Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Followers
Followers
Lithium Magazine
Lithium Magazine
  • Home
  • About
    • Editors
    • Writers
    • Artists
    • Photographers
  • Contact
    • Work With Us
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Read
    • Sex & Love
    • Culture & Entertainment
    • News & Politics
    • Life
    • Photography
  • Life

Open Your Wallet for Black-Owned Businesses

  • June 8, 2020
  • No comments
  • 4 minute read
  • MJ Brown

In the wake of protests and riots for Black Lives Matter across the U.S., you might be seeing a lot of #buyblack and #blackownedbusinesses posts on your Instagram feed. Along with signing petitions and donating to bail funds, buying from Black businesses is an integral part of the movement—one that non-Black protestors might skim over. Strengthened by 15 Percent Pledge, which calls on major retailers to support Black entrepreneurs, Americans are demanding more recognition for Black-owned businesses. 

However, just like other kinds of performative activism, one post or purchase won’t fix the racial inequality in the business industry. It’s easy for white people to ignore the backgrounds and ideologies of their favorite mega-corporations, from Chick-fil-A to Estee Lauder. When big companies are put front and center, we can be overwhelmed by their affordability and convenience. We tend to just assume that our economy’s leaders are white and conservative, and rightly so—but why are we complacent with that? 

It’s easy for non-Black protestors to leave a Black Lives Matter demonstration for guiltless online shopping. Except it’s not guiltless, and it’s not just one purchase. Hating capitalism and its white supremacist foundation is not enough. I’ve heard countless excuses, often from people in bustling cities where there are plenty of Black-owned entrepreneurs. My purchase can’t really count for much. I can’t be expected to know every company’s political alignment. Why should I be held accountable for where the CEO donates his money? But it’s getting harder and harder to turn a blind eye when Amazon openly sells facial recognition technology to law enforcement and when the founder of Dolls Kill supports the police gunning down protesters in front of her store. Our favorite companies are showing their true colors to the point where we can’t separate brand from belief; if we truly support Black Lives Matter, we can’t continue to make excuses. 

There are overwhelming positives of supporting independent, Black-owned businesses. Stores run by Black entrepreneurs have shut down twice as often as white storefronts due to coronavirus, and businesses are now desperately seeking repair funds after major-city riots. If even a small percentage of non-Black Americans devoted more energy to seeking out and supporting Black-owned businesses, they could help them get back on their feet sooner than later. In this case, reforming the system is more important than defunding or dismantling it because the individual holds enormous power. 

There are more resources now than ever for customers to avoid online algorithms that enforce systematic racism. Yelp has recently added a feature that allows users to search specifically for Black-owned storefronts, and many apps such as The Official Black Wall Street were created for that purpose. Black women and gender-nonconforming creators especially benefit from this; the more diverse our purchases become, the more intersectional businesses can gain visibility. 

As media coverage of the protests lessens in the coming weeks, it’s important for non-Black allies to remember that committing to anti-racism is a lifestyle change, not a few days of protesting and reposting. Putting your money where your mouth is counts for a lot, and it’s a habit that can and should be built up consistently. Supporting Black Lives Matter means supporting Black livelihood. It means supporting Black art, Black products, and Black restaurants unconditionally, whether or not there are protests happening outside our doors. In every situation, we vote with our dollar. We can all do our part to support Black people by giving them our business just as we amplify Black voices by taking to the streets in protest. 

Here are eleven Black-owned businesses that deserve our recognition, money, and support, as well as five relief funds for businesses hit by looting and the coronavirus. 

