Marcus Garvey was a prominent black American during the early twentieth century. Preaching for black Americans to rise above where they currently were, he inspired the likes of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Although his beliefs were revolutionary and deserve their own piece, the way he put these beliefs into action was even more extraordinary. At the time, most black Americans sought for de facto segregation and Jim Crow to end. However, the chances of that happening were near zero. So, what did Garvey do to help black Americans? He used racism for their own benefit.

“[Garvey’s] best-known and most controversial startup… was the Black Star Line, a steamship company backed by tens of thousands of blacks who bought five- and ten-dollar shares. Ironically, all this activity depended on the existence of de facto racial segregation, which limited competition from white businesses, all of which refused to invest in urban ghettos.” (17–18)

Garvey realized that he couldn’t change the system in such a short time, so he used the resources he had to bolster the black economy. His actions provide us with a powerful message today: if you can’t change the system, use it.

This is not to say that you should stop advocating for change — Garvey, himself, never stopped doing that. It is to say, however, that we need to focus on what’s in our control. We need to take advantage of the resources we already have to push for the change that we want.

Sources consulted:
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable