Our communities have some powerful, creative, and thriving businesses. But if we as a people want to make some major moves in 2024, we’ve got to be about taking care of business.
And by taking care of business, I mean a few things.
First, let’s take care of business by literally taking care of our businesses. We do this by patronizing Black businesses. And after patronizing them, let’s help spread the word and encourage others, our friends and family, to support them, as well.
We already know the shameful facts about how Black dollars circulate in Black communities for mere seconds compared to the money other groups invest in their communities. The only way we can really take care of those businesses that our sisters and brothers run is by keeping our dollars in our own orbit.
Second, let’s take care of business by working with our businesses. We all know too many examples of one of the folks in our circles spending their money at a Black business and being disappointed with some aspect of the experience. Afterward, they declare for all to hear that they are never going to spend their dollars with that business again. And certainly, that is their right. But yo, how many times have we been dissatisfied with the service or disservice we receive at a business owned by someone other than us, yet we go back and support them forever and a day?
If we’re serious about taking care of business, we should at least afford those businesses run by our people the same amount of grace we give to businesses run by er’body else.
Third, let’s take care of business by demanding Harris County and the City of Houston use our tax dollars to employ Black businesses at rates that far exceed the absolutely abysmal current rates. Being the most diverse city in the nation doesn’t mean a damn thing if all the money is still going to the colonizers.
Fourth, let’s take care of business by investing in the future business owners and employees. The Texas State Legislature, with a surplus of over $32.7 billion, invested $0 in public education. That’s a $0 investment in the intellectual, scientific and artistic brainpower of the next generation. Not only that, Texas lawmakers once again kept separate but equal alive by giving the state’s HBCUs less than the law says they’re due.
But with Texas and the entire nation getting darker and younger by the second, with the number of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians growing and the number of whites declining, if this state and nation are going to be viable world players, a highly educated workforce is a must. Divesting in the education of Black and Brown folk is not only undermining the well-being of Black and Brown folk, it’s undercutting the future well-being of the nation.
But racists and gonna racist.
Yet, we cannot cease demanding change, especially since the money that should be going toward our schools and businesses is our money – our tax dollars. So, don’t get it twisted. We’re not begging anybody for anything, or seeking handouts, as the colonizers love to charge. We’re demanding that our tax dollars be used for our benefit.
And when we make that happen, we’ll be mos def taking care of business.
