Take baby steps.
Do this so you won’t give up if your first attempt to “buy black†does not go as planned. Start with some product, place, or person you know. That first good experience will be the impetus to start living differently. You cannot fly into flying.
Use a black company for a service you need on a regular basis.
Once you find a black dry cleaner, mechanic, or bank, become a repeat customer. Have a portion or all of your paycheck deposited directly into a black bank or credit union. They’re FDIC insured, too! Now your money is helping to grow a black investment or community bank.
It’s not a test–it’s a relationship.
As with every major brand or company you support, from Walmart to your optometrist, there will be good and bad experiences with your new black companies. Don’t make those entrepreneurs overcome hurdles and maintain standards you do not impose on the big companies. Don’t treat them with suspicion, expecting them to fail you. It’s your new black dry cleaner, a role model for your community that you choose to support because he helps sustain the neighborhood economically and is inclined to employ black people. If the service or product costs a little more, pay it. Consider it an investment in the growth of a black company. It speaks to your commitment and willingness to sacrifice.
Buying black at the mass retailers.
We have to support the black manufacturers and distributors whose products are already in the stores. The mass retailers all have websites and 800 numbers. They also have diversity or supplier diversity executives. Ask them to stock black-made products and to use black vendors. We all have to do this. What if one such executive got 20 calls in one day?
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