It's time to step up.

It's always been about economics.

In the 1960s, when black ministers carried the cross of leadership for civil rights and the elimination of Jim Crow, America's version of apartheid, the core issue was economics.

In the 1970s, when black community activists stepped up to the plate for access to better jobs, housing and education for African-Americans, it was about improving our economic condition.

In the 1980s, when black elected officials were swept into Congress and city halls across the nation, giving a generation of African-Americans its first real taste of political power, we learned that economic opportunities are a by-product of political representation.

Now, in the 1990s, the agenda has shifted squarely to economics. The bill to eliminate Federal Communications Commission tax policies aimed at boosting minority ownership of media properties, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in April, shows that black business has been designated as an early target of the current conservative assault on affirmative action. Also, the most prominent African-American in the current presidential administration, Ron Brown, has been under constant political scrutiny and attack--even though, by most accounts, he has been the best at his position in years. Not coincidentally, Brown is secretary of the Commerce Department.

Clearly, it's time for black business to take on the responsibilities of leadership. More than at any time in the 25 years since we began publishing BLACK ENTERPRISE in 1970, we have a critical mass of African-American business leaders capable of stepping up to the challenge. Many of them are represented among the BE 100s, our annual listing of the nation's largest black-owned industrial/service companies and auto dealerships.

Consider our choices for Company of the Year, Auto Dealer of the Year and Financial Company of the Year. W. Don Cornwell, CEO of Granite Broadcasting Corp., a publicly traded, New York-based media company, describes his firm as a "poster child" for how minority business development policies--such as the FCC's minority tax provision--can work to grow successful, legitimately black-owned enterprises. Now the owner of seven television network broadcasting affiliates, our 1995 Company of the Year was the nation's top performing media stock last year.

Our 1995 Auto Dealer of the Year, Detroit's Conyers Riverside Ford, headed by Nathan G. Conyers, has set a 25-year example of how profitable black-owned businesses benefit the communities they serve. While celebrating the silver anniversary of the family-owned dealership, the next generation of the Conyerses is prepared to carry on the entrepreneurial dream of their grandfather and Nathan's father, John Conyers Sr.

And our 1995 Financial Company of the Year, United Bank of Philadelphia, shows what happens when a dedicated banking professional decides to create a desperately needed black financial institution--seemingly from scratch. That professional, United Bank CEO Emma Chappell, is a living, breathing example of what we mean by economic empowerment.

But it doesn't stop at the decisions made by the CEOs of black-owned businesses. Lloyd Ward, BE's Executive of the Year, shows the importance of having talented African-American decision-makers in corporate America. Ward's performance as president of snack-chip giant Frito-Lay's central division goes beyond improving his employer's bottom line to using his influence as a corporate leader to create educational as well as business opportunities.

However, the success and contributions of executives like Ward and the black-owned companies profiled in this issue will mean little if educational, employment and business opportunities are placed beyond the grasp of most African-Americans. That's why, perhaps as you read this, a group of BE 100s CEOs will be gathering in Washington to make an announcement--and draw a line in the sand: We will not stand idly by while policies and programs necessary for black business development, and therefore, economic opportunity for all African-Americans, are destroyed. On the contrary, we must--and will--do everything in our power to ensure that African-Americans are full and equal partners in the American economy.

The goal of economic empowerment, once glimpsed on some distant horizon beyond the struggles for human dignity, civil rights and political empowerment, is here and now. Black community leaders, activist ministers, politicians and others must continue their efforts to achieve true freedom and equality for African-Americans, and have already accomplished much along the way. But it's clear that there can be no lasting social, legal or political justice without economic empowerment. It's time for business leaders to step up and take the lead.