Category Archives: Editorial

Minority Illusion: The African America-Asian America Gap

Posted on October 29, 2012 by | 3 comments

By William A. Foster, IV

It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, till she transforms us into beasts. – Patrick Henry

There is a reality that European Americans seem to be aware of and African Americans seems virtually clueless to. America is fast shifting from an European Diaspora controlled country to an Asian Diaspora controlled country. The social and economic crisis in Europe has lowered European immigration and economic resources flowing to the US. This reality coupled with a rapidly declining birthrate of those of European descent in the US has left an opening for a new power to arise. Asia has seen the opening led by China and seems intent on completing a mission Japan attempted with Pearl Harbor. To not only retrench European aggression toward Asia but to have it aborted all together by creating a cold war fought primarily on US soil and limit another resource invasion of the Asian continent.  The term “minority”, an European American construct, which lumps all people who are of non-European descent into the same boat as if their social, economic, and political capital are the same is both dangerous and naive for African American strategy. Somehow it appears we have become so fixated on European Americans that we are completely missing the rise of Asian America. Let us examine a few of the statistics.

Life Expectancy: Asian America – 87.3 Years* l African America – 73.6 Years

% of 25 and older with degrees: Asian America – 50%* l African America – 18%

Median Income: Asian America – $68,780* l African America – $32,068

Median Net Worth: Asian America – $83, 500** l African America – $2,170

Unemployment Rate: Asian America – 4.8%* l African America – 13.4%

Participation Rate: Asian America – 63.7% l African America – 61.7%

*Leads all ancestral groups in U.S.

** Asian America’s median net worth was actually higher than European America’s prior to the 2008 recession.

The graph below, showing Asians as the fastest growing demographic in America not Latinos, coupled with the aforementioned social and economic numbers will have vital future political implications. It is no secret that the more educated and affluent a population is the more civic and politically engaged they are. The chart is showing that not only will they have the education and money but they will have the raw votes in the coming decades to become the new majority with unbridled power and reduce European Americans to the largest minority group in America. One has to assume while some European Americans feels some level of responsibility to African Americans historically speaking – Asians Americans have no such baggage. This leaves one to wonder as Asian Americans assume power where that will leave African America in the power vacuum.

Asian Nation, a journalism site that focuses on Asian America reviewed the top colleges and universities for Asian Americans also took some student interviews. One very interesting quote from an Asian student attending Pomona College in Claremont, CA was “The issue of ‘integration’ is a loaded one in that many white students and staff often accuse students of color, specifically Asian American students, of being anti-integrationist because we feel the need to be politicized and develop leadership within our own community.” Whereas African Americans are obsessed with integration and diversity this suggest Asians plan to secure their strength from inward first and foremost. Ironically, this was the strategy originally of African America coming out of slavery but would fall by the wayside as the civil rights generation would pursue a fruitless strategy of desegregation virtually wiping out all of African America’s institutional strength.

From a geostrategic point of view between the Asian and African Diasporas influence in America one only need to look at the ownership of U.S. debt held by foreign countries. The two largest holders are China and Japan while ten of the top thirty-seven largest foreign holders are Asian countries in the latest Treasury report. There is $5.430 trillion of U.S. debt held by foreign countries and of that 53.7 percent is held by Asian countries while only 0.2 percent is held by South Africa, the lone African country present in the top thirty-seven holders in the report. It becomes clearer and clearer who is establishing influence and control from within and from the outside in America.

African America too often falls into the lull that all “minority” groups are in the same position as we are or want to simply settle for inclusion as we seem to want. As Chinatowns and other Asian enclaves pop up, African Americans continue to abandon our own communities in droves for “better” communities which we tend to deem any community other than our own. When we examine most African American neighborhoods and communities it is Asians and Arabs finding their economic footing by owning the majority of small businesses within our borders while Europeans still control virtually all of the financial outlets via banks or payday loan businesses. It would seem that everyone recognizes the value in our community but us. We continue to search for allies everywhere but from within and have put all of our chips on the illusion of inclusion instead of the reality of control and competition for resources. We are the group with the least but willing to share the most. In the end this lack of awareness about the rise of Asian America will leave African America with the same reality (actually worse) we faced in the early twentieth century when we contemplated putting our loyalty behind Russia  to liberate ourselves from the oppression of America. As it turned out as famously quoted by Dr. John H. Clarke, “We were not in a battle between a liberator and oppressor but between two oppressors with different methods of oppression. In the end Russia no more wanted us to be free any more than U.S. but they wanted us under their control.” The lion must awake because the fire of the dragon appears to be just warming up.

