Supporting Black businesses is vital—we cannot undermine the importance of Black economic solidarity. Black institutions and entrepreneurs are essential to community survival. Yet consumerism alone cannot dismantle racial inequality. True reform must extend far beyond Black commerce.
Moving our money from a white-owned business to a Black-owned one may create superficial change, but it does not address the structural foundations of inequality. Buying Black, banking Black, or fostering Black entrepreneurship is insufficient; the resources generated are not enough to tackle systemic racial and economic disparities.
We are seduced into believing that the right product, the right brand, or the aesthetics of luxury can substitute for mass political and social movements. But cosmetic displays of success cannot replace radical transformation.
True liberation requires class consciousness and radical solidarity. We need a movement focused on redistributive policies for all Black people. Normal everyday poor and working class people. Those of us who face existential financial threats, predatory economic structures, and the persistent weight of the wealth gap. Racial reform cannot operate within the logic of capitalism. It demands targeted anti-poverty programs, meaningful government intervention, and above all, reparations—we are owed a debt!!
The illusion of Black luxury and elite success seduces us into complicity, masking structural oppression behind the veneer of prosperity. Real change lies not in accumulation, but in collective action: in solidarity, redistribution, and the uncompromising pursuit of justice for all Black people.