess you can add heartless too. We, the strongest and most economically viable nation in the history of mankind would tacitly sit on the “side lines” and tried to lead from behind. Russia, North Korea, and a plethora of terror groups had a field day during the Obama years. They saw the weakness in his reasoning and played it like a finely tuned piano.

The contrast between now and then are startling. Once again, the United States is starting to be respected world - wide. Our military is returning to full strength and is not afraid to flex some “muscle” when needed. Wall St. is at an all - time high and our Fortune 100 corporations are starting to invest increasingly. New jobs are being created from those indicators. I thank God for getting through that period of “rot”. The Obama legacy is cracking into many pieces.

I cannot understand why a White House administration tried to destroy the association that my wife and I founded, nursed, and grew to international prominence. Our intent and purpose were clear and noble: “The purpose of the Chamber shall be to teach capitalism and expand access to capitalization, technical support, procurement opportunities, effective networking, and sharing of information for Black owned businesses and other minority owned businesses as well as the African descendent community. The main vehicle of disseminating information concerning this purpose is through the Black chambers located throughout the United States and the entire Black Diaspora and via mass marketing. A strategic plan drives the activities. The Chamber is non-profit, nonpartisan and non-sectarian and abides by the rules set forth via IRS 501(c)3 classification”. Why would anyone want to attack that?

Filing suit was the right thing. We found out who was behind it all and made them stop, for the most part. Why did they think they had to spend millions of dollars and face embarrassment from time to time? We were doing God’s work and they were acting like the Devil. Of course, we were going to win.

The litigation process was friendlier than we expected. The law firm for the defendants were professional. They had to put pressure on their client to settle. We didn’t think much of it at the time. However, the main lawyer for the opposition, who was a motorcycle enthusiast, was killed the following month after settlement by a car that pushed him off the road mysteriously. This reminded us of what we learned about the opposition at another time in the past.

Times are getting back to normal. Our growth, especially on the international theatre, is steadily growing. Columbia, Cuba, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and other nations are on our “radar” for making big impact. Man, I love this mission! Our two sons now have their MBA’s (from John Hopkins and Babson College) with concentrations in entrepreneurship. They are now giving us free consulting services and keeping us at the “Tip of the Spear” regarding proper trends and relativity.

We have established communication with personnel in the new White House and are meeting the new executives at the agency level as the Senate confirms them. Everyone is so pleasant! This is obviously an administration that believes in good business inclusive of small business.

At last, we can get back to doing what we do best – Empower and inspire Black owned businesses. That is our obsession and nothing is going to take that away from us. We look forward to returning to the White House Christmas activities.

We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but why did a Black president have to be the biggest adversary. That is the way it went down. Frederick Douglas told us it would not be easy. I remember this famous quote of his:

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will…Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get.”

God is so good – all the time!

Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.nationalbcc.org Email: halford@nationalbcc.org

DATED: July 10, 2017