Carlos Nelson with Cascade Media Group and today we have Dr. Lynwood Tahed uh and he's working on a couple of things in our community. One is uh Malcolm X and and a couple of others, but I want to uh get to where the tire meets the road. Welcome to the show. Uh Dr. Tah, thank you. Tell our audience a little bit about yourself. uh where you come from, how you was raised, some of your mentors, and what what you do for a living. Uh I think you retired right now. Are you still at No, I'm I'm still All right. Run it down to our community. Well, okay. My name is Lynwood Tahit. I'm um as as a profession, not retired. I I I'm a professor of economics at the University of Missouri Kansas City, UMKC. I've been there for oh as a as a professor I've been there since 2004 so 21 years there but but I've been a student there since the the 70s I uh I started maybe 78 79 as a student there uh and studying computer science and I I I graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science and mathematics in 1984. for uh at that time I had already been involved in in working in that field and uh so 84 I graduated. Um uh 87 I started my own company which um was was called Tahib Associates. It was we aka uh computer systems engineering. So I started my own company. We did software development, systems integration work and uh then in 1997 I I closed my company and um um went to back to back to school back to UMKC to get a degree in economics uh first a master's degree. My intention was to get a PhD which I did. Um, I I became interested in economic development while I was in business because I was um a member of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City. I was a president for a year but uh prior to that for a number of years I was chair of the business and economic development committee and in that process I got it I got interested in economic development. So I I um you know I I I liked what I did in in computing. I I I was I was very good at it. My company was growing and so forth, but I I I looked at what I was doing in computing as kind of a a personal success, but I but I wanted that success to be I wanted what I what I was doing to be I felt thought more relevant to the community and I thought economic development would be a a way to do that. So I went back to UMKC and got a degree in in economics and PhD and uh then started teaching there. I had had I had had already started teaching at at Pin Valley in Long View uh after I got my master's degree, but then I um completed my doctorate in 2005 and had already been teaching there for a couple of years uh by that time. And so I came onto the regular faculty. um eventually received tenure and so I've been there I've been there 21 years. So as as far as occupation I'm I'm an economist. Um we UMKC has a has a an interesting and a unique economics program. So what what people think about economics is kind of not what we do as economists at UMKC. We have a worldwide reputation for the kind of economics that we do. Um I myself I am what what is called an institutional economist and most people have no idea what that means. We can talk a little bit about it but uh I teach uh institutional economics both um intermediate and advanced. Um I teach um I teach um uh community economic development. I teach a history of economic thought uh and a number of other uh topics. I teach undergrads and grad students including doctoral students as well. And uh so um you know I my work outside not outside of school but connected to that is in community economic development and we can talk about that what that means. community that term community economic development has a a a meaning that doesn't really uh comport with the way that I approach that topic and so we should probably talk about that as well. Now um ironically maybe ironically coincidentally not ironically this April to April now or past April uh was my 50th year here in Kansas City. I I moved to Kansas City uh from Philadelphia in uh 1975, April 1975. And at the time I had I had two children, two sons, and then I I've since uh my wife and I at the time had a daughter who was born here in Kansas City. So, my three children were were uh they're all adults now, of course, and uh they are all still living here in Kansas City. Uh but um my family other than my my children and my ex-wife are in Philadelphia. U have a pretty large family. I was uh one of eight children. Uh had six sisters and and one brother in in in Philadelphia. And uh uh so that's where I I grew up for when I came to Kansas City in 75. Um I 25 years old. So all of my adult life well mo beginning adult life uh was in Philadelphia. My all of my most of my other development was has have been here in Kansas City. So I I can consider Kansas City my home. But I but I do but but I that's both of us. I'm from New York. You beat me here by three years. I came 78, right? And uh you know when I came here, I I came here to teach school. I was um in the Nation of Islam. I uh came here to teach at the University of Islam at the time and um just decided to stay here. Um Kansas City was a good place to raise my children, particularly when you compare uh raising children in in a place like like Philadelphia. I mean, it's a it's it's a city that I love to visit. I I I don't think I, you know, I don't I would not That's how I feel about New York. Yeah. In fact, in fact, I I I love New York. Every time I I go to Philly, I try to get up to New York for a couple of days. I was I was just in New York um uh for a week uh just a couple of weeks ago as well. Um we talk about that. did a presentation at the United Nations there um and on on community economic development at the United Nations at the UN yes it was a conference there's an organization uh connected with the UN it's called permanent forum for people of African descent uh they were having their fourth session fourth yearly session uh at the UN and and surrounding areas in New York and so I and a a a student of mine. I won't mention his name because haven't given permission but but he's completing his