02 Apr How LaMelo Ball, 18, Bought An NBL Pro Sports Team; A Real Life Example of Generational Wealth.
tl;dr:
Melo bought a professional basketball team. His dad taking care of business had a compounding affect on every dollar Melo earns. Generation Wealth is lit 🔥
LaMelo Ball bought a NBL professional sports franchise at the age of 18. On the surface, an impressive feat even without dissecting the merits of the acquisition. One question, though, raised the eye and ire of many not-so-well-wishers (via the LaVar Ball scares me and is the worst father ever crowd) and I think I have an answer. The question: How did this black kid do that so young and so legally? The subtext of which is the belief that blacks who behave a certain way shouldn’t have or be able to do what they are doing but I’mma leave that alone for now because 2020 is already too damn much.
The short answer, a truth as incontrovertible as itchy scalps and tight braids: Generational Wealth. Yes, LaMelo’s purchase is the direct affect of how generational wealth functions – it protects us from and positions us for. Let me explain:
It is well documented that Blacks who are 1st generation and/or sole high wage earners (think first time college grads, professional degree holders, 1st gen doctors or engineers, or even well paid laymen) have less wealth than their non-melannated contemporaries -and often by many factors. This isn’t a derivative of overspending on material possessions (still, arguable for some). Despite earning up and into $100,000 per year, being the first high wage earner in a black family comes with built in patriarchal duties which means paying for the basic living needs of those closest to the high earner. In spite of non-dependent loved ones residing in separate home- their problems become the high wage earner’s problems. In fact, we often see this TV tropes depicted throughout modern black entertainment (Teri in Soul Food, Charley in Queen Sugar). When mom needs surgery, a cousin needs tuition, your sister’s kids needs food, and someone you love is facing eviction, all become cash constrains on the high earner. That $100,000 precious S̶i̶x̶ ̶F̶i̶g̶g̶a̶ ̶N̶i̶g̶g̶a̶ effectively becomes roughly $41,738 and nullifies your Revenge Success Card (Black Card reinstated)
The net effect is that the high earner can rarely collect his or her earnings in such a way that allows substantial or meaningful wealth accumulation. They start from zero again and again, repeating the cycle. See, having generational wealth is a buffer which allows high earning blacks participation in larger cash producing transactions, and does so without (or with less) the income tax of debt. Which takes us back to LaMelo LaFrance Ball.
LaVar Ball (Dad) if anything, is self-sufficient. Tina (Melos’s Mom) was secured back in the late 90s. The other brothers LiAngelo and Lonzo Ball each have money. Therefore, LaMelo (and Melo’s money) isn’t saddled with the responsibility of buying Tina a house, a car, or paying her doctor’s bills or after her recent stroke. He doesn’t have to (as Lupe Fiasco would say) put a lawyer on LiAngelo’s (China) case. When Lonzo lost his job and had to move to Louisiana, Melo didn’t have to put in on the movers (moving cross county is really expensive) or let Lonzo hold a lil’ something sometihng til Sunday, you know, when my check comes. None of those major events posed a strain on Melo’s income. He was protected from debt. Therefore, here he is at 18, collecting and (hopefully) saving every penny of his 1st year’s professional ball contract. And because of that (positioning) he’s been able to accumulate enough wealth in one year to secure the bag an asset that will do the same for his kids and his family well into ̶T̶r̶u̶m̶p̶s̶ ̶3̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶K̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶A̶m̶e̶r̶i̶c̶a̶ the foreseeable future. Did I mention he was 18?
Thank you for listening to my TED talk “Interpretations of Black Generational Wealth in a Pre-Apocalypses America.” Ya’ll have been beautiful. #OJDidIt #Reparations
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.