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We buy black dot com

The truth of the matter is that the world knows our culture, but they are puzzled as to why they can’t buy from our people directly. We recently received an email from an Asian-American that said ” It’s unbelievable, and the products are so awesome. I never realized how much I didn’t see black people on large websites until I visited the site (webuyblack.com).”

 

Isn’t it strange. We create so much, contribute so much but profit the least.

I will never understand why we would sooner go to our local Mr Patel on the shop corner, than our own brother down the road trying to make a name for himself. Cultural appropriation aside we paint ourselves with the stigma that black owned means, inexperienced, poor quality and bad service. Knowing fully well that this is no more true than saying every time you walk into Asda you receive nothing but excellent service 150% of the time, Lies!

For some reason we’d rather spend our hard earned pennies (a buying power of approximately 1 trillion in the US alone) within any culture other than our own and I have no idea why. I’m not well versed enough in human behaviour to clearly identify whether or not this is a conscious or sub-conscious decision. It stands to reason however that the decades long lack of black owned businesses bring with it an air of uncertainty and doubt. We don’t know what to expect and assume them to be inexperienced and amateur as a result.

Imagine my elation when I happened across webuyblack.com which according to their site is; “the largest online marketplace for Black (African American and those of African descent) businesses and individual sellers.” It was refreshing to see a place solely for the promotion of black owned goods and services. It seems so simple but in creating this space, it is bringing us one step closer to being able to truly compete with the already brands in power.

Now before all those sensitive souls out there start to scream and shout racism and declare this post inappropriate for the praising of an already underprivileged & marginalised group. Please remember that while no existing major corporations need to advertise themselves as white owned etc. That is precisely the point!

By that I mean there was never any need to proclaim these things because their communities never had to be taught to spend their money at their establishments. It was the norm, widely accepted and never anything to be contested. I am unapologetic in my championing of black owned and while practically speaking I won’t be buying my toilet paper there (I like my Andrex after all) I do make an active decision to keep my money in the hands of those who best represent me.

Who knows you may discover a great new find in the process.