Log in Free trial  Black and Independent  Article excerpt
Raised on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, in South
Philadelphia, J.A. (Jay) Parker had every excuse to stew in
self-pity and to poison his life in futile fuming over white
hegemony.  Instead, when he was yet a boy in an America where
racial segregation was a seemingly inoperable cancer in the
land, he stolidly set for himself a goal of financial,
intellectual, and racial independence.  "Today," the 61-year-old
Parker says in an inter view, "I'm an investor in various
businesses and financial markets and still do some consulting on
the side, mainly for businesses, individuals, and governments in
Africa." This is the culmination of decades of hard work from
which he assembled a nest egg that allows him to live as he
wishes.  Not beholden to an employer nor fettered by work hours,
deadlines, and company responsibilities, he's free to invest his
money as he chooses in the stock market and his time in causes
that excite him.  The latter include clam