Fox Business host Charles Payne said the U.S. government needs to “stop promoting the notion that America is too cruel a nation for anyone to succeed.”
“Black Wall Street itself had hotels, cafes, newspapers, movie theaters, beauty salons, grocery stores, there were doctor’s offices,” the Fox Business host shared on Tuesday, noting President Joe Biden’s trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the Greenwood District. The district was once known as the Black Wall Street and was wiped out by the Tulsa Race Massacre 100 years ago.
“It was a thriving, living example of the American dream,” he added. “And guess what, it came with very little government intervention.”
WATCH:
“Now, there were no social transfer payments,” Payne continued. “Just hard work, ingenuity, just that infectious nature of entrepreneurship.” (RELATED: Charles Payne Digs Into Al Sharpton For Making ‘Millions Of Dollars’ While ‘Stoking The Flames Of Anger’)
Payne then got personal and talked about how when he was 14 he told everyone he was going to work on Wall Street and only his mom believed this “young black kid” from Harlem would be accepted there. (RELATED:Charles Payne Unloads On Harvard After University Refuses To Return Coronavirus Relief Cash)
“And to be honest with you with so many people doubting me, I could have given up early without even trying,” Payne explained. “And then I read about this place called Black Wall Street and I thought ‘Well if those folks could overcome those circumstances then I could overcome mine.'”
“We need encouragement, optimism, and belief in opportunity in ourselves,” he added. “The government can not recreate Greenwood but it can make it easier for all Americans to rise to the occasion.”
“And please stop promoting the notion that America is too cruel of a nation for anyone to succeed here,” the Fox host concluded.