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With $1.2 trillion in annual spending, African-Americans are the richest group of people of African decent in the world. But what we spend our money on and who we’re making richer is questionable, since it seems our dollars are not circulating back into our community.
“Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days,” the NAACP reported. “How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses.”
Photojournalist Ric Mathis noticed the imbalance between our spending and economic growth, so he wrote, produced, and directed a magnificent documentary featuring several big names that explores this topic and focuses on the importance of leaving behind a legacy for our children.
Black Friday: What Legacy Will You Leave includes insight on Black America’s economic standing from public personalities such as Hill Harper, Dr. Umar Johnson, David Banner, Dr. Claude Anderson, A.J. Johnson, Cynthia Bailey, Johnny Gill, and more.
When asked his thoughts on the state of Black America’s economic situation, Banner — a rapper and popular social commentator on Black issues — replied that African-Americans patronize non-Black establishments in high numbers instead of Black-owned businesses, and that this is because of our low value in ourselves.
“We have the economic power, we just don’t have the economic mindstate,” Banner said. “But the thing about it is that it transcends economics. It’s about how Black people see Black people. If Black people started seeing value in other Black people, then you would see the economic state of the Black community change.”
The film will provide viewers with ideas on how to become economically empowered and end the cycle of financial ignorance and poverty in our community.
“Black Friday will be the most important economic development and wealth film of the decade,” said Dr. George Fraser, founder of urban professionals networking platform, FraserNet. “Ric Mathis and his team have done an outstanding job bringing together bleeding-edge thinkers on this subject matter.”
You can view clips from ‘Black Friday: What Legacy Will You Leave’ this Wednesday night at Scales 925 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Visit the film’s Facebook page for more information.
