Our readers sound off: our be.com message boards provide a forum for straight talk from real people.

Since the inception of BLACK ENTERPRISE 35 years ago, readers have spoken out on issues important to African Americans, ranging from the state of black business to our political affiliations and our financial health.

Today, technology enables our readers to engage in a more powerful information exchange than ever, thanks to the message boards at blackenterprise.com. Based on be.com polls, readers responded passionately to questions including "What is the largest obstacle black entrepreneurs must overcome to create and sustain large businesses?" and "What barriers do you feel are preventing African Americans from fully realizing the American dream?"

Representing a range of be.com readers, four individuals speak up about issues that impact us and what we need to do to empower our communities.

For Madrice Guy, a 24-year-old computer programmer and a rising senior majoring in applied information technology at the University of Baltimore, recycling black dollars is the key to financial empowerment.

Exemplifying Declaration of Financial Empowerment principle No. 8: to support the creation and growth of profitable, competitive black-owned enterprises, Guy patronizes African American-owned businesses, including retail clothing stores and booksellers. He also seeks out African Americans, such as his accountant, to provide critical services. Guy says it's vital for us to exercise our buying power with black firms whenever possible: "The greatest power we have as African Americans is our purchasing power, which we should use as a bargaining chip, making it a force to be reckoned with."

The act of supporting black businesses was the impetus for Muhammad Nassardeen to start Recycling Black Dollars (www.rbdusa.com), a 2,500-member Inglewood, California-based nonprofit organization. RBD aids in the support of black businesses through various educational, marketing, and networking services for consumers and business owners.

"The recycling of dollars is a simple process once you understand it," Nassardeen explains. "If you bank at a black bank if you go to a black [dry] cleaner, if you go to black restaurants, you are recycling your dollars. And every time you do that, you have a strong impact."

Not only does supporting black business contribute to the bottom line of black establishments but it also helps chip away at the 10.1% unemployment rate for African Americans. "Just imagine a dealership like Prestige Auto (No. 1 on the BE AUTO DEALER 100 list). It grossed $1 billion this year--the first [black] auto dealer to ever do that," says Nassardeen. By patronizing Prestige, we support a company, "which can provide jobs and opportunities to the rest of our community." That's something we can do for all black businesses--no matter how big or small.

Nassardeen suggests checking black business directories such as BlackPages.com or local African American newspapers for businesses in your area. Or the next time you are looking to do business with a new vendor, ask friends and family for recommendations. However, he cautions against patronizing a business just because it's black-owned. "It is incumbent upon any business to deliver quality service in a quality manner at fair prices."

Madrice Guy, 24

Computer programmer and college student Edgewood MD

Message board comment: we need to look within The black dollar only circulates in our community one time compared to other races which circulate it more than seven times. We have all these races in our community selling us Stuff, but not reinvesting in our community, which is causing our downfall. When I ride through Baltimore, I see all of these black people. But when I took around at who is selling them products, it's usually a foreigner.

Angela Rowan's idea of the American dream is having access to wealth, and that begins with owning a home. "I think buying property is one of the first lessons you should teach yourself and your family, and education is the second," she says. Rowan says that there's no job that will compensate you the way buying property will With the equity in a home, you can send your children to college or buy another home.

"We, as African Americans, are not taught to succeed financially. We're taught to go to school and find a job, but not to save and invest," insists Rowan, the owner of American Family Insurance in Dolton, Illinois.

As an agent arranging mortgages and real estate loans, Rowan has a bird's-eye view of how people chase the American dream. She says that many of her non-African American minority clients have three or four properties, and they are coming back for more. Rowan is frustrated to see that many African Americans are still buying houses on a 30-year loan while our white counterparts are getting 15-year mortgages. She also points out that many African Americans stay in their homes for 20 or 30 years, or even a lifetime, while our white counterparts are buying and selling four or five houses and making money from their investments.

"We don't know and haven't been taught how to protect our assets. African Americans don't understand where their assets go, and that's why we are targets for predatory lending. We don't understand insurance and taxes," states Rowan. "I ask [my clients] 'Do you have an escrow account?' And they ask, 'What's an escrow account?' We need better education about these issues. We need to bring it back to the basics."

While not every community has the same depth of financial education programs, everyone does have access to information about buying a home, explains Margaret C. Simms, vice president of governance and economic analysis for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and a member of the BE Board of Economists. "It may be true that everyone can't access the free Chase or Citibank seminar, but basic principals of financial literacy can be conveyed in other places, like churches."

To find out more on buying a home, read:

* blackenterprise.com's homeownership guide at www.blackenterprise.com/ownahome

* The "For Home Buyers & Homeowners" section of Fannie Mae's Website at www.homepath.com

* Preparing for Homeownership at www.freddiema.com

* Home Buying for Dummies by Eric Tyson and Ray Brown (For Dummies; $21.99)

Angela Rowan, 35

Business owner and insurance agent

Dolton, IL

Message board comment: Charity beg ins at home and then it spreads! Sharing our resources, values, and knowledge will held us as a people. I don't know of any other race of people more intelligent, talented, and creative than African Americans, Slavery was abolished in 1865; it's old news and time to get off the pot If the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mexicans, East Indians, and [others] coming from third-world and war-torn countries can live the American dream, why can't we?

