Black History Month, capitalism discussed by Black Student Association President Kayla Jones
Black history month is an annual celebration that falls in Februrary. The month is meant to act as a celebration of achievements by African Americans and a recognition of their role in U.S. history.
Like any holiday, big corporations often try to profit off of the month.
“I think it is really easy to make money, it’s a long month it’s pretty out there and in your face,” Kayla Jones NDSU Black Student Association President said. “Having products and goods is really easy to sell to black people, but more specifically to allies.”
Where there are big corporations there is often mistrust, big chain stores often use celebrations like Black History Month to rack in profit, although some do take the time to showcase black-owned businesses and products.
An issue Jones pointed out with big corporations is when they use the month to profit without giving back to the cause of the celebration and are hurting the messages surrounding the celebration as well.
“They don’t give the money back to the black community, which ties into capitalism,” Jones said. “It’s not like black people are getting the money they are spending.”
Photo Courtesy | Courtney Entzi
Jones instead proposes to shop local, and specifically black-owned, to avoid contributing to a corporation that potentially doesn’t have the best interests at heart.
“A lot of the time black-owned businesses, since they are usually smaller, they might be more expensive, so I understand how it is easier to go to Target and get a shirt for half the price, but it would almost better to just not buy anything at all than to go to like a Target,” Jones said. “I would say try to shop black-owned and a lot of places have a separate tab for black-owned, or also just shopping locally makes a lot more sense.”
Jones continued to stress the importance of being educated on the holiday and not blindly following propaganda designed to profit from the celebration. Jones said she is concerned moving forward how brands will use educational pieces to exploit consumers who believe the brand is ‘woke’ because they claim to support a certain issue.
Large corporations are continuously turning celebrations like Black History Month into profit-making agendas that take away from the true celebrations and importance of the month. Understanding where you are buying from and what their intentions were with offering a product that is meant for a specific celebration is important.
For information on black-owned businesses in the Fargo-Moorhead area check out recommendations from these sites:
https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Black+Owned+Businesses&find_loc=Fargo%2C+ND