Why shop at black-owned businesses?

The Washington Post provides charts showing that the black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968. ("14 charts show how deep the economic gap is and how little it has changed in decades. The covid-19 recession is also hitting black families and business owners far harder than whites.")

Dr. Dionne Mahaffey also lays out some statistics:

Brooke Stephens’, author of “Talking Dollars and Making Sense,” research has found that a dollar circulates in Asian communities for 30 days, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days, and in white communities 17 days. In contrast, a dollar circulates in the Black community only six hours.

According to Maggie Anderson, just 2 cents of every dollar an African-American spends in this country goes to Black-owned businesses.  In her book, Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy,  Anderson recounts her experiences patronizing black-owned businesses while highlighting the challenges many black businesses face (black businesses lag behind all other businesses in every measure of success). 

Research has found that if higher-income Black consumers spent at least $1 out of every $10 with Black-owned businesses, it would generate one million jobs for African Americans.

 

Supporting Black Owned Businesses | Memphis Grizzlies