Although Charles Miller II works in the Office of Admissions at Urbana University helping students realize their dreams every day, he has another passion. He loves politics. But he readily admits that a lot of people don't want to hear what he has to say about the Republican Party. And with the new influx of African American Republicans, he's feeling slightly optimistic about the coming elections.

"We have a two-party system. But we still believe at this stage of the game that we can have complete access to the American pie while participating in only half of it," Miller says with a chuckle. "We've been putting all our eggs in one basket. How can you expect to throw all of your support into one party, and then if your party doesn't win, have a seat at the table?"

Miller says that one size does not fit all when it comes to blacks and politics. "We're 36 million people. How can we all be adequately represented by one political party? Politics is a game and we have to have representatives on both sides," he adds in a more serious tone.

Although he may not realize it, Miller is not alone in his thinking. In fact, 11% of African American voters sided with the Republican Party last November. Miller, who has been a BE reader for the past 20 years, points out that despite the growing number of black Republicans, the majority of African Americans still vote Democrat, and that majority is quick to criticize and ostracize the emerging minority. "It frightens me that when someone says they are Republican, suddenly their race consciousness and blackness are called into question," he says.

Thomas D. Boston, president of Boston Research Group Inc. and a member of the Be Board of Economists, agrees that we need to begin by thinking differently about what leadership is and how to exercise power. "Black political representation is very important. We may not always get where we want to go with it, but without it, we will certainly go nowhere," Boston says. "We are simply learning that in order to be successful in entrepreneurship, one also has to leverage the political structure."

Charles E. Miller II, 44

College admissions

Urbana, Ohio 

Message board comment: I thank God for those leaders that have brought us this far, but the sooner we can admit a huge portion of our dilemma as a people is the result of "group think," the better. In a multiparty political system, to refuse to function outside the acknowledged "group boundary" or to imply that the current leadership group will be beholden to anyone other than their electoral base is to be bound in "group think." If we're going to flourish then we better do political business with the party partial to business and capital as well as with the one that takes our support for granted and encourages our dependence! Politics is influence. We're one-Sided!

For voter information such as candidates issue positions and voting records, links to political parties, and an explanation of the basics of U.S. government, visit www.vote-smart.org.

Quadir Madyun observes too many African Americans getting caught up in accountrements rather than oppurtunities that will allow us to build wealth. "We fake it 'til we make it," he quips. "We want to buy rims, but we're living with our mom. We can't afford to buy a house, but we've got a $50,000 car in our driveway. None of it is making sense," he says.

Madyun puts his money to work in real estate. Inspired by his aunt, a real estate agent, he started his own real estate brokerage/development firm, Prosperity Group/Global Investment Development Group Inc., after he got his real estate license. He currently owns his own home and an investment property, and he's looking to buy more.

Madyun is not alone. Sixty-one percent of African Americans surveyed in the 2004 Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey felt comfortable investing in real estate.

For a brief period, Madyun did invest in the stock market, but not for long. Now he is considering taking the investment plunge again, and experts agree that it would make sense for his overall investment strategy.

Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Capital Management L.L.C. (No. 1 on the BE ASSET MANAGERS list with $21 billion in assets under management) and co-author of the Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey, warns investors about putting all of their cash into real estate. "Don't get caught up in the recent double-digit returns that you've seen in the past couple of years, because those returns are not likely to continue," she says. "The red-hot real estate market is likely to cool, particularly in the most overheated areas of the country. California is the biggest one."

For novice investors like himself, Madyun wants BE to speak more about stock market basics. "If you're going to tell me about mutual funds, show me some track records of some black mutual fund companies and show me how to research them," he says. Hobson says the best way to learn about the market is to read publications like BE and The Wall Street Journal, and books like Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein (Main Street Books; $18.95), and to seek assistance from a financial adviser.

Overall, Hobson recommends diversification to help spread risk "I think the best way to diversify when making stock investments is by owning mutual funds, because you end up owning a basket of securities. When one stock is up, another is down; you average out a better return."

Quadir Madyun, 29

Business owner an d real estate agent

Los Angeles 

Message board comment: Let's stop blaming the economy. It is only an excuse. Our white, Jewish, and Asian counterparts have been able to make money regardless of the economy, and our race spends money regardless of the economy. We have the talents, intelligence, gifts, experience, and abilities to succeed. Some of us do have the capital, but we are buying jewelry, clothes, cars, and spending money in all types of non-appreciating ways.

To start investing today, View our Black Stock Index and black mutual funds list at www.blackenterprise.com/InvestingTab.asp.