doctorate dissertation uh in a week or so in a week uh on uh a dissertation on reparations. And so he and I were were invited to to uh give presentations uh to you and folks all over the from all over the world on on preparations and and other work that we're involved in. our approach to reparations now from my understanding and I haven't looked into this for about six months uh because uh the legal system has changed some things and we almost had to start from scratch. Uh like I said I don't I haven't done any research but the things that I do know is that uh what's going on? Well, yeah, there is a certainly a change and a challenge. I mean, there's always been challenges to the idea of reparations for for um uh formerly enslaved Africans here in this country. And then, of course, there's an international reparations movement as well uh with uh former colonies of European countries that are uh seeking reparations, reth restitution, and repair from their former colonizers. And so European countries pretty much all of them I don't know there may be a few that were not involved in enslavement and and colonization in Africa but but those countries that are are being um do you have any do you have any uh thoughts on uh Captain Tori uh but Bikina Faso because uh Cascade Media Group we've been trying to work with them they're asking for the diaspora to come come home. What do you think about uh what he's doing? And uh the last couple of days I was asking a lot of highprofile politicians and people that's supposed to be in the know. Do you know who Captain Torres? Do you know uh Bina Fos? They like Bakina what? Uh it's a total disconnect of what's going on uh as it relates to our community uh not just here the uh our mother Africa and the diaspora. Yeah. Could you speak on that a little bit? Yeah. What what I knew about Bkina Faso before current times was uh some time ago around 2010 when I participated in a in a ceremony called a grief ritual that was u conducted by a a woman from Bikina Faso named Sobon Fu So who has since transitioned u and uh so she was from Bikina Faso and uh Bkina Faso was a is you know has noted as a very poor country as many countries in Africa are as many countries in the world are uh that have been former colonies of of of Europe and current neo colonies of Europe and so that's my my my knowledge of Bkina Faso was kind of limited to to my experience with with her process uh and then uh the the the countries of Bikina Faso Mali and Nishair uh those countries that are or a strip of countries going west to east in Africa that kind of separates North Africa from what is called subsaharan Africa. So that part is called the Sahel. Uh they begin to uh make noise of independence from France. These are these are former former French colonies, the franophhone colonies. And um Faso, Nier, and and Mali uh began, you know, they they they they kicked the French out and uh began to declare that they had um sovereignty over their own natural resources. Excuse me. And um um they be began to uh to develop a plan to take advantage of what they had not been able to take advantage of of before, which is their own natural resources, their ability to to make a living and to increase the the well-being of their people. And so that that's a that's a revolutionary movement in in the sense that that it is a a stark break from uh the the way that African countries have continued to be related to European countries as neo colonies. You know, the idea in the 1950s and the 60s as African nations were declaring their own independence was that that was a time when Africa would begin to thrive and be able to to declare itself sovereign from from European control and uh then continue to take advantage of its own resources. It did not turn out that way. And there's an economic discussion that we can have about about the basis of that. Uh not just military power, not just the fact that the former colonies maintain, let's say, troops in African countries to put down a possible revolution or attempts to to to overthrow their governments that that they they may have wanted to do so in order to benefit from the resources. But but there's a very much an economic component related to who controls the money supply in those countries. And the uh the Sahel countries, the franophhone countries were at at at independence were still saddled with the the requirement to participate in the French monetary system. So the French created a a money item um u a money thing as one of my colleagues calls it called the colonial Frank of Africa. Well, it's called it was called the colonial Frank of Africa when when these countries the Sahel countries were colonies when they became independent independent they changed the the name to an acronym the CFA or the CIFA uh but it was still the colonial Frank of Africa and it was still a a money supply that was under the control of the French which means that for example if the if a country wants to increase its own money supply because it needs a greater circulation of money in order to do economic development. Uh they they had to get permission from the French to do so. Uh the French was in control of the money supply. They were the in essence the central bank. And so what what has occurred recently is not just with these countries Mali Bkina Faso and Nair throwing the French out but also there's a process where they are taking control of their resources and taking control of their money supply so that they are not um depended or required by anyone outside of their home country to um to to maintain a money supply that benefits others instead of themselves. So that's it's a it's kind of it's a long story in a sense in terms of how that that monetary sovereignty that delinking that independence uh is is going to occur. It's not an overnight thing, but it is in progress. And in Bkina Faso, that progress is is being um accelerated and and initiated by by Ibrahim Trayor. All right. So, let's talk a little bit about uh Malcolm X. Sure. Um I would apologize. I got a bit of a horses um today. And uh