by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

After World War II with the European countries in economic ruin, the United States agreed to send
aid to Europe if the countries would meet and decide on what they needed. The European Economic
Recovery Program called the "Marshall Plan" began in April of 1948 and over a three year
period, until 1951, America sent $13 billion in food, machinery and other products to Europe.

When will Black people "meet and decide" on what we need? I guess the first question
should be: "When will Black people wake up and realize that we are in economic ruin?"
Statistics show that one half of Black men from the ages of 16 to 64 do not have a job in New York
City. And according to an National Public Radio report, one out of four Black children in New York
City suffer from some form of asthma. Nationally at least twenty-five percent of Black males are now
in the "Correctional Population": in prison, on parole or probation, or awaiting
sentencing.

I thought that Blacks fled the South and went up North for jobs and better living conditions?
Fifty percent unemployment, twenty-five percent asthma and that cold jail cell should tell us that
the "dream" is over. The fifty percent who have jobs should send as much money as they can
to the Three Year Economic Savings Program, buy a one-way bus ticket for the other fifty percent and
send them packing back down South so that we can start over again as a people.

Remember we had over 16 million acres of land, businesses, hospitals, insurance companies and
schools in 1910. Then the KKK burned and terrorized us out of our properties down South, while their
northern cousins lured us into the northern cities to become cheap labor in the white man’s
economic expansion project. Now that we have served him well, he has kicked us to the curb,
literally, where we lay there selling dope, frequenting prison and dying a slow dishonorable death.

In 1964 the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spelled out what I call the "Elijah Plan" in
chapter 78 of "Message to the Black Man" entitled "AN ECONOMIC BLUEPRINT". He
writes:

"The following blueprint shows the way:

1. Recognize the necessity for unity and group operation (activities).

2. Pool your resources, physically as well as financially.

3. Stop wanton criticisms of everything that is black-owned and black-operated.

4. Keep in mind — jealousy destroys from within.

5. Observe the operations of the white man. He is successful. He makes no excuses for his
failures. He works hard in a collective manner. You do the same.

If there are six or eight Muslims with knowledge and experience of the grocery business — pool
your knowledge, open a grocery store — and you work collectively and harmoniously, Allah will bless
you with success." (p. 174)

THE THREE YEAR ECONOMIC SAVINGS PROGRAM was established by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1964
as the major program initiative of the "Elijah Plan". This program asked black people to
pool their resources by contributing $10 a month to help fight against poverty, want, unemployment,
abominable housing, hunger and nakedness of the 30-40 million black people in America.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan re-established this program in October 1991. Though this
program and other contributions we purchased 1600 acres of farm land in Georgia, however we need
more. In October of 2001 the Three Year Economic Savings Program was incorporated as a 501-C3, not
for profit corporation. This insures that your contributions are tax deductible and the properties
bought with those contributions will be owned by the corporation and not individuals.

The Program’s name might imply that it was to last for only three years, like the Marshall Plan
after W.W.II. However an "Elijah Plan" for economic development must be an ongoing program
until the problems of our people are eradicated.

As an economist, the following words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad points out the difficulty
in following this simple program:

"It is very hard for an economist to plan a wise program and see his plans carried out,
because the so-called American Negroes’ economics are controlled by the white man…Do not become
extravagant spenders like the rich, who own the country and everything in it. It is sheer ignorance
for us to try to compete in luxury with the owners." (p. 195)

When will Black people come together and evaluate the "Elijah Plan"? The Honorable
Elijah Muhammad writes: "I have set before you a program, according to the Divine Supreme Being
and His Prophets. You have neither produced a better program nor anything to equal it." (p.194)

Forty years (1964-2004) have passed since he made this statement and no other program has come
forward. Instead of the "Elijah Plan" we chose social integration with promises of
"affirmative action." We "integrated" with poor whites, left our businesses and
institutions behind and built the fortunes of K-mart, Wal-mart, McDonalds, Burger King and Holiday
Inn. The corporations offered a few window dressing jobs to our "Talented Tenth", lured
them to the other side of town and got them to invest their savings in the "stock market"
which eventually collapsed. Now corporations are downsizing, out-sourcing and dropping our
"Talented Tenth".

Why have we not followed the "Elijah Plan"? Is it because he had only a third grade
education and we do not believe that he was divinely taught? We doubted him, yet we allow the white
man’s concepts of economic "rationality" to dictate both our economic and moral
behavior.

I have a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics and through all of my study and training, I have yet to
find a better solution to raise black people out of economic ruin. In fact, not only have I found
the "Elijah Plan" to be sound, but I have discovered that the underlying assumptions of
many of the white man’s economic theories are false. If the assumptions are wrong, then the stacks
of postulates and formulas that he uses to predict and manage his economies will not work. However,
he has been able to cover his mistakes by exploiting more of the blood, sweat and mineral resources
of dark skinned people all over the world. He also relies on the willingness of his white brethren
at home to suffer economic losses for the cause of white supremacy. And when all else fells, he just
starts a war.

In the future we will point out some of the holes in the white man’s economic theories while
explaining the wholeness of the "Elijah Plan". In the meantime, send your tax deductible
contributions to:

The Three Year Economic Savings Program

4855 South Woodlawn Ave.

Chicago, Ill 60615