The Hard Truth — Black businesses: A word in your ear

29th August 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Min. J. Kojo Livingston
The Louisiana Weekly Columnist

August has been declared Black Business Month and I am absolutely down with it.

Some may be aware of this writer’s absolute and unapologetic commitment to Black businesses. It’s not just a public thing. I’ve not only worked to save several Black businesses, but my family often has to endure long trips past other businesses to get to a Black shop that had something we needed or wanted.

Yes, it often costs more, but there’s a reason. The average Black business may be able to purchase one dozen hats, when the “big boys” can purchase half a million hat at a time. Of course the larger the purchase, the lower the unit price. But remember, the large stores didn’t start out big. We can help some of our businesses become the big boys.

And it’s worth it because I’m investing that ‘more’ in my community. As I’ve said before, money in a community is like blood in your body; as long as it circulates it brings life, strength, and nutrients to all parts. However when it leaves the body it brings sickness and death. Our money is not circulating in our communities; instead it is flowing into the hands of others and making them rich.

Throughout our time here we have watched other groups practice this principle and prosper, yet we refuse to emulate this practice. No, we want to mimic the stupid stuff instead. Other groups teach their young the value of owning their own businesses. We teach ours to spend $100,000 to go college just to “marry a job” for life. No wonder our communities suffer. We should be creating businesses, and therefore jobs, for our own children.

Nearly every other ethnic group has taken turns exploiting the Black community. Some of us are old enough to have seen the stores in our communities go from Jewish-owned, to Asian-owned to Arab-owned. They all come to the U.S. and go straight to the ghetto to get rich off of the same “poor” Black communities that folks are supposed to feel sorry for. What they are doing is not illegal, it’s just that you can’t set up shop in their neighborhoods and expect to the same thing to happen.

There’s never been a lack of dollars coming into in our communities. The problem is what we do with all that money once it reaches our hands. We truly are the sleeping giants. We don’t know our own economic, political, cultural or spiritual power. Oh, but whenever we wake up! What a day it will be!

To Black consumers I urge you to do at least three things, year round:

First, support Black businesses. I challenge you to go out of your way, to do the homework and find them. The same skills some may use to locate the drug house or the bootleg CD vendor, those same skills can be used to identify the location of a Black business.

Second, when you get great goods or services from a Black business tell everybody. But when you are not satisfied TELL THE OWNER. Give him or her the opportunity to fix what is wrong…just like you do with white businesses. Fuss if you must, force them into greatness if necessary, just don’t abandon them.

Third, when you are patronizing a Black business, pay for what you get. Don’t go in expecting or demanding a discount because you decided to drop in. Resist the temptation to beg for “the hook­up” or trying to haggle the price down. If any­­thing, give some extra if you are able. This is particularly important when getting services like plumbing or contracting. Come on folks, is this really supporting each other?

Of course there is an “other” side of this equation, Black businesses; you must earn the support of our people. Give our people something worth coming back to. There are many existing Black businesses that we can be proud of, however many of the complaints we hear about a lot of our shops and services are absolutely true. It’s time to face and change that fact.

Next week we will conclude this article with a checklist of things every Black business should consider to “up ya game” and put your best foot forward.

Until then, Whatchagonna DO…about supporting Black businesses?

This article originally published in the August 29, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.