BLM Economic Blackout

Edited by Lili Fishman

On Tuesday, July 7th, the Black Lives Matter movement organized a nationwide economic blackout. Organizers called for supporters around the country to refrain from making any purchases on this day in order to show not only the solidarity and strength of the movement at the national level, but also to highlight Black buying power and racial wealth inequality at large. This type of protest—complete buying boycott—can have huge power in a social movement, and holds a particularly powerful place in the Black Lives Matter movement.

There has never been a point in time where a racial wealth gap hasn’t existed in the United States, and instances of Black prosperity have been crushed by white supremacist violence and systemic oppression. Over the past half-century, the Black-White wealth gap has grown tremendously. While White wealth has increased steadily, Black wealth has remained stagnant, even when accounting for recessionary setbacks. According to a 2017 study of racial wealth inequality from the Institute of Policy Studies & Prosperity Now, the median net worth of a Black household is approximately $11,000 while that of a White family is approximately $134,000. Furthermore, if the current trends of wealth allocation and distribution remain unchanged, the researchers predict that by 2053, Black median wealth will be at zero (Asante-Muhammad, 2017). In our capitalist society, money equals power, and thus by stripping Black people of their economic freedom, America has tried to erase Black agency.

(All monetary amounts are indexed to 2017 dollars to account for inflationary value changes.)

Despite this large-scale financial oppression, it would be misguided to deny the monetary power that the Black community does currently have. According to The Blackout Coalition, the Black community currently has 3.9 trillion dollars in buying power (i.e. liquid/spendable funds), and redirecting this revenue stream could have very important ramifications (The Blackout Coalition, 2020). Even prior to the July 7th Blackout, Black businesses around the country have seen an increase in support with the call to action. In an interview with Fox 8 Local News, Liberty Bank’s president and CEO Alden MacDonald has reported that his bank, a New Orleans-based bank and one of few Black-owned banks in the country, has seen a dramatic increase in traffic in the past few weeks, stating, “We've had thousands of people come to our site from all over the country. The last time this movement took place we opened 2000 accounts in three days. We don't know what the numbers are yet this time,” (WVUE, 2020).

The internet and social media play a large role in this movement, as they can provide visibility for these companies as well as tools to help people connect with them. The Blk Pact, for instance, is a group dedicated to helping individuals incorporate Black companies into their lives on the regular. On the the group’s website is the following pledge: “I commit myself and my resources to the advancement of the Black community; recognize, utilize and patronize the talent inherent in the Black business community; shop Black whenever possible; spread awareness by encouraging family and friends to explore and shop Black-owned businesses,” (TheBlkPact, 2020). This powerful pledge reflects the sentiment that this is a movement, not a mere moment in time. Visitors to the site can sign the pledge themselves, and then use the website’s tool to search for Black-owned businesses by category. Another fantastic resource is the Black Nation app, which describes itself as a “social community for Black-owned businesses, influencers, and users,” (Black Nation, 2020). This app also lets users search by category, recommends local businesses, and incorporates its own social media feature. Resources such as these are aiding Black buyers and their allies to consciously support and empower Black business owners in their local communities and at large. By changing our buying habits long-term, we can protect and grow wealth in the Black community going forward.

(The Blk Pages on TheBlkPact’s site, which allows users to search for companies to patronize by categorical needs.)

On a higher level, changing our spending habits communicates to non-Black companies the changes that we demand to see. With the recent visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement, many companies have engaged in empty-hearted and performative gestures in a thinly-veiled attempt to show support, while others continue to donate to groups that directly oppose Black Lives Matter. Diverting revenue streams away from these corporations, such as Amazon, Target, CVS, etc., conveys, in the only language that corporations understand, that we will not settle for complacency nor vague statements of allyship. Instead, we demand nothing but genuine contributions to the movement. Additionally, by shifting our purchases to generally smaller and Black-owned businesses, we can strip the economic, and often political, power that these large corporations hold. With less political power in the hands of such companies, the government also receives the message that economic and financial support of Black businesses and communities are major priorities for its constituents.

The kind of structural shift that this essay calls for will not happen overnight, nor in any short period of time. It will require the effort of individuals all over to make a firm commitment, but this commitment is one that is doable, as there are numerous resources on the internet to connect individuals with Black businesses in their communities. We also will need to reframe how we think about our shopping habits. Our support must be diversified and frequent enough that we stop looking at our purchases as individual political statements but instead as consistent replacements of our spending at large White-dominated corporations. With the help of Black Lives Matter organizers, Black businesses, and social media, we can use the July 7th Economic Blackout for the Black Lives Matter movement as a launch towards beneficial systemic change.

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Works Cited

Asante-Muhammad, Dedrick, et al. Institute for Policy Studies & Prosperity Now, 2017, The

Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Wealth Divide Is Hollowing Out America's Middle

Class, prosperitynow.org/files/PDFs/road_to_zero_wealth.pdf.

“BLACKOUT DAY 2020.” 2020 Blackout Day, The Blackout Coalition, 2020,

www.blackoutday.org/.

McCarthy, Niall. “Racial Wealth Inequality Is Rampant in the U.S.” Statista, 2017,

www.statista.com/chart/11096/racial-wealth-inequality-is-rampant-in-the-us/.

Norwood, Nicondra. “Blackout Day 2020 Sees Boost for Black-Owned Businesses.” Fox 8

Local First, 8 July 2020, www.fox8live.com/2020/07/08/blackout-day-sees-boost-black-

owned-businesses/.

Technology, WinCor. “Black Nation: Find Black-Owned Businesses.” Black Nation | Find

Black-Owned Businesses, 2020, blacknation.app/.

“THEBLKPACT: A Pledge of Black Allegiance.” THEBLKPACT, 2020, www.theblkpact.org/.