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50 Years Later: The Failure At Ole Miss

Posted on October 5, 2012 by | Leave a comment

“Help your pieces so they can help you.” – Paul Morphy

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This past Monday was the 50th anniversary of James Meredith’s forced entry into Ole Miss. A university that in the past symbolically was the pride of the south’s European American institutional power and today still remains something of an enigma of that symbolism. The entry of James Meredith into Ole Miss would would be a complex matter that would have then Governor Ross Barnett giving fiery speeches in public and in private trying to work out a deal with President John F. Kennedy to save face.  Ultimately, the entrance of Mr. Meredith would end in bloody riots as mobs descended on the campus from all across the south and require 20,000 U.S. troops to restore order.

Many of the Civil Rights Movement generation look back at this as a shining moment of overcoming the “evils” of segregation. Unfortunately, it is one of many moments where the purpose of what should have been fought for was put at the back burner for facade changes not institutional ones. One could argue had we spent more time fighting for reallocation of resources so that schools like Alcorn State, Jackson State, and Mississippi Valley State actually had equal resources to their counterparts at Ole Miss the impact on today’s African America in Mississippi would have been profoundly greater. Instead, we used all of that energy to ensure the admittance of one man into a hostile environment for which we controlled none of the social, economic, or political capital of the institution and still do not to this day. If one could find one category where the African American community’s institutional power position has improved since James Meredith’s entrance I would wholeheartedly love to see it.

A look at the cold hard numbers show us not a story of progress but regression for African Americans in Mississippi. The median household income of African-Americans in the state in 2006 was $21,969 or just 51 percent that of European-American households ($43,139), this according to the Center for Policy Research and Planning in Mississippi. The median income for African Americans nationally is $34,218 and for European Americans nationally it is $55,530. This means that European-American Mississippians are making 77 percent  of their group’s national median while African-American Mississippians are making approximately 65 percent. The CPRP reports “And trends are not promising, based on the most recent data available: the gap between the earnings of whites and blacks in the state widened over the 1999-2006 period. Nationally, the gap remained the same.” Keep in mind the median income level for the poverty level is $23,050. Examining the combined endowments for Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Mississippi according to NACUBO equal approximately $876 million meanwhile the combined endowments from US News and NACUBO for Alcorn State, Jackson State, and Mississippi Valley State stand at approximately $23 million or 38 times less. This is just the economic numbers.

The state of Mississippi has one board that oversees all eight of its four year public universities of which there are three African American universities or HBCUs. The board has one HBCU graduate out of thirteen. In the state senate of fifty three members there are only seven HBCU graduates. On the surface that sounds like an amazing representation until you realize that almost 40 percent of Mississippi’s population is African American while the seven out of fifty three represents a 13 percent representation in the political sphere. I could touch on the social state of African Americans in Mississippi but this might turn into a book at that rate, but as we see with the economic and political power or lack thereof it is not hard to assume the social state.

There was a fight to be fought during the Civil Rights Movement absolutely. It is pretty clear however we failed at what the goal of that fight should have been. We went for the as Malcolm so eloquently put “sitting on the toilet next to white folks” goal instead of the institutional fight. To this day I am not sure why we thought the abandonment of our institutions was a sensible endgame. Mr. Meredith did not get to bring any professors that looked like him to Ole Miss and one would be foolish to assume the Ole Miss ruling party is any more inclined to share its spoils with the African American community today than it was when Mr. Meredith first showed up at their doors. One can analyze by the trend in the numbers that things are worse in Mississippi for African Americans than the overall state of African America. So it is not hard to presume that if the overall wealth of African America is $0.02 for every $1.00 European America has overall then that number is even lower in Mississippi. That in itself is a frightful prospect that might give me nightmares tonight.

