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Our Black Year

Page 33

by Maggie Anderson


  Web research sources

  See also Business directories

  Weems, Robert E., Jr.

  Welcome Inn Manor

  Wellesley

  Wells, Ida B.

  Wells Street

  West, Cornel

  West, Kanye

  West Side

  Whale Fish & Chicken

  Whip (newspaper)

  “White flight,”

  White House Briefing to Community Leaders

  White House Office of Public Engagement

  “White Life,”

  White, Lydia

  Whites

  anger from

  Blacks lagging behind, despite gains following civil rights era

  business loan rejection rates for

  as business owners

  closure rate for businesses owned by

  cluelessness of

  competition from

  distance between Blacks and, narrowing

  economic oppression by, cooperatives resulting from

  educating, as holders of capital

  efforts by, historically, to drive Blacks out of their trades

  encouraging e-mails from

  as farmers

  fear among

  gentrification and

  household median net worth

  judgments by

  lynchings by, of Black businesspeople

  money circulation and

  negative online comments from

  neighborhoods for

  offending, fear of

  as physicians

  relocation of, unlikelihood of

  rural, fundamental problem in communities of

  speaking to crowds comprised mostly of

  stores for

  view of race and class held by

  warped Black pride and

  wealth of

  See also specific White-owned businesses

  Whole Foods

  Williams College

  Williamsburg Colored School

  WilliWearLimited

  Wilson, William Julius

  Winberie’s restaurant

  WineStyles franchise

  Winfrey, Oprah

  Woods Grocery

  Woolworth’s

  World War II

  Wright, Jeremiah

  Wright, Richard

  WVON (radio station)

  Yucaipa Johnson

  Zimbabwe

  Maggie Anderson is CEO and cofounder, along with her husband, of The Empowerment Experiment and The Empowerment Experiment Foundation. Since the completion of the Andersons’ landmark experiment, Maggie has become the leader of a self-help economics movement that brings together business owners, consumers, corporations, and professional and activist groups to make sure more quality Black-owned businesses get supported—as stand-alone entities and as suppliers, vendors, and franchises. A sought-after speaker, she is the new voice of “conscious consumerism,” representing American consumers of all backgrounds who want to make sure their buying power positively impacts struggling communities. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS Morning News as well as many other national television and radio shows. She received her BA from Emory University and her JD and MBA from the University of Chicago. She lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with her husband, John, and their two daughters.

  Ted Gregory is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

  PublicAffairs is a publishing house founded in 1997. It is a tribute to the standards, values, and flair of three persons who have served as mentors to countless reporters, writers, editors, and book people of all kinds, including me.

  I.F. STONE, proprietor of I. F. Stone’s Weekly, combined a commitment to the First Amendment with entrepreneurial zeal and reporting skill and became one of the great independent journalists in American history. At the age of eighty, Izzy published The Trial of Socrates, which was a national bestseller. He wrote the book after he taught himself ancient Greek.

  BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE was for nearly thirty years the charismatic editorial leader of The Washington Post. It was Ben who gave the Post the range and courage to pursue such historic issues as Watergate. He supported his reporters with a tenacity that made them fearless and it is no accident that so many became authors of influential, best-selling books.

  ROBERT L. BERNSTEIN, the chief executive of Random House for more than a quarter century, guided one of the nation’s premier publishing houses. Bob was personally responsible for many books of political dissent and argument that challenged tyranny around the globe. He is also the founder and longtime chair of Human Rights Watch, one of the most respected human rights organizations in the world.

  For fifty years, the banner of Public Affairs Press was carried by its owner Morris B. Schnapper , who published Gandhi, Nasser, Toynbee, Truman, and about 1,500 other authors. In 1983, Schnapper was described by The Washington Post as “a redoubtable gadfly.” His legacy will endure in the books to come.

  Peter Osnos, Founder and Editor-at-Large

  1 See Appendix 1 for full list.

  2 Claud Anderson, Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America (Bethesda, MD: PowerNomics Corporation of America, 2001), p. 143.

