Black People: Why Don't We SUPPORT One Another?

Growing up I was taught about "hate" and it not being nice to hate people. We were taught about racism in school and how the "white people" hated us and treated us like trash which resulted in slavery for many many years. Now that we have reached 2013, and slavery is a thing of the past, and racism is not nearly as bad as it use to be, why do we "hate" one another? It baffles me the fact that our forefathers fought so hard for many years so that we could be free from bondage and to end hatred of our race, yet we hate on one another. We are killing each other dead in the street. We can't stand to see someone else come up. We complained for years that we didn't have enough "Black Businesses", but now that we do we'd rather support the non black businesses that only want to rip us off then to help build the small black owned businesses, help them grow so that they can eventually become one of those "big" companies.

Starting a Business










Starting a business is extremely costly (I should know). Maintaining that business becomes not only costly but a struggle as well. Because most black businesses are started with no real working capital, it's hard to maintain and do everything necessary to generate business on a consistent basis such as marketing and advertising. Those two things are key in building a business, well besides knowing the "right" people. If you don't have that, your business will fold no question. However, there are ways that many businesses that don't have the means to advertise and market their businesses are taking advantage of such as social media. Many businesses are gravitating to social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube  etc, to get the word out about their businesses. This is an easy and cost efficient way to market a business on a limited budget. They post information about their business on those sites and hope that people will see it, support, and share the information. But, it's a struggle to get the support needed.


Why Don't We Want Each Other To Be Successful?

It's TRUE whether you want to believe it or not, black people don't want to see other black people succeed! It's crazy but its a harsh reality. We see someone trying to make it and we ignore their hustle. I'm not referring to the many black people we see trying to sell products on the street: boot-leg DVD's/CD's, incense, t-shirts, etc. I'm talking about those actual black owned businesses that are legit and trying to do something positive for the community. We see a black entrepreneur grinding and won't even ask how we can help. My theory is that we are afraid that if that person succeeds, we will be left behind still stuck in our same situation. Or, we just simply hate one another and just don't want to help. But again, that's just my theory. "If I help this person succeed and all of a sudden they have the means to be able to buy nice things, move into a better neighborhood, purchase a nice car, then where does that leave me?" Is that how you think? I'm not really sure why the support is not there, but I do know that we need to change our way of thinking. 


Other Races
We talk about the Hispanic community about how they all live together and pile into one car, but they support one another. Same goes for the Asian community, Caucasians, and so forth. They support one another, help each other build a business and then they patronize that business. For instance, how many times have you seen a Taco Truck all of a sudden appear on a corner? Then months or so later they have an actual business either in that same spot or in another location near by. We talk about them, but they are doing things; making things happen!

How Can We Support Each Other?
I encourage all my sistah's and brotha's to help each other out. Stop hating on one another and lets push each other so that we all can be successful in our endeavors. It's that easy! When you see a black business owner trying to get support on Facebook, Twitter, etc, all it takes is a simple "Like" and/or a "Share". When you are handed a business card, don't just throw it away because it may not benefit you, put it in someones hand it would benefit. Help spread the word about our businesses! Let's build up our businesses so that we can join the ranks of those fortune 500 companies. 

Don't judge a book by its cover either. Everyone has to start from somewhere. Take my family mortuary for instance (Exquisite Family Mortuary). We are a humble establishment in a store front building right now. However, we do excellent quality work and guarantee our families exquisite, affordable services. Our goal is to grow and expand, and continue providing the community with affordable services. But, of course, people look at our location and judge our quality of service based off that without even giving us a chance. And it baffles me how people with no money would rather go to the big, extravagant places where they're guaranteed to spend more, rather then giving the people just starting out a chance. 

So, I am asking my black community to start showing your own so love and support. Let's help build each other! Stop talking about one another. If another black business is your competitor, don't hate on them! Still show your love. It's enough business to go around. 

LET"S SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER!

Author: MissExquisiteBeauty (MEB)

~Inspired by Black History Month~

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