I STILL say that it's mighty funky/counterproductive to act all judgemental of people while you're telling them to rally around the black unity cause. It's extremely CATTY and uniformed to suggest that saying "buying what works" necessarily means buying non-black (now who's got black unity issues?). And no, I'm not going to run down my "I'm down with being black" resume just to feel valid in this discussion either.
And again, I STILL feel that, though I always give brothers and sisters first dibs on my money for a number of things, I WILL NOT tolerate bullsh#t on any level: service, price, product and generally accepted business practices. I don't tolerate BS from any biz owner, be they a multinational corporation, a non-black- or black-owned small or medium-sized business. Period. And yes, I GO OUT OF MY WAY to patronize the few black businesses here in Chicago that are "standin' on somethin'" in terms of my aforementioned criteria. However, there are far too few black businesses who give half a damn about appealing atmosphere, competitive price (yeah, I'll buy it from you for more, but there IS a limit), prompt service and progressive marketing (let's do something other than a wack-@ss, fuzzy ad in the local black newspaper, shall we?)-and that's real. Any time I find a black biz doing otherwise, I'm falling over myself trying to support them. Alas, I don't fall over myself often.
That said, Poplife et al, what are you doing to spread this message of unity, besides jumping out of your skin to be caustic on this board?
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