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Black Lives Matter Launches Website To Promote
Black-Owned Businesses
Black Lives Matter is making
it easier than ever to find
and support black-owned
businesses.
In partnership with ad
agency J. Walter Thompson
New York, the organization
launched a beta version
of BackingBlackBusiness.co
m, a website that allows
people to discover blackowned
businesses
throughout the country, on
Monday. Shoppers can
search for businesses
through categories like food
and beverage, health and
beauty, entertainment and
lifestyle.
Black Lives Matter
wants BackingBlackBusiness.
com to become “the biggest
and most easily accessible
black businesses database
in the country,” according to
a statement.
“Black-owned business have
long been a staple in the
Black community providing
jobs, economic security and
a somewhere for us to go
and feel seen and safe,” said
Black Lives Matter cofounder
Patrisse Cullors. “In
these uncertain times, we
need these places more than
ever.”
With this interactive tool,
Brent Choi, Chief Creative
Officer of J. Walter
Thompson New York said
that they hope to “reduce
the racial disparity that
exists in economic well-being
through the promotion of
black business ownership.”
The Google map-based site
currently has information
for more than 300
businesses and aims to have
a diverse array of blackowned
businesses
represented on the site by
the end of 2017, including
non-profits and online
stores.
It’s a trend that many are hoping won’t
just turn into a passing fad.
Late last month, Essence magazine
noted that after years of slow-burning
idealism, #BuyBlack has seen a community-wide
takeoff.
And, as the holiday season moves into
full swing, the #BuyBlack campaign has
led many to imagine what would happen
if African Americans — the largest
consumer group of color in the United
States with an estimated $1.2 trillion in
spending power —
routinely demonstrated allegiance to
the 2.6 million Black-owned businesses
that exist in America.
“I think the #BuyBlack initiative is a
good move for the Black community
and not just because of dollars and
cents,” said Walt L. Jones III, principal
of the SEQ Advisory Group, a Bethesda,
Maryland-based management consulting
and advisory firm dedicated to
helping businesses achieve the highest
level of performance and efficiency.
“There’s the deeper perspective of reinvesting
in our own community and
building up the local businesses, some
that are owned by our friends, neighbors,
and relatives.”
Jones continued: “Similar to the
#ECStrong initiative, a community can
only heal, recover, and persevere if its
residents are willing to make an investment
in its infrastructure.”
Read more: From Banks to Beauty
Products The #BuyBlack Movement Is
Real