Today Black spending power has risen to over $1.6 trillion, but Black net worth is DECREASING!
A closer look at what happened when enslaved Black people tried to spend their money – yes, enslaved people frequently made money – might help us understand why.
White people never considered us their equals, including when it came to spending money. For example, they thought coarse clothing and meager food supplies were appropriate for our people, but we often spent our money on the same clothes and food they did!
But our people wanted to spend their earnings on the most valuable thing of all.
Freedom! White people saw attempts to buy freedom as a threat – so they found ways to limit the effectiveness of Black dollars. They made purchasing freedom extremely difficult, even creating new currencies that had no value off the plantation. The effect?
Black people were able to spend money, but it rarely benefited them personally. White people’s wealth grew in proportion to how they spent money, but Black wealth declined no matter how much money they spent.
Today, it’s scarily similar – we have money to spend, but white people are the ones profiting! They have ALWAYS depended on us for their wealth.
As our spending power continues to grow into the trillions, let’s focus on using our money for OUR COMMUNITY’s benefit!