Futurists say the new millennium will catapult the Black community into unlimited opportunities. Complementing this, the National Urban League has issued its 1999 state of Black America Report indicating that unemployment for r Blacks fell to 7.3% in June, a record low. The jobless rates for whites is 3.5%

On January 1, 2000 the annual income of Black America is estimated at $533 billion, equivalent to the 10th largest nation in the world. "Up from slavery" progress was slow until affirmative action was implemented in the early 70's. Arguably, if affirmative action has brought us to the brink of the new millennium and is now almost wiped out by Proposition 209, what strategies do we use for the new millennium? Aubrey Stone, President of the National black Chamber of Commerce has a response: "If we could increase Black spending with Black firms from 6% to 25%, we would add 100 billion to the $59 billion current income of 900,000 Black firms in America today."

Many Blacks are counting on the rise in the number of Black mayors to deliver opportunities in the new millennium, particularly in those cities with less than Black majorities such as San Francisco, Houston, Denver, Dallas and Columbus, Ohio. However, history has shown that Black political power has never effectively delivered economic empowerment to the Black community. Much less, Northern California hasn't had Black representation in the State Legislature since Sen. Barbara Lee. Overwhelmingly, the question by black concerned intellectuals is "Will Blacks be left out of the coming financial and exploding technology of the new millennium?" With the stock market going through the "roof," it is estimated that only 2% of Black disposable income gets invested. "With millions being made each day in a market that is making record gains, many African Americans are opting to keep 1% passbook accounts and 4% CD's when the worst of the market is doing 16% states Charles Belle, a Black Vice President of Prudential in San Francisco. "And you don't need affirmative action either" he added.

However, affirmative action is still needed in Silicon Valley where amidst the creation of vast wealth, over 90% if the companies with Federal contracts don't even submit EEO reports. On December 9, 1999 President Clinton announced a Cabinet-level task force on the digital divide, addressing the lack of participation by minorities.

In education for the new millennium, there is a new paradigm known as a "Proficiency Divide" where Blacks average only 27% of the proficiency range of the 12th grade white students in reading, math and science. A report released in October, 1999 by the National Task Force on Higher Achievement states that it will be virtually impossible to integrate society's institutions completely unless many more Black, Latino and Native American students achieve academic success at the highest levels. Yet the antitheses of minority progress is the impact of the UC Regents and Proposition 209 at UC Berkeley, for example, where freshman minority groups fell from 21.5% in 1997 to 13.6% in 1999.

Futurists speak of new leadership and strategies for Black America to adjust to the future. However, I say that before we can successfully transition to the new technocratic leadership and institutions, the old leadership must continue to fight to fix the atrocities of the past before African Americans can gloriously enter the new Millennium.