Youth Economic Empowerment

It seems like everyday on the news we hear about injustice towards black people whether it is police brutality, led poisoned water, discrimination in the workplace, or being called racial slurs. Seldom do I get to log on to my Twitter without seeing a new article or thread detailing a sad story about someone being killed just because they are black. It is hurtful to live in America in 2016 and be plagued with the feeling that you might die because of the color of your skin.

There are many things people are doing in order to erase this injustice: protesting, boycotting, petitioning, running for office, voting and more. Recently I have been doing research on how I can effectively be a part of this fight. I have led protests, been a part of demonstrations, written articles, and so much more, but I still feel helpless. In my research, I found out some very interesting and important things. Black people in the United States make up one of the biggest consumer markets in the world. Black people spend about $1 trillion a year. This is huge. We spend so much money and still are seen as less than human by so many.

Our money has made people rich over and over again. That is power. We have more power than we understand and our dollar is the biggest tool. With such a tremendous spending power we can change the climate of the world towards us if we use it. We need to use our dollars to empower ourselves economically. There are tons and tons of black businesses that we need to funnel our dollars into and support.