I respect the elder Meredith as a fighter and all who partook in the Civil Rights Movement. Unfortunately, I find that most of what they fought for has made us more reliant on other communities and less independent than our forebears of Rosewood and Black Wall Street in Tulsa. While all other groups have embraced building higher education institutions that they socially, economically, and politically control for the benefit of their communities – Brandeis for the European Jews, Notre Dame for the European Catholics, BYU for the European Mormons, 36 Native American colleges, and the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities – we as African American continue an endless debate of are HBCUs even necessary and should we be making ourselves “less” HBCU. HBCUs only comprise 2.5 percent of all colleges and universities in this country. There has never been a study of just how many colleges of the over 4 000 that exist remain 95 percent and above European American. Yet, the very few we control we are willing to give up for the sake of some illusion of inclusion. You can not give up all your chess pieces to your opponent and expect to win the game. Assuming of course you know you are playing.

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No Matter The Party – Washington Continues To Fail HBCUs

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | 2 comments

By William A. Foster, IV

Many people are liberal in principle reluctant in practice. – John M. Burgess

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I often wonder if our clamor and desire to make America live up to the idea of what we believe America says it is makes us illogical to the reality of which we live. Dr. Clarke once said “all people relate back to the geography of their origins no matter where they are in the world” which would relate to a group’s conduct in how, why, and who they acquire and share resources with. We can see America’s European ancestry take foundation in almost every geostrategic decision it makes with non-European states and players. There is very little reason to believe though any other group put in the same position would conduct itself any differently. Which is why the continued promise by certain people to just be “patient” is like feeding hot water and calling it soup to a sick patient who needs a brain transplant because they once had the flu. It leaves me to wonder who is more problematic at this point – the doctor who continues to misprescribe on purpose or the patient who knows the doctor is misprescribing and continues to give credence to the doctor.

I got into a debate of sorts on Facebook when I questioned the money the Department of Education was giving HBCUs because it was not clear in their press release if it was in addition to the $850 million (over 10 years) from 2010 or replacing it. Mind you this $850 million was promised just a year after the same funding was to be cut from the budget by the White House. Something my constituents seem to choose to forget. Given our history of being bamboozled I did not think this was that absurd of a question. The young lady told me to be patient because change takes time. Ask anyone what is “change” and I dare say they would be befuddled to tell you. Alas, I expressed frustration that people can not divide and apparently can not question anything Democrats and their savior complex or dependency ideology does for us because it can now hide behind a black face. Dr. Amos Wilson was once famously quoted in commentary about slaves who had risen to head the armies of the very people that had enslaved them, “Just because you rise to head an army, does not mean you’re part of the power system.” Unless we have control of the social, economic, and political capital of this country we are but slave generals serving European interest today and it appears Asian interest tomorrow. The $228 million divided by 5 years divided by 97 schools by the way is a mere $470,000 per school annually. $10.2 million of the money is designated to six “HBCUs” that the Department of Education knows have less than 30 percent African American populations meanwhile Morris Brown received none and still needs $13 million to avoid closing its doors. Why we get excited over miniscule change that is paid out in installments is oft times beyond me. It feels like I am being told “I make $100,000 a year and I know you make $10 and I know I owe you $1000 but let me pay you back over the next 10 years and would you mind being oh so grateful that I am “giving” you this money at all.”

The top 10 HWCU endowments have over $120 billion while the top 10 HBCUs have $1.3 billion according to NACUBO or 92 times less than their HWCU counterparts. Add to that fact HBCU Money’s own research shows that an estimated 20 percent of HBCUs have no endowment and the median endowment for HWCUs in 2008 was $91 million while HBCU median endowment was $6 million. If there is so much belief in correcting the ills of the past am I to believe they could not do a wire transfer of 5% ($6 billion) of that total spread out amongst the top 10 HWCU endowments and completely change the paradigm of all HBCUs and African America institutionally as a whole. The question is almost rhetorical because as a former banker I know it can be done even with complex portfolios. I went even further in an article on HBCU reparations where I called for the top 100 HWCU endowments which are equivalent to $250 billion to transfer 15 percent of their endowments, the percentage of the current African American population in America, which would work out to $37.5 billion. Yes, I recognize there would be some need for approval from the board of trustees and potential legal issues with such a transfer but can we please stop kidding ourselves like it is impossible. Yet, I am told be patient.

