For years, Black politicians, religious and community leaders have talked about and instituted Buy Black Days, which although good in theory, often fall woefully short in reality. Believe me, I’m all for supporting Black businesses, which is one reason why I founded the African American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston 20-something years ago. I guess my heart still hearkens for the days of old when Blacks were successful simply because others in the community supported them.

I thought about that as I read my mail last week and found several solicitations from local organizations to buy an ad in their souvenir booklet. Now, we are often approached for things like this, or other types of donations—strangely enough, for the most part, by people who have never spent one dime with this newspaper or Shirley Ann’s Black Arts & Kollectibles. But I digress.

Reading about “Black Wall Street: From Ashes to Absolute Prosperity,” in last week’s edition of African-American News&Issues, took me back to a very different time and place. Attendees to the Black Business Empowerment Summit, held at the Koinonia Community Center, 3229-A Hadley Ave. @ Tierwester, had high hopes of returning us to the mindset we embraced when cities and communities across the nation relied on community reciprocity— doing business with each other—because of segregation. On June 1, 1921, Black Wall St., one of the most affluent all-Black communities in America, known as Black Wall St., was air-bombed and burned to the ground by mobs of Whites.

In less than 12 hours, a once thriving 36-Black business district in Tulsa was destroyed, and “a major Africa-American economic movement resoundingly defused.” Today, it takes less than 15 minutes for a dollar to leave our community, and it supports people who mostly, never support us. Many of our favorite companies, the same ones that refuse to support Black media, (newspaper, radio or television shows) are placing millions of their advertising dollars on shows that are anti-Black in general and anti-President Obama specifically.

Every day, the evil three, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Lou Dobbs spew hate on their radio and television shows, supported by prejudiced advertising dollars. Although a few of the advertisers have stopped committing their stakeholders’ money to such stupidity,  many continue to sponsor these proponents of hate. Media Matters for America, , recently released a list of sponsors for the three top offenders, who make it possible for them to reach into millions of homes worldwide. If you are not a fan of these shows, or do not have cause to monitor activity, you may be surprised at the offenders Media Matters listed.

Beck Radio: General Electric, Farmers Insurance, Office Depot
Beck TV: Farmers Insurance, General Electric, Nestle (Gerber), U.S. Postal Service, Wal-Mart, Wyeth
Dobbs Radio: Bayer, Chattem (Gold Bond), Wyeth, Frito-Lay, Office Depot, Visa, American Heart Association, U.S. Navy,
Dobbs TV: Bayer, U.S. Postal Service, Wal-Mart
Limbaugh: Home Depot, JC Penney, Office Depot
Red Lobster no longer includes radio airtime. State Farm have taken steps to make sure it does not happen again. Travelocity buys ads in bulk and then they are placed somewhat randomly. However, it specifically asked that its ads do not appear during this show. Allstate said it made the list by mistake. Sargento buy time periods not specific programs, but made the decision to exclude the Glen Beck program from future ad rotation. Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance and SC Johnson distanced themselves from Beck. As of August 4, GEICO no longer runs any paid advertising spots during Mr. Beck’s program.
Just something for you to think about, the next time you enter a store and make a decision to pay your hard-earned dollars.