Supporting Black owned businesses means patronizing Black owned business on purpose

Sounds basic… and in theory, it is.  In practice, however, it’s a small revolution. It means making a conscious decision that may put a bigger dent in your pocketbook and have you going out of your way to do it.   But when you follow through with the intention, you’ll very likely get so much more than what shows up on your receipt.

For example, I’ve been needing a pedicure and some new summer reading.  But instead of going to the shop where I usually go and then checking out what’s good on Amazon, I set a different intention.  Rather than get my pedi on at my usual spot just a few blocks from away from where I live in So/No (South Berkeley/North Oakland), I decided to check out that new Black owned nail shop, Ms. Glitter Nails, all the way out in East Oakland.   So, I called and found out was that they were booked SOLID.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with this plan.  Good for them, bad for my pedi.  I told her I chose her shop for a reason, and lo and behold, she found a little window in the schedule to squeeze me in…. nice!  Still,  I opted to book a future date, because though I appreciated it, I didn’t want a squeezed in experience.  She laughed and said “I feel you”.

As for my summer read, it was easy to get to Marcus Books.  Even if in-person shopping in the middle of a work day is far easier on Amazon, I had set this intention, so  inconvenience be damned.  Well, it turned out to be a gift because  Karen was behind the counter.  Karen has a very quiet voice, but there’s nothing hush about her perspective, her humor, the depth of her knowledge or her commitment to the upliftment of Black folks.  Here are just a few of her gifts… she gave:

Kadesh the Kemetic meaning of her name

the story of how the hunters come to the baobab tree because the animals are attracted to it;

a telling of the only time she’d ever seen Toni Morrison smile “like that”

and, the true answer to stop gentrification in Oakland

The thing is:  

we’re a communicative people.  We share.  We trust.   We care.  Always have.  And that’s the add on.  The plus plus.  That’s the extra you can’t buy and won’t find at Walgreen’s or Amazon.

Kadesh and I rolled out that day with the plan to visit three potential BAOBOB member businesses in  two hours.  Well…. we got one in good.  Mind you, it was a comfortable, well endowed bookstore, so in fact it was easy to linger. We also learned that it’s a good idea to allow time for all of the other benefits of shopping Black to flow… .  Yes, securing memberships was the end goal, but there’s so much more..  more personal, more connected, more real that comes when you support a  Black business.   Representing BAOBOB , we really feel it…  we receive a welcome like they’ve been waiting for us and they’re saying thank goodness you’re finally here.