Last year alone the National Science Foundation handed out $1 billion in grants to the top ten awarded universities. None of which were HBCUs. I did not say it handed it out over five or ten years. No, it was in one year. Did I also happen to mention that all 100 plus HBCUs combined endowment value is between $1.5 and $2 billion? Our oldest HBCU was started in 1837 which means as an entity HBCUs are 175 years old. That means it has taken 175 years, much of it in a hostile environment where our assets in our communities have always been in danger of being taken and many times are, to accumulate when in the stroke of a pen that number could be doubled by the National Science Foundation. Again, I am told to be patient.

We get so focused on the re-election of the president as if the position is a monarchy that we forget to look at the rest of the political landscape and how possible or realistic it is for the person in office to actually deliver on said promises or our said “dream” of him delivering all our hopes and dreams in a mere 8 years. The last time I looked in Washington the congress was comprised of 535 men and women of which only 8 percent (43) are African American and a whopping 0 percent in the senate. I would even question how much of the 43 African Americans that are in congress had the majority of their funding from African America, which is where the real influence of politicians lie. Our political capital institutionally is so weak it appears we have no choice but to be patient to breadcrumbs. The playing field could be leveled with acknowledgement and the stroke of a pen from Washington or HWCUs themselves but alas I will not hold my breathe for either. As for HBCUs and African America, I guess when a people have been in the desert for over 60 years starved of water, anytime someone spits their way they confuse it with a flood. Even if the person who is spitting at them is the reason they were in the desert in the first place.

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Augusta National Golf Club: A Pacifier Not Empowerment For Women

Posted on August 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

By William A. Foster, IV

“Power only steps back in the face of more power.” – Malcolm X

APTOPIX Masters Golf

I always start with this example when discussing group power. Oprah Winfrey, who is roughly worth $2 billion, moves into a neighborhood of nine European Americans. Now for the sake of this example they could be Arab, Asian, Latino, or if you want to base it around gender with nine men and it would not change the dynamic and point. The neighborhood she moves into each household is worth $500 million and share the same fundamental and cultural values (social capital). Who has control of the neighborhood? Inevitably, because most people do not understand group dynamics and strategy they tend to assume Ms. Winfrey does. Let us examine why she does not from a SEP (social, economic, and political interest) point of view. Socially, she is the outsider who does not share the cultural or gender values of the group. This is not to say they have nothing in common but there are some fundamental differences that they differ on based on their social and cultural norms. Economically, from the outlook it seems as once again she is the winner. Wrong again, as the social values bind them it also binds their economics as a defense weapon against outsiders. In this case the nine households versus Ms. Winfrey equates to $4.5 billion against her $2 billion. Politically, it is pretty obvious to see she is at a loss. Any voting done on new neighborhood policies she would be outvoted 9-1 almost every time (see Supreme Court and party lines). This is not to imply these nine will always act in step. It is to say that the probability they do is highly increased in their favor and not in hers. Ultimately, that is what it is about. Ensuring the probability or odds are stacked in your favor for success whatever you deem that to be.

My views on Afrocentrism do not differ from my views on feminism. That is to say my view on any group that is seeking power will never gain the power it seeks if it is always seeking to force its way into institutions only to still be socially, economically, and politically outgunned as you saw in the example. Martha Burk would have you believe there was a victory in the admitting of two women at Augusta National Golf Club. I am going to examine the social, economic, and political realms as why I do not believe it is a victory and you can decide.

