Our first idea: For the 3-month holiday shopping season, we redirect Black consuming dollars to Black merchants who have agreed that they will take 1 out of 10 dollars they receive from our shoppers and donate it directly to an Historically Black College or University. This would involve a number of processes:
Advocates step forward in every city to identify Black Merchants, HBCU's, cooperative organizations and communications channels that will be part of our campaign.
Make lists of cooperating merchants who pledge to donate 1 of 10 dollars they receive as part of this campaign.
Create a flyer, postcard or coupon which is the instrument of publicizing the campaign and confirming the purchases.
Locate and confirm administrators at the local HBCU's who will be agents of the campaign.
Creating a council to followup on the campaign, keep it fresh, account for the financial commitments and forecast the future development of the campaign.
Contact the United Negro College Fund to create a similar campaign with integrationist holiday spending, it other words, for those non-black businesses who are going to capture our dollars, they must be encouraged to invest $1 out of $10 in HBCU's.
There is very little likelihood that this strategy will work if only 1 or 2 people get excited about it. I hope that this discussion generates feedback. I would like to think that just 1 of the many HBCU's could take a lead on this project and supply resources to get it going.
FAMU already has 2 presidential scholars from parents who think very simililary to Mr. Awadu. It would be SHAMEFUL if FAMUans don't COMPETE with other HBCUs for the LEAD in promototing this intitiative! If FAMU "get caught slippin"...and another HBCU alumni, faculty, or student group realizes that this is too important not to step to the plate...and does so...then it's still all good! Then that group will recieve the honor of pushing us...the Black community, forward. Let's get the word out..."yesterday"...about the opportunity to divert our $1Trillion spending power from frivolous "ballin, flossin, and shot-callin" to something that will actually HELP the Black community.
How did the implementation of this idea work out? Is it still active?
Unfortunately, no critical mass of students, activists, nor Black "media personalities" participated. Also, no HBCU's that we know of participated! We don't even know if they got the word...due to the lack of empowerment-based priorities in the Black Community! As "conscious" Black individuals, however, people like myself practice this concept daily. However, we need organized groups of Blacks/African-Americans to do this in order for this idea to actually work.
I hope some of these "groups" are sick and tired of being sick and tired, since that's when real group-oriented action will take place.
