Economic Blackout Day
How you can support Black-owned businesses, and take part in today’s economic protest.
Today, July 7, is Economic Blackout Day. Today is a call to action in America, calling on everyone to be conscious about their money, urging people to stand in solidarity with the Black community where not a dollar is spent on businesses that aren’t Black-owned.
Throughout the past two months we’ve seen the Black Lives Matter movement sweep the world, with protests taking place in every single state in the US, but also across Europe and Asia. The merciless killing of George Floyd during Memorial Day weekend acted as a catalyst for the protests, bringing people together to stand against injustice and racial discrimination, and the latest protest is solely an economic protest. Black people spend approximately $1.2 trillion USD annually in the U.S., and today the spending is focused on supporting Black-owned businesses and emphasizing the importance of the Black community. Companies like Yelp have added a search feature to identify Black-owned restaurants, and multiple websites have decided not to partake in e-commerce across the U.S. for the full 24-hour period, to show support and stand in solidarity with the movement.
The founder of The Blackout Coalition, Calvin Martyr, said, “The only way as a people that we will get any change is if we unite,” adding, “If we can do it for a day, we can do it for a week, a month, a quarter, a year… and one day we will look up and it will be a way of life.” The organization also created the website blackoutday.org, where it has compiled a handful of information and are urging people to sign up and take action.
So, how can you support? Don’t spend your money at any businesses you know aren’t Black-owned, and go the extra mile and do the research to find everything from Black-owned grocery stores to independent fashion brands, restaurants and more. Our list of 100+ Black-owned brands to buy from is a good start.
Hypebeast’s e-commerce platform HBX is one of the many businesses that will be taking part, disabling shopping from its website in the U.S. for the full duration of Economic Blackout Day to show support.