 

  • Partake Foods is a gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly cookie brand.  
  • Chakra Zulu Crystals is a gemstone, crystal, and spiritual shop based in Florida.
  • The Honeypot Company sells plant-based tampons, menstrual cups, and bath bombs. 
  • The Lip Bar is a shade-inclusive, cruelty-free, and minimalist makeup started by a Wall Street worker from her own kitchen.
  • Studio Oudizo is a UK-based design studio specializing in stationery and calligraphy. 
  • Garner’s Garden is the first Black-owned dental care company.
  • Ivy’s Tea Co. is an herbal tea brand that gives a portion of their sales to charity one Friday a month. 
  • Mahogany Books is an independently owned DC bookstore that focuses on Black literature and ships nationwide. 
  • Earthly Mart is a natural cleaning product company dedicated to education on living green and low-waste. 
  • Amaree and Reese sells handcrafted, sustainable jewelry from Portland, Oregon. 

 

Business Relief Funds 

  • This GoFundMe is dedicated to rebuilding Black-owned Atlanta businesses. 
  • Repair funds for a Black-owned mental health clinic in South Minneapolis. 
  • Relief program going toward Black-owned businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
  • A Chicago-Based restaurant relief program run by Jeremy Joyce of Black People Eats. 
  • The Central Texas Business Relief Fund is repairing damaged businesses in Dallas and Austin.

 

By MJ Brown

Related Topics
  • black lives matter
  • business
  • capitalism
  • money
  • racism
Previous Article
  • News & Politics

The Revolution Will Not Be Online

  • June 5, 2020
  • Kiddest Sinke
View Post
Next Article
  • News & Politics

Knowing Your White Privilege—and Mobilizing It

  • June 9, 2020
  • Colette Bernheim
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Life

We’re Not Really Strangers Makes Me Feel Held

  • March 5, 2021
  • Natalie Geisel
View Post
  • Life

Foucault, Data, and Human Intimacy in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism

