National Buy Black Day

'National Buy Black Day' Promotes Self Reliance

By Renee D. Turner, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted Feb. 14, 2006 – While access to the board rooms of America was the challenge of the Civil Rights Movement, creating our own board rooms is "the new revolution."

So says Wayne Winston, who wants everyone to give back by buying Black on Saturday, Feb. 18.

"It's time that our community realized that every dollar we spend with ourselves helps to empower ourselves," says Winston, 42, a Bridgeport, Conn., computer business owner who created National Buy Black Day as his contribution to Black History Month.

"We have a lot of apathy," he says. "That doesn't bode well for us as a community. If we don't go out and support those businesses how will they survive? Hopefully, with this day, people will find Black businesses and do business with them. This is a first step. I think this is something we're hungry for."

Shop In The Neighborhood

Winston hopes that for one day out of the year, African Americans will do all of their shopping with Black-owned businesses. He says this single act will not only help keep dollars circulating in Black communities, but will go a long way toward creating jobs that will solve our employment troubles and help rebuild some of our most impoverished communities.

Perhaps that single day could spark an economic movement within the Black community, Winston says.

Apathy wasn't a problem a half-century ago when, because of Jim Crow, Black businesses serving Black communities had a captive audience, says Fred McKinney, Ph.D., an economist and executive with the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council, which pairs minority businesses with corporations willing to buy their goods and services.

After the Civil Rights Movement, anyone could buy nearly anywhere, and entrepreneurship was no longer fostered among young Blacks, he says. Instead we were pushed to get an education and become a part of the larger society.

But with companies like GM shifting their business models to a leaner executive workforce, there will be fewer good-paying jobs in the future. That's why McKinney is convinced that Black businesses hold the key to Black economic and social survival, and that efforts such as National Buy Black Day are important.

"What GM is saying is that they're not going out of business; they're just not going to be making cars here," he says. Blacks who are being laid off in the auto industry, which traditionally provided African Americans a portal to the middle class, must now find other jobs, he says, noting that few other opportunities will afford Black autoworkers the lifestyles to which they've become accustomed.

Shine Spotlight On Black Businesses

"We were socialized to believe a job was a goal. The heck with a job; start a business," he says. "By empowering people and building wealth through efforts like Buy Black Day, we can make our communities better places to be."

That may be why the National Buy Black Day concept hatched from a chat room conversation between a few people into a national movement, with organizers in at least six states, Winston says.

Gloria Massey, 53, sees National Buy Black day as a means to unite people in Los Angles toward a common goal. The longtime accountant, who runs an L.A.-based collections company, says she was inspired during a recent trip to Kenya to promote the effort in her city.

"I saw how they made things and bought things from each other," Massy says. "A lot of young people don't see Black people as a force, as a unit. We're so spread out here physically, but we're one people. This is a way to unify."

Is Concept Racist?

But buying Black is not a new concept, notes conservative economist Walter Williams. It might even be considered racist, he says.

"I don't think it will do anything for good will," he says. "If someone said 'Buy White Day' or only go to basketball games where Whites are playing, wouldn't that be racist? It [Buy Black Day] doesn't get us anywhere. If you want to do something that would help get us get somewhere, say, 'Read a book today.'"

While encouraging people to read is a positive move, encouraging people to spend money within their communities promotes job creation and wealth, Winston says. Spending even a 10th of the estimated $679 billions African-American buying power with Black businesses would make a difference, he says.

But Winston is under no delusion that one day will dissolve years of apathy born out of the notion that the apples are cheaper – and sweeter – at White-owned businesses.

Sweeter On The Other Side

"We automatically assume we're going to get poor service, or that the service won't be the same as other establishments," he says. "This whole day is about trying to relieve the apathy."

One of the actions National Buy Black day planners hope happens is that Black consumers and businesses enter into a "promise" of mutual respect. The promise includes a commitment by Black business participants to treat customers with respect, provide a positive shopping experience, charge fair prices and make customer service a priority.

In return, consumers agree to be fair-minded. Understand that occasionally you'll find that they charge higher prices because they can't buy in the same volumes as a Wal-Mart and provide owners with constructive criticism when appropriate.

Organizers hope that the Buy Black Day movement will have a lasting economic impact.

"Our biggest problem is we need to level the economic playing field," says Sam Golden, a retired Toledo, Ohio, city engineer and wholesale business owner. "There are things we can do to help one another and turn this thing around economically. We didn't create the system, but we can use it to do what needs to be done."

McKinney says that the government response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that Black communities need to look within for solutions.

"We have plenty of problems to solve. We have to come up with some solutions," he says. "They will not come out of some mastermind but out of entrepreneurial brilliance. The entrepreneurs that solve problems are the ones that will be successful. I have confidence they will come up with solutions."

Do you think that buying Black will make a difference in the Black community? Talk about it."