  3 Selig Center for Economic Growth, The Multicultural Economy (Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, Athens: Selig Center for Economic Growth, 2008).

  4 US Census Bureau, 2008.

  See complete calculations in Appendix 6.

  In the calculations, the percentage spent for Black households with $100,000 or more were calculated based on a ceiling of $100,000, so the potential dollar amount is larger than depicted here.

  5 $14B was calculated based on 2008 Census projections, taking into account income bands and population of Black households with after-tax income of more than $75,000.

  6 We used Subway because it is one of the easiest and most economical franchises to start. See http://www.subway.com/StudentGuide/facts_figures.htm.

  7 Id.

  8 See http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/index.aspx.

  9 Each Subway store employs 2–3 full-time employees and 6–10 part-time employees. See http://www.subway.com/StudentGuide/facts_figures.htm.

  10 Selig Center for Economic Growth. (2008). The Multicultural Economy. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Athens: Selig Center for Economic Growth.

  11 World Bank Statistics, 2008. See http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP_PPP.pdf.

  12 Selig Center for Economic Growth. (2008). The Multicultural Economy. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Athens: Selig Center for Economic Growth.

  13 See Appendix 7 regarding number of black retail businesses.

  14 Mitchell, Chip. “Storm Gathers Over Chicago Retail Property.” Chicago Public Radio 17 Aug. 2009.

  15 Sarmah, Satta. “Business Matters: Sustaining Growth in Pilsen, Garfield Park.” Medill Reports 14 Nov. 2007.

  16 Jessie Carney Smith, Millicent Lownes Jackson, Linda T. Wynn, “The Encyclopedia of African-American Business” 353-54, Greenwood Press 2006.

  17 Id. at 354.

  18 Id.

  19 Id. at 354 (quoting James Clingman).

  20 Hocker, Cliff, “A $16 Million Win for the Little Guy: Grocery Store Owner Defeats Major Wholesaler.” Black Enterprise, September 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_2_38/ai_n20511343/.

  21 Community Pride was eventually awarded a $16 M jury verdict against its supplier for forcing Community Pride into bad deals and failing to appropriately supply Community Pride with sellable merchandise. Id.

  22 Reported by Lisa Benson, “Woman Vows to Only Shop at Black-owned Stores.” 2/28/2010. http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Woman-Vows-to-Only-Shop-at-Black-Owned-Stores/iIPO-DBzu0-0hEA_9SJHwQ.cspx.

  23 “Black-Owned Business Firms: 2002.” 2002 Economic Census August 2006.

  24 “Food and Beverage Stores: 2002.” 2002 Economic Census September 2004.

  25 McKinnon
, Jesse. “The Black Population in the United States: March 2002.” April 2003.

  26 Selig Center for Economic Growth. (2008). The Multicultural Economy. Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. Athens: Selig Center for Economic Growth.

  27 Timothy Bates. (2006). The Urban Development Potential of Black-Owned Businesses. American Planning Association. Journal of the American Planning Association, 72(2), 227-237. Retrieved March 18, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global.

  28 Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH U.S.): Finding Solutions to Health Disparities: At A Glance 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/reach.htm

  Copyright © 2012 by Maggie Anderson and Ted Gregory. Published in the United States by PublicAffairs™, a Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321, New York, NY 10107.

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  “The Empowerment Experiment: The Findings and Potential Impact on Black-Owned Businesses” (© 2010 Dwetri Addy et al.) reprinted with permission of the study’s authors.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Anderson, Maggie.

  Our black year : one family’s quest to buy Black in America’s racially divided economy / Maggie Anderson with Ted Gregory. p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  eISBN : 978-1-610-39025-5

  1. African American business enterprises. 2. African Americans—Economic conditions. 3. Consumer behavior. 4. United States—Race relations. I. Gregory, Ted. II. Title.

  HD2358.5.U6A53 2012

  330.9730089’96073—dc23

  2011040609

 

 

 


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