so I'm trying to get through this. I may I've got some water here. I'll drink a little bit of that. But yes, Malcolm X. Now um in in u of course Malcolm was was a member of the Nation of Islam. And in Philadelphia when I when I joined the Nation of Islam in 1969, I was really very much maybe influenced by Malcolm X's example. even though he had been uh dead, assassinated five or six years before I I even knew anything about the Nation of Islam. Uh but but you know, of course, Malcolm had a very deep connection to the Nation of Islam in Philadelphia. Um and then of course in New York, right, uh which was was his headquarters. and and when he um was was in the Nation of Islam as a minister and and national spokesperson, uh there were many many uh persons in Philadelphia who knew him and knew him personally uh and had had come in contact with him and were influenced by his his uh brilliance, his style of oratory, his uh analysis skills, his ability to debate and confront those who were were derisive of of the Nation of Islam's pro program. And um you know by his example he set an example for other brothers in the Nation of Islam as to how you how you should carry yourself. And so even though he was he was no longer with us and when I joined the nation in ' 69 and and became interested in ' 68 uh his his his um example was was was profound. I mean, you know, I'll say this, and I don't mean to be be um insensitive or or discourteous, but but the Nation of Islam would not be the Nation of Islam that we think of today without Malcolm. Prior to uh his becoming the national sp and uh in in prison and becoming the national spokesperson, uh the Nation of Islam was very much a religious organization. Now that that that's not being derisive. It was a religion. It was an organization that focused on religion that uh in in many sense uh in a traditional way like Christianity uh more like Christianity than Islam because that was that was the plan uh to attract African-Americans who are more Christian than than Islam. Uh it was focused on kind of the end times. What's going to happen when God comes and and destroys this country? um when when Malcolm Malcolm's program and and and and let's say transformation of the nation as it and it transformed itself became a much more focus on the black community on on liberation on self-determination on on on the black community and on the here and now as opposed to waiting for for for change later. And it was m his focus his changing of the nation was much more on what we need to do as a community regardless of whether or not we are Muslim or Christian or atheist or any other religion. What we need to do in order to uplift the the black community in order to free it from the neoc colonialism from the neo-slavery that we were a part of. And so that's what attracted me to the Nation of Islam. and I was attracted to the Nation of Islam primarily I was one of the founders of the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia. Um and so uh when uh when when that process came and went and and there was a a reason that it came and went uh we were we the initial party in Philadelphia was started 1968. uh we dissolved it in 1968 because of some some some problems. Uh it was restarted in Philadelphia 1969 and by that time I had joined the Nation of Islam. So so I had a oh a black power black nationalist orientation if you will although the although the Black Panther Party is not necessarily in that context. That was where I was I was I was attracted to the nation because of the the u I guess the black power, the black nationalist ideology of Malcolm more than I was attracted by the religious aspects and and I I still in terms of mentors um yeah he he he would be one of my mentors and and we get mentors not just from the people who we know but also from the things they leave behind. What is this anniversary about? Uh this anniversary is about the um the 100th anniversary of his birth. He was born in on May 19th um uh 1925. And so this is the 100th anniversary, the centennial of his birth. What type of festivities if uh there oh there are there there there's a multitude of of of events around the country and around the world that are being organized to to recognize that centennial of his birth. You know, Malcolm started out in Omaha, Nebraska. U I've been up to his birth site a number of times. Um and uh he he he was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His his parents were members of of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, Marcus Garvey's organization. They were members. And his father was was killed by by white supremacists. I believe they were members of the of the Kutas clan when he was a child. And his mother was was terribly destroyed mentally by that process. And so when he left Omaha and went to uh Detroit, uh he got involved in criminal activity. And so he was in Detroit. He was known as Detroit Red. That was his moniker. He was a he was a petty thief, stickoff artist, pimp. um and uh was was part of the criminal scene until he was then um arrested, sent to prison and in prison, converted to the Nation of Islam. And and one of the things of course that the Nation of Islam leaves not leaves behind has in its legacy is its u its legacy of converting men and also women who uh had fallen astray of the law. black men going to prison and then being converted into the Nation of Islam and and being encouraged to to move away from that that type of lifestyle and and Malcolm of course did that. Uh he was he was always a reader. He was always someone who wanted to absorb knowledge and in his process of being in prison and and reading he began to read not just about the US but about the world world issues and so forth. Uh he became quite a historian and philosopher in that process. So when he was released from prison uh having converted to the nation in prison he um became a minister and then eventually the national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam. And so uh you know that that itself is a story of a man who had a parent