Habari gani? Ujamaa!

The collective spending of African-Americans is currently about $1.1 trillion–yes with a ‘t’–but in 2012 only 3% of those dollars were spent at Black-owned businesses.

Support and unity are inside jobs. Take an honest look at how many of your dollars went to Black businesses, be they side hustles or large corporations. Naturally, as we light the fourth candle today make a mental note to understand what cooperative economics can look like among African-Americans.

The Andersons are a suburban family that spent an entire year doing just that. Read about it in Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson.

By the way, the phrase “Habari gani” is a Swahili greeting that translates to “What’s the news?” and the news for Black America should be all about Cooperative Economics. We should reflect on how we can work together to make the news better.