I have never believed in going anywhere I wasn’t wanted especially when I have the capacity to define where I want to go myself. The social implications of this situation didn’t empower women. It just re-validated that in order be of value you have to be where the men are. Are you still not giving the power to men? Yes, actually you are. If you wanted to impress upon the networking power that Augusta National Golf Club holds then these two women who were admitted would have said thank you but no thank you we can build our own. These women are going to socially be viewed as tokens that were admitted under public pressure and still will be social outsiders in the club. Just because you let someone in through the initial barrier does not mean you will not have different ways of excluding them. The beauty of protecting ones SEP interest is that as groups infringe on certain barriers you have created your strategy for creating new barriers evolves. I dare say the conversations that use to be had at the bar potentially now will only be had in the locker room. Are we to assume they will let the women in there as well? A more powerful statement would have been for young women to see those two women along with others in business form their own country club for women where they would be able to set the values of the club that promote the greatness of women in business and allow them to open networks with each other and discuss challenges as well as opportunities in industry amongst each other. To go even further would be a country club designed by a leading female architect, financed by a leading female banker, and anything else that would go into establishing of a place for women, built by women, and for women. What looks more powerful, two female members out of three hundred or three hundred out of three hundred and a foundation laid in every facet by women?

The economics of this admittance again we can examine the obvious. Dr. Condoleeza Rice is worth millions and Mrs. Darla Moore-Rainwater is worth based on her philanthropic donations in the hundreds of millions. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who are members of Augusta are worth approximately a combined $100 billion. That’s just two of the two-hundred and ninety-eight men. Imagine now for a moment a golf club with the likes of Dr. Rice, Mrs. Moore-Rainwater, Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), Marissa Myers (CEO of Yahoo), Sheila Johnson (Co-Founder of BET), Linda Johnson-Rice (Owner of Johnson Publishing Company), and the list could go on and on. Now that is a room of economic might for women who dare I say would be able to make business deals among themselves and increasing the probability and opportunities for wealth into the arms of women. No separate locker room needed.

Politically this would boil down to the policies and outreach of the club. At current there is no LPGA Master’s Tournament. How hard do you think that would be able to get sponsored by a golf club that is socially and economically controlled by women? It would be like waking up in the morning and turning on the light switch. If you want it to be sponsored by the Augusta National Golf Club you would have to get 50% of the male membership to side with the two female members. Assuming they don’t feel socially pressured to not look like they are just voting for it because they are women. Now, where have I heard that accusation before? Again, if they control the club socially, economically, and politically nobody would question their motives because the motives are part of the very fabric of the club’s purpose.

As I stated in the beginning the unfortunate assumption that always kicking your way into an institution you would not have control over is somehow progress is missing the point of what capitalism is built on. Capitalism is built on ownership. As someone who has a teenage daughter I believe it is more powerful for her to see three hundred business women interacting with each other and making decisions in her interest than for her to see two women out of three hundred members where her interest for better or worse are marginalized. She no longer would feel like the odds are stacked against her. Success as a woman would be seen as the rule as opposed to the exception to it. She would know there is a place for her that doesn’t see her as a token they see her as just another businesswoman who is in the locker room headed out to the greens to network and maybe make the deal of the century. Tee-off ladies.

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HBCU Super Conferences And Profitable Move To Soccer Are A Must

Posted on May 16, 2012 by | 2 comments

By William A. Foster, IV

“A state without some means of change is without the means of its conservation.” – Edmund Burke

Something we should be clear on. There is no benefit for European American owned media companies to showcase HBCU sports or events. Nor their companies in general to provide more than token sponsorship which we continuously chase. It is not profitable for them socially or economically. The reality is HBCUs are Division 1-AA and Division II schools. HBCUs or not – only the Division 1-A six power conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, Big East, ACC) will ever be on European American owned channels. We know that even if all the best African American athletes returned to HBCUs they would still not be on television. The reality is it is less about the players on the field and more about the people in the stands. Even in pre-desegregation when HBCUs had the better talent they were not placed on television. You can say this was because of outright racism or you can look at the economics of it then and now. The demographics start with that at almost all of these HWCUs in the six power conferences are predominantly European American. By predominantly I’m speaking of 80% or more. They also have always been able to bring in 50,000 plus at football stadiums and 10,000 plus at basketball consistently. They have larger student population and alumni bases. Something one could argue we could have had by now but a mixture of desegregation and heavy domestic recruitment has limited that growth. The current median net worth of European America is approximately $98,000 versus African America’s approximately $2,200. Given that reality, who would you feature on television? Let me help you even further. In 2007, the buying power of European Americans in California was $1.1 trillion and the buying power for all of African America was approximately $850 billion according to the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business. That’s just the economics of it. Unfortunately, we sold off BET to Viacom, we are only a minority stake in TVOne, and OWN, while 50% co-owned by Oprah Winfrey, clearly is a channel not focused on catering to the African American demographic.

