Entrepreneurs in the Buy Black movement are creating marketplaces that pool Black-owned brands in one space, marking a return to a form of economic protest from another time in the U.S.’s not-so-distant history.
Black capitalism is not new and has been around since the days of Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, who both believed economic success was the quickest and most effective way to emancipate America’s Black population.
The movement has been at the back of every prominent African-American leader who has implored their brothers and sisters to spend money within the community and boycott white businesses.
The day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. had a “buy black” message in his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
“We’ve got to strengthen Black institutions,” Dr King said. “You have six or seven Black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out your insurance there.”
Several new-age activists are now resurfacing the notion to push the movement forward as a form of economic protest.
French news outlet France 24 recently covered WeBuyBlack.com founder Sharif Abdul-Malik and the Buy Black movement spreading across the U.S.
WeBuyBlack.com helps advance the concept by meeting the need for an online marketplace for Black-owned businesses to showcase and sell their products to a global community.
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Entrepreneurs use the WeBuyBlack website to sell their products. Thousands of shoppers support entrepreneurs to effect social change and buy their products.
“Other communities have a history of supporting each other and using their own small businesses to stimulate their own economic growth,” Abdul-Malik said.
“In the Black community, a dollar only circulates for six hours. Compare that to some Asian communities, where the same dollar can circulate for up to a month. When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder why we’re not getting ahead like we should.”
