The "Blacks Buying from Blacks" Movement: Is This Reverse Racism?

[acptulsa]

I guess what I mean is - it's well known within the black community that there were thriving black cities (or section of cities) during the era of segregation. But no one has really satisfactorily explained the decline.

On the other hand, there is a wealth of information from libertarians claiming that govt intervention has all sorts of negative results.

So I just kind of put the two together, though I admit I haven't done any extensive research to justify my claim. But I still think the facts support my above post.

They most certainly do.

In Tulsa during the oil boom, the Greenwood area thrived. Roughnecking in an oil field was and is hard and dangerous work, and no one does it for chicken feed. Many African Americans have been willing to do this hard work over the years, though. And as a result, the Greenwood area thrived in the ugly old days of segregation. It was called the 'Black Wall St. of America.'

The 1921 riot burned it to the ground. Fortunately, that seems to have gotten the issue out of Tulsans' systems. One incident that infamously ugly seems to have been enough--we haven't had a serious race riot since. And Greenwood came back--better than ever. I remember when I was a kid and first heard about the riot. Having little concept that it had happened fifty years prior, I just assumed that's what had happened to Greenwood. Then I heard about its preeminence as a jazz center during World War II twenty years later than the riot.

My mother patiently explained to me that it declined right after desegregation. The shopkeepers couldn't get as good wholesale prices as the corporately-owned 'white stores'. Couldn't get the variety, either.

Shall we point to the ethnic minorities and laugh? Or shall we look at the rise of China--and look in our mirrors?

 

[zadrock]

They most certainly do.

In Tulsa during the oil boom, the Greenwood area thrived. Roughnecking in an oil field was and is hard and dangerous work, and no one does it for chicken feed. Many African Americans have been willing to do this hard work over the years, though. And as a result, the Greenwood area thrived in the ugly old days of segregation. It was called the 'Black Wall St. of America.'

The 1921 riot burned it to the ground. Fortunately, that seems to have gotten the issue out of Tulsans' systems. One incident that infamously ugly seems to have been enough--we haven't had a serious race riot since. And Greenwood came back--better than ever. I remember when I was a kid and first heard about the riot. Having little concept that it had happened fifty years prior, I just assumed that's what had happened to Greenwood. Then I heard about its preeminence as a jazz center during World War II twenty years later than the riot.

My mother patiently explained to me that it declined right after desegregation. The shopkeepers couldn't get as good wholesale prices as the corporately-owned 'white stores'. Couldn't get the variety, either.

Shall we point to the ethnic minorities and laugh? Or shall we look at the rise of China--and look in our mirrors?

I vaguely remembering reading about Tulsa many years ago. Do you know whether there are any books on this subject?

Z

 

[SharkGirl]

I don't have a problem with them buying from Blacks only. What I have a problem with is if Whites were to buy from Whites only and the Blacks bring in the NAACP to cry foul, or whoever it is they team with to file racist lawsuits.

I lived in Macon, GA and I was in line at Wal-mart and was next in line to be checked out. There was a Black cashier. She told me to wait. She walked away from her counter, went to the next one, took Blacks out of line there, and put them in front of me and proceeded to check them out first.

And they call Whites racists?

There is racism in every race. The difference is, it's only the Whites who have laws against them for things that happened before any of us were born.

I can guarantee you if we set up a Whites only directory, there will be lawsuits all over the nation. What makes them think what they're doing isn't racism?

Quite frankly, I could care less if they have a Black only network. I hope they won't mind if we don't support their businesses because I wouldn't feel comfortable buying from them if the hate Whites that bad.

 

[acptulsa]

I vaguely remembering reading about Tulsa many years ago. Do you know whether there are any books on this subject?

Z

I think there are now. I sort of sorted out the half-buried history along with everyone else who bothered. At that time there were no good books on the subject. After the riot the city sort of went into denial. The subject simply wasn't talked about--until forced school desegregation was causing riots in certain cities. Then, quite suddenly, the old folks started talking about it. Basically, about all they said was there was a riot once and we damned well don't want another.

What we had to dig out was that it was a full-scale invasion with fixed gun emplacements and aerial bombing. Apparently the whole city knew it was going to happen--and everyone in town knew the pretext was bogus (a black guy stepped on some idiotic little white girl's foot on an elevator; he apologized but she still freaked). It would seem that several 'city fathers' encouraged it in the hopes of getting some handy real estate cheap and driving the ethnic types of the area farther from the city center. It took some digging to get to the truth of that.

All my grandmother had to say was that was their day of the week for their maid to visit, and they insisted she stay with them that night (she lived near Greenwood Ave.). Apparently no one in the city, rioter, Greenwood resident, or not, slept much that night. Casualties were over three hundred. The city worked very, very hard to cover up that number. They looked for the bones a while back. Apparently a freeway interchange has buried them deeper than ever. In any case...

Well, I remember that many facts didn't come out until the 'seventies, so don't trust too completely any source older than that. Otherwise, just plug Tulsa Greenwood into your search engine and see what you can find.

 

[Time for Change]

It sounds kind of discrimatory but there is nothing wrong with supporting your culture.

Unless you are any other race...then you are an evil racist.