I’m starting a new topic called “The Movement” to highlight current efforts to push change in our community. Sometimes we miss moments when we can join a movement so hopefully this will help keep us on top of key cultural affairs.
Message: Hit’em in the pockets
“Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.A.M. Get the money. Dollar, dollar bill y’all!” -“C.R.E.A.M.” Wu-Tang Clan
For Black Friday, we were pushed to not spend “black” dollars. And if we wanted to spend those dollars to do so at black establishments. I’m proud to say that I spent my dollars at the neighborhood “Fish and Wings” restaurant owned by a wonderful black business man.
This idea of hitting “them” where it hurts the most is not new. Generations before us decided to boycott buses, boycott restaurants and hotels and support blacked-owned businesses. People around the nation joined together to boycott Black Friday as another step down the path to find #JusticeforMikeBrown. Both the Galleria and Chesterfield Malls were shutdown in my hometown. Check out the report on CNN.com and Fox2 Now. #NotOneDime
Sales, both in stores and online, from Thanksgiving through the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11 percent, to $50.9 billion, from $57.4 billion last year – National Retail Federation.
Then the numbers came in and sales are down 11% compared to last year. Could this be from protests? Hopefully it is. But I know one thing, shutting down both of those large malls in St. Louis hurt the pockets many large chain stores. So let’s continue to bring dollars to our communities and take it upon ourselves to be more cognizant of how each dollar we spend affects the bigger picture.
Video – “POWER of the black dollar”
Lastly, I want to send a challenge to all black business owners: Please take more pride and respect into how you do business. I know I have had to stop giving money or even stray away from doing business with other fellow black business women based on their unprofessional demeanor and poor business ethics. Please remember that everything you do is a reflection of your business as much as it is of yourself. Come correct or don’t come at all. #realtalk
The Chronicles of DNC 
One response to “[The Movement] #Blackdollarsmatter”
[…] came the sun. I not only participated in the #blacklivesmatter #Notonedime movement (read more on Urban EthYcs) to boycott Black Friday but I was, and still am, so humbled by the united protests across the […]