Call into NBBTA Radio and post your feedback:

214-231-2911 ext. 6541

http://www.nbbta.org/radio'National Buy Black Day' Promotes Self Reliance

By Renee D. Turner, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted Feb. 14, 2006 – While access to the board rooms of America was the challenge of the Civil Rights Movement, creating our own board rooms is "the new revolution."

So says Wayne Winston, who wants everyone to give back by buying Black on Saturday, Feb. 18.

"It's time that our community realized that every dollar we spend with ourselves helps to empower ourselves," says Winston, 42, a Bridgeport, Conn., computer business owner who created National Buy Black Day as his contribution to Black History Month.

"We have a lot of apathy," he says. "That doesn't bode well for us as a community. If we don't go out and support those businesses how will they survive? Hopefully, with this day, people will find Black businesses and do business with them. This is a first step. I think this is something we're hungry for."

Shop In The Neighborhood

Winston hopes that for one day out of the year, African Americans will do all of their shopping with Black-owned businesses. He says this single act will not only help keep dollars circulating in Black communities, but will go a long way toward creating jobs that will solve our employment troubles and help rebuild some of our most impoverished communities.

Perhaps that single day could spark an economic movement within the Black community, Winston says.

Apathy wasn't a problem a half-century ago when, because of Jim Crow, Black businesses serving Black communities had a captive audience, says Fred McKinney, Ph.D., an economist and executive with the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council, which pairs minority businesses with corporations willing to buy their goods and services.

After the Civil Rights Movement, anyone could buy nearly anywhere, and entrepreneurship was no longer fostered among young Blacks, he says. Instead we were pushed to get an education and become a part of the larger society.

But with companies like GM shifting their business models to a leaner executive workforce, there will be fewer good-paying jobs in the future. That's why McKinney is convinced that Black businesses hold the key to Black economic and social survival, and that efforts such as National Buy Black Day are important.

"What GM is saying is that they're not going out of business; they're just not going to be making cars here," he says. Blacks who are being laid off in the auto industry, which traditionally provided African Americans a portal to the middle class, must now find other jobs, he says, noting that few other opportunities will afford Black autoworkers the lifestyles to which they've become accustomed.

Shine Spotlight On Black Businesses

"We were socialized to believe a job was a goal. The heck with a job; start a business," he says. "By empowering people and building wealth through efforts like Buy Black Day, we can make our communities better places to be."

That may be why the National Buy Black Day concept hatched from a chat room conversation between a few people into a national movement, with organizers in at least six states, Winston says.

Gloria Massey, 53, sees National Buy Black day as a means to unite people in Los Angles toward a common goal. The longtime accountant, who runs an L.A.-based collections company, says she was inspired during a recent trip to Kenya to promote the effort in her city.

"I saw how they made things and bought things from each other," Massy says. "A lot of young people don't see Black people as a force, as a unit. We're so spread out here physically, but we're one people. This is a way to unify."

Is Concept Racist?

But buying Black is not a new concept, notes conservative economist Walter Williams. It might even be considered racist, he says.

"I don't think it will do anything for good will," he says. "If someone said 'Buy White Day' or only go to basketball games where Whites are playing, wouldn't that be racist? It [Buy Black Day] doesn't get us anywhere. If you want to do something that would help get us get somewhere, say, 'Read a book today.'"

While encouraging people to read is a positive move, encouraging people to spend money within their communities promotes job creation and wealth, Winston says. Spending even a 10th of the estimated $679 billions African-American buying power with Black businesses would make a difference, he says.

But Winston is under no delusion that one day will dissolve years of apathy born out of the notion that the apples are cheaper – and sweeter – at White-owned businesses.

Sweeter On The Other Side

"We automatically assume we're going to get poor service, or that the service won't be the same as other establishments," he says. "This whole day is about trying to relieve the apathy."

One of the actions National Buy Black day planners hope happens is that Black consumers and businesses enter into a "promise" of mutual respect. The promise includes a commitment by Black business participants to treat customers with respect, provide a positive shopping experience, charge fair prices and make customer service a priority.

In return, consumers agree to be fair-minded. Understand that occasionally you'll find that they charge higher prices because they can't buy in the same volumes as a Wal-Mart and provide owners with constructive criticism when appropriate.

Organizers hope that the Buy Black Day movement will have a lasting economic impact.

"Our biggest problem is we need to level the economic playing field," says Sam Golden, a retired Toledo, Ohio, city engineer and wholesale business owner. "There are things we can do to help one another and turn this thing around economically. We didn't create the system, but we can use it to do what needs to be done."

McKinney says that the government response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that Black communities need to look within for solutions.

"We have plenty of problems to solve. We have to come up with some solutions," he says. "They will not come out of some mastermind but out of entrepreneurial brilliance. The entrepreneurs that solve problems are the ones that will be successful. I have confidence they will come up with solutions."

Do you think that buying Black will make a difference in the Black community? Talk about it."

Call into NBBTA Radio and post your feedback:

214-231-2911 ext. 6541

http://www.nbbta.org/radio