killed, another destroyed by their death who u responded in a way that many might respond and just becoming kind of a ministry society, if you will, but then having an opportunity to to see the world in a different way. uh taking advantage of that transforming his life and being transformed by by by fortuitous service. So what's taking place here in Kansas City? Uh what's taking place here? One of the things that's taking place here in Kansas City is that there is a well celebration of of the Malcolm Xentennial. It's being sponsored by at least one of the sponsors is is the public library, Kansas City public library. Another sponsor is the the Kenya the chap front. Yeah, INBU is also a sponsor and I believe there's there are a couple of other other sponsors of it, but there's a celebration of it of his life that's occurring here in in Kansas City. Um I'm I' I've been asked to participate and to write something on that and I've done so. Um in in fact in 1999 when the uh the Nalcom stamp was issued by the postal service, I was asked by the by the postmaster um to to give a a lecture on on Malcolm X which I did at UMKC was 1999. I was an econ student at the time um in in 99 but I I believe I was also teaching at uh at Penn Valley economics at completed my masters. So I gave a a talk uh at UMKC uh it was very well attended talk on Malcolm X and u talked about that process of transformation. I think um you know I I I I discussed how I saw that transformation in the context of an African philosophical system. Uh that was tell me this what what else are you working on? Tell our community what else you're working on that you're interested before we close out. Okay. Well, my my my primary research work as an economist is in community economic development. And what I mean by that is not what the business school might mean, you know, which is kind of real estate and and business development, mostly real estate development. When I when I use say community economic development, I'm talking about the process of empowering well empowering is not a really good word. A process of of of taking of of of helping members of a community to understand that the development of their community has to be in their control. it has to be led by them. Uh they may uh they may benefit from relationships with persons outside of the community, but but it has to be led by them. And so my my work in community economic development is about helping communities to understand how they develop that leadership. How they begin to to to take control of their own community in that development with an understanding that community economic development is much broader than economics. We you can't just work you can't just do business development. You can't just do job development. You have to do development on on all areas. uh um education, health, uh you have to uh you have to the the the process that I that I I have been a part of which actually was was in was was executed in Kansas City in 2009. Uh that was called weed development. Some some of your your viewers may may remember the weed development process. Um it was a process at the weed development credit union I think. Absolutely. The we development credit union came because I did a little commercial for them. Yeah. Uh the we development credit union was a project that was initiated by a community from the we development process and it took a long time to get that credit union. Uh boy 10 year boy you worked on that process. I I did. Yes. Ajamu. See I didn't know who was involved but I know it man. It was like Yeah. Every every year I'm like the jama. Y'all got that together yet? Y'all got that together yet? Yeah. It it took it took a lot of hard work and and persistence, patience, uh perseverance more than patience, I guess, uh to get that done. But but but you know the redevelopment process is a process by which communities can think about what they want to do uh think about the resources they have. They have a vision for what they want their community to look like and then engage in a process of strategic planning to get those things done. And so uh my work right now uh in the past has been kind of in in the US context right in the local context mostly. uh but um uh uh my my work now is expanding out to an international context. So I'm I'm looking forward to doing that redevelopment work in other countries in uh in the African diaspora. Um well in countries in Africa and also countries that uh where where members of the African diaspora live which is of course all over the world. So I'm looking forward to doing that process internationally not just locally. And there's a there's a there's a there's a significant process of of recognizing that the African diaspora is diverse. We are everywhere. And so uh we have we are we we're multicultural if you if you if you want to know uh use that term. And so community economic development has recognized that communities are different. uh we are you know we are we are united in common unity we are community because of our African heritage but our diversity is actually what makes us strong we are everywhere in this world we are um to me we are this world we are the world yes if you want to use that we are yeah we don't walk out of Africa none of these other races exist well absolutely of course historically uh all all humans, all homo sapiens origin from Africa, there would be no homo sapiens um except for the our I think this is the perfect uh place to end this. Um, it was I'm I'm a Jim Watts. I don't know whether you know Jim Watts, but Jim Watts is always uh cuz he's co-founder of What's Up Kansas City. He's always ending his his uh interviews. It was a plumbleasing pleasure having you on the show. I'd be like, Jim, cut it out, man. Cut it out. Well, Jim Jim was a salesman as well. So, so, so you know, you that's that's you do what you do. But then, as we always close, when you invest in your community, you're really just investing in yourself. Correct. This is brought to you by Kansas City Business Association, working to improve our community.