Black Dollars Matter - Why Buy Black

The key to Black people's success in America is ownership of their communities, families, and businesses. Black Dollars Matter! When blacks support black businesses, then black dollars circulate, making the black society wealthier and self-sustaining. According to an article published on moneymaven.io, a dollar in the Asian American community flows for 20 days, 17 days in white neighborhoods, and only just 6 hours in a black community. 

Black Dollars Matter. 

When blacks choose to buy from black-owned businesses, we help create a stronger community. In a 2018 article published by Nielson black people's purchase power totaled $1.2 trillion. With this buying power, there needs to be more representation in our communities. With the growth of e-commerce around the world, we are slowly beginning to recapture our dollars. History has proven that when black people come together to support each other, the results are always amazing.
 

So let's take a look at a few communities that hold a special place in "black entrepreneurship."

Black Wall Street

Black Wall Street has a special place in American history; it served as a platform to help black businesses grow and strive. Located in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Black Wall Street was a thriving community in Greenwood during the 1900s. The city was full of black-owned businesses, schools, theatres, social health clinics. The town had an estimate of more than 10,000 residents, and most of these residents were thriving and very well off.

Black people supported each other, and this allowed access to resources, savings, health, and housing, but as the community grew, so did greed among the nearby neighborhoods. In 1897, oil discovery in Oklahoma built enormous wealth for Black Wall Street.

On the 30th of May, 1921, a rumor fuelled by anger and envy spread throughout Tulsa, Oklahoma. This rumor led to a race riot that ended in the destruction of Black Wall Street and a significant massacre of black people.

A rumor that a black 19-year-old man named Dick Rowland assaulted a 17-year-old white woman named Sarah Page in an elevator in Tulsa. In just 6 hours, police arrested about 60% of black residents living in Black Wall Street. Black men joined forces to protect their homes, but many were driven out by fear of angry mobs, houses were burnt down and stores destroyed.

The massacre at Black Wall Street remained one of the largest in American history. It is essential not to forget the pride and joy this community brought to the black people. We must not let this memory die in vain.

Rosewood Town

The town of Rosewood was known to be a quiet and peaceful community filled with black people located on the seaboard air line railway. The destruction took place in the first week of January in 1923; eyewitnesses reported that about 150 people died during this massacre, leaving Rosewood desolate.

Before the massacre, Rosewood was a community that had both black and white settlers, but by 1900, it had become a predominantly black community, and it kept growing. It was a self-sufficient community, and they had everything they needed. It was indeed a happy place that kept growing!

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance is another significant moment for
African Americans. This moment forced others to recognize the contributions of African Americans and promoted them as equals

This movement was started by a Jamaican immigrant named Marcus Garvey, who
coined the phrase, "Black is beautiful," he began to promote self-worth in black communities. The Harlem Renaissance marked a moment when Americans started recognizing the intellectual contributions of the Black people, which started the revolution of the civil rights movement.
 

Why buy black?

Black people are the largest consuming economy, and there are several advantages when black people decide to support each other
communities strengthened.

As it was with Black Wall Street when Black people choose to buy from black-owned businesses, it would be very beneficial. Since black people spend more than other communities, it would be helpful when the money is spent within the black community by doing this a community is built, and wealth would be generated. Once this community is strengthened, the black community becomes stronger, robust, and united.

Job creation

In May 2014 it was reported that the unemployment rate for the U.S was 7.8% while the unemployment rate for black people was double the national average, which was about 13.7%. Also, reported in 2014, 12.4% of black college graduates between the ages of 22-27 were unemployed, this goes to prove that unemployment is higher among the black people. This unemployment is caused by systematic racism, and when there are black-owned businesses, then there would be more job opportunities. 

There is a need to pull out resources and create more black-owned businesses and also cause expansions for the available ones.

Economy Growth

It is a known fact that black people have a humongous, but we end up making those races wealthier. Historically, the Jews, Latinos, Asians, and Italians operate almost independently by circulating businesses in their communities, and this has made them wealthy and successful. The black community can also do the same.

Supporting each other was the reason residents of Rosewood and Black Wall Street became wealthier, and that was even why the Harlem Renaissance was successful. When we buy and support our own, our economy grows, and our community strengthens.

There is no law that says a black person must buy from black businesses only and there is also no law that states that all black markets must have black customers only, but knowledge has shown that when we support each other, we thrive. Black Wall Street can be built again when we decide to promote black-owned businesses. We are not only building communities; we are also creating wealth distritubtion by supporting black-owned businesses.