As such we need to focus on taking a different approach. First, what is clear is that we need to move first in creating super conferences. We can do this by a realignment which is badly needed regardless. Right now there are five HBCU conferences – we need to add a sixth and maybe a seventh. Currently, in the five HBCU conferences there are a total of 55 teams. That means roughly only 50% of HBCUs are in an HBCU conference. Schools like Central State University and Wilberforce University both located in Ohio, Langston University in Oklahoma, and Texas College in Texas are left to fend for themselves in non-HBCU conferences. Why they have not been extended an invite in football hotbeds is both the short sightedness of our conferences; as well in part due to the geographic nature of them which is why I’m suggesting the realignment that is more geographically and financially friendly. It would also do us well to include schools that are not traditional HBCUs like Roxbury Community College in Massachusetts, Medgar Evers in New York, Chicago State in Illinois, and a school without an undergraduate but would be worth the investment to build one in Charles Drew University in California. This would give us a coast to coast presence in every city with a dominant African American presence and allow for the establishment of seven HBCU conferences with fifteen schools in each conference.

Given that football and basketball are still the dominant revenue sports, at the moment, we could then have a twelve team playoff in football to determine the HBCU national football champion and a sixteen or thirty-two team HBCU basketball tournament. The events would be focused in major African American populated cities so that we’d be able to attract a large general African American population who might want to be a part of the event even if they are not attached to a certain HBCU. The cities would be (in order of largest African American populations) New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, Memphis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Dallas. All of which have African American populations 300,000 and above. There of course would be allowances for cities like New Orleans and Atlanta who have a geographical strategic advantages along with a strong cultural connection to HBCUs and African America as a whole to host events which would be approved by the conferences. Ultimately, HBCUs will make the majority of their money with major events not television money. An event planning company owned by the seven conferences will coordinate the HBCU football playoffs and basketball tournament. HBCUs with public access channels and television studios will produce, air, and stream online the events. So while the television money isn’t there the accumulation of social capital would be there. The student-athletes would be on television unlike their Division 1-AA and Division II counterparts and HBCUs would find themselves in front of more African American children which would lay the foundation for improving the paltry HBCU attendance number as it relates to percentage of African Americans who go to college choosing HBCUs. Currently, only 10-12 percent of African Americans who are college eligible are choosing HBCUs which has long-term implications on number of alumni and potential donors.

All of this said, as it relates to football and basketball, it will be a move towards a real investment in a strong soccer infrastructure now not later that can create a paradigm shift in HBCU sport financials and establish an immense global presence in the African Diaspora especially in Africa, Latin America, and Europe which constitutes a population of approximately a billion rabid soccer fans. The African Diaspora’s 4 wealthiest, all based in Africa, are worth a combined $28.1 billion. With Africa being the fastest growing continent economically there is an immense opportunity for recruitment of students, research, donors, sponsorship, and an African Diaspora who was in love with the Ghana Black Stars in the last World Cup. There were even a surprisingly large number of African Americans watching the team from Ghana. The move to soccer would do us well as African Americans as well given the realities of football both endangering African American men’s health and the enormous infrastructure cost that college football requires. Football is an American sport, quite possibly one who is witnessing its apex in American society, and demographics of globalization as well as youth sports, which show soccer has more children participants than football and basketball combined, indicate a shift has already occurred towards soccer. Pro soccer franchises are second only to NFL franchises in terms of average value and that is without a strong presence in America, yet. Forming dominant college soccer franchises lends us the opportunity to not only tap the African American consumer but the African Diaspora consumer.

It is clear the times of us being passive and taking a wait and see what our counterparts are doing has left us in dire straits far too often. We would do well to be out ahead of the curve for once instead of chasing it.

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