  • February 24, 2021
  • Cierra Bettens
View Post
  • Life

When Having Fun Feels Wrong

  • February 22, 2021
  • Jack Loney
View Post
  • Life

TikTok Is Offering a Community for Ex-Mormons Everywhere

  • February 19, 2021
  • Logan Cross
View Post
  • Life

Tornadoes and Me: Fear, Fascination, and Falling Somewhere in Between

  • February 15, 2021
  • Gabriella Ferrigine
View Post
  • Life

Gen Z, Stop Glamorizing Old Money

  • February 9, 2021
  • Sophia Peyser
View Post
  • Life

Pandemic Parties: The New Normal of COVID-Safe Fun 

  • February 5, 2021
  • Alice Garnett
View Post
  • Life

Understanding Body Neutrality with Therapist Ashlee Bennett

  • February 2, 2021
  • Madeleine Burgess

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Featured Posts
  • 1
    We’re Not Really Strangers Makes Me Feel Held
    • March 5, 2021
  • 2
    How the Left Is Becoming Reactionary
    • March 4, 2021
  • 3
    Sexual Empowerment or Reckless Endangerment?
    • March 2, 2021
  • 4
    What’s the Point of “Fake Accounts”?
    • March 1, 2021
  • 5
    Oops!… We Did It Again: Why We Get Off on Women’s Pain
    • February 28, 2021
Recent Posts
  • “Whole Lotta Red”: A Feverish and Avant-Garde End to 2020
    • February 28, 2021
  • Blind Worship and the Films of Quentin Tarantino
    • February 27, 2021
  • Why You Should Reject Music Elitism
    • February 26, 2021
Categories
  • Culture & Entertainment (141)
  • Fashion & Beauty (31)
  • Life (134)
  • News & Politics (70)
  • Photography (63)
  • Sex & Love (68)
Search
Instagram
@nat.geisel discovered @werenotreallystrangers one month into quarantine, virtually getting to know while concurrently falling in love with her girlfriend at the time, by playing their free, downloadable quarantine edition with her over FaceTime. We’re Not Really Strangers reminds us that even through sadness, anxiety, and emotions we can’t exactly name, we are all trying our best. Check out the latest on Lithium now ♥️
The left is becoming reactionary. Blame it on the proliferation of liberalism or whatever, but you can’t deny that a lot of leftists today constantly moralize, seeing personal flaws as akin to structural ones. Instead of politics of reaction, we should be practicing politics of actions. As @kosherwhitewine writes, “Instead of treating leftism like an inclusive club, we must treat it as it’s meant to be—as a collective banner under which we march toward the liberation of all people. We don’t break each other down; we build each other up, standing together, fighting together.” Read about it on Lithium now 🗣
OnlyFans, selling worn underwear, sex work—are these acts of sexual empowerment or reckless endangerment? As Modesty Sanchez writes, “Because OnlyFans creators are portrayed as entrepreneurs taking control of their image and brand, the role that the platform itself plays is often obscured and dismissed, especially since the company prefers to hide behind the feminist, sex-positive glow emanating from the sex workers that have flocked to the site.” Often, the dangers of online and IRL sex work are simply swept to the side while corporate exploitation is covered up by a girl boss narrative. Read the latest on Lithium now ⚡️
What’s the point of “Fake Accounts”? Written by Lauren Oyler, Fake Accounts is a perfect addition to the list of much-overhyped millennial reading: Normal People, Bad Feminist, How to Do Nothing, etc. And if Oyler wasn’t such a harsh critic of that specific literary circle, this novel would just be another pretty well-written, unmoving book. But Oyler has gone after too many media darlings like Sally Rooney, Jia Tolentino and Roxane Gay in open takedowns that center on her distaste for moralizing, self-absorbed, digital-first writing. Read Lithium writer @katwilliiams take on this book, live on the site now 📚
Britney Spears, Tessica Brown “Gorilla Glue Girl,” and trauma porn all have something in common—they are representations of our fascination with women’s pain. In @tamaravjones’s latest piece for Lithium, she points out that “It’s up to readers to support better journalism and think about the consequences before sharing their unfiltered hot takes on social media. Britney Spears’ legal battle will continue and inevitably, someone else will take Tessica Brown’s spot as the internet’s main character, and I can only hope that we manage to break this cycle before someone else gets hurt.” Live on Lithium now 💫
Playboi Carti’s newest album Whole Lotta Red is the rapper’s ARTPOP. While it’s different from a lot of the rap dominating the Billboard 100, Carti does something a lot of mainstream acts are afraid to do: experiment. Lithium writer @kaiya.shunyata dives deep into Whole Lotta Red and discusses how the album, like Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP, is a fantastic work of exploration and departure from the rap that mostly dominated 2020. Read about it now 🎧
When you’re first getting into film, you tend to hear the same names repeated over and over again: Fincher, Scorsese, and, most of all, Tarantino. But when @kaiya.shunyata rewatched his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, she couldn’t help but think of his mistreatment of actresses (notably, Uma Thurman), his use of the N-word in films, sprinkled in like a garnish he and his fans can’t live without, and decades of controversies. She writes, “It’s become impossible to ignore the way Tarantino has been worshipped, while simultaneously not changing the things for which he’s been criticized.” Read about it on Lithium now 🎬
Middle school sux. Hulu’s Pen15 follows thirteen-year-old best friends Maya and Anna as they tackle an endless seventh-grade year. From day one, they face humiliations that only strike when you are thirteen, like bad haircuts and periods. But Pen15 sets itself apart from all the other middle school dramas by not only having good stories and actors, but drawing attention to the fact that even performing thirteen is a complex thing. Read about it now on Lithium, written by Jade Stillwell 📚
We’re all culprits in contributing to the shame and embarrassment that have become synonymous with listening to specific artists. Rex Orange County has become the unofficial pinnacle of a wannabe-indie girl who’s a regular Urban Outfitters patron. A Smiths fan is egotistical and decidedly unable to get laid. Bon Iver attracts the coffee shop connoisseur with a God complex. @elliergreenberg’s latest is all about why you should reject music elitism— this one is a must-read. Live on Lithium now 🎵

Input your search keywords and press Enter.