WHY BUY BLACK?

This month marks the 20th Anniversary of Black Business Month, a time dedicated to acknowledging and appreciating Black-owned businesses. The goal is to highlight and empower Black business owners across the country, as well as acknowledge the unique challenges that Black business owners face. 

Beyond enslavement, the origins of today’s racial wealth gap can be traced to Jim Crow-era practices like redlining, job discrimination, and exclusionary legislation, which segregated Black Americans from higher paying jobs and home ownership. Supporting Black-owned businesses can help close the racial wealth gap, which is currently about 12 times larger for white families than Black families.

Many Black American business owners self-fund their businesses because of the lack of loan opportunities and to avoid racist, predatory lending practices. This makes it difficult for Black entrepreneurs to grow and expand their companies. In Atlanta, for example, long heralded as the “Black mecca,” yet the wealth of White households is 46 times greater than Black households, according to a recent report from the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. In addition, 97% of Black-owned businesses have no employees and are more concentrated in lower-revenue industries.  

Despite these hardships, Black-owned businesses are geographically concentrated in their communities and are more likely to provide job and self-employment opportunities in low-income neighborhoods. By supporting Black-owned businesses, we can create more opportunities for Black people to save money, buy property, build credit, and create generational wealth.

When small businesses flourish, so do their communities. The best way to celebrate Black Business Month is to seek out and support local Black-owned businesses. You can also shine a spotlight on them via social media. If you come across any content related to Black businesses, like, share, or repost so it reaches a larger audience. You can also search and follow hashtags like #blackbusiness or #blackbusinessmonth to lend your support online.