LindaChavis
03-16-2009, 09:59 AM
Oak Park couple travel far and wide to buy only from black-owned businesses
Ebony Experiment encourages other African-Americans to do the same
By Ted Gregory | Tribune reporter
March 9, 2009
John and Maggie Anderson read a bedtime story to their children Cori, 2, and Cara, 3, at their Oak Park home on March 2, 2009. The family is conducting what they call the "Ebony Experiment", spending this year buying all their goods and services from black-owned businesses only. (Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans / February 26, 2009)
Maggie Anderson drives 14 miles to buy groceries, which might seem curious given that she lives in bustling Oak Park. She and her husband, John, patronize gas stations in Rockford and Phoenix, Ill. They travel 18 miles to a health food store in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood for vitamins, supplements and personal care products.
The reason? They want to solve what they call "the crisis in the black commu- nity." They want to, as they say, "buy black."
The Andersons, African-Americans who rose from humble means, are attempting to spend their money for one year exclusively with black-owned businesses and are encouraging other African-Americans to do the same. It is part experiment, part social activism campaign.
They call it the "Ebony Experiment."
Related links
Doing the right thing?
Do you agree with the "Ebony Experiment," in which the Anderson family tries to spend their money only at black-owned businesses?
"More than anything, this is a learning thing," said Maggie Anderson, who grew up in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami and holds a law degree and an MBA from the University of Chicago. "We know it's controversial, and we knew that coming in."
But the Andersons said they also have known that a thriving black economy is fundamental to restoring impoverished African-American and other "underserved" communities, and they have discussed for years trying to find a way to address the problem.
What they came up with is provocative. One anonymous letter mailed to their home accused the Andersons of "unabashed, virulent racism." "Because of you," the writer stated, "we will totally avoid black suppliers. Because of you, we will dodge every which way to avoid hiring black employees."
Apart from that letter, a solid majority of comments they have received have been encouraging, the Andersons said, adding that most people see the endeavor as beneficial to all.
"Supporting your own isn't necessarily exclusive," said John Anderson, a financial adviser who grew up in Detroit and has a Harvard University degree in economics and an MBA from Northwestern University, "and you're not going to convince everybody of that."
The undertaking "is an academic test about how to reinvest in an underserved community" and lessen society's burden, John Anderson said. Focusing the estimated $850 billion annual black buying power on black businesses strengthens those business and creates more businesses, more jobs and stronger families, schools and neighborhoods, the Andersons and other advocates said.
"When a thriving African-American or urban community is realized, certainly as a society as a whole, we all win," John Anderson said.
They are using a public relations firm, have created a slick Web site—ebonyexperiment.com—have been laying the groundwork for nearly two years and have enlisted researchers from Northwestern to detail and extrapolate the impact of their spending.
Still, the first two months posed challenges in finding stores that meet what Maggie Anderson called her "exacting standards." Her latest crisis is finding shoes and clothes for the couple's toddler daughters.
The Andersons buy gasoline cards from black-owned stations in Phoenix and Rockford and use the cards elsewhere. After several weeks of searching, Maggie Anderson found Farmers Best Market, 1424 W. 47th St., Chicago, a black-owned grocery 14 miles from their home, and God First, God Last, God Always Dollar and Up General Store, 2243 E. 71st St., a black-owned general merchandise establishment 18 miles from their house.
They moved their personal accounts to Covenant Bank in Chicago but have been unable to switch their mortgage and student loans to black-owned financial institutions. Their utilities payments will continue going to the companies collecting those now. Maggie Anderson said she has struggled to find financial support for the Ebony Experiment's grander plans, and she lamented the campaign's low national prominence.
Lawrence Hamer, associate professor of marketing at DePaul University, called the Andersons' project "brave and courageous" and said its logic was "exactly right." But it probably will be futile in achieving meaningful impact in the black economy, he said.
"It's just so hard for a small group of individuals to have an impact on something that's so huge," said Hamer, an African-American. "It's almost like a viral marketing campaign. It only works if enough people catch the virus."
Even if they do catch the virus, he said, it is extremely difficult "to get people's attention to change their behavior in any significant way."
Maggie Anderson conceded that "it's still little by little and it's still a lot of work, but I'm still very committed to this."
Although it may be one of the more well-organized and monitored projects of its kind, the Ebony Experiment is not the only buying black venture, said James E. Clingman, a prolific writer on African-American economic empowerment who teaches a class on black entrepreneurship at the University of Cincinnati.
African-Americans have been buying black for more than a century, Clingman said. Booker T. Washington, long an advocate for African-American economic power, was an early proponent, and African-Americans have been forming black-buying cooperatives for decades, Clingman said.
But thriving black businesses began dissolving in the mid-1960s, when African-Americans focused on political power and civil rights and began patronizing white-owned businesses under the misconception that buying white signified blacks' upward socioeconomic mobility, Clingman said.
"Unfortunately, many black people abandoned their own businesses and supported others, thinking that politics was the way out," he said. "Politics still will not get you anywhere unless you have an economic base. Quite frankly, I'd rather have more black businesses than black politicians."
In June, Karriem Beyah opened Farmers Best Market, which he calls "the only African-American grocery store in Illinois that offers a full line of fresh market products." Since being featured on the Ebony Experiment Web site, Beyah said, he has experienced "incremental increases in the customer count" and received numerous e-mails and phone calls of support.
He said he believes in the mission.
"We, as African-Americans, support everyone," he said. "The Ebony Experiment is saying, 'Listen, let's pay attention to us. Let's give some support.'
"The Ebony Experiment can bring awareness, and in that awareness comes better profits and better services and better opportunities. It just grows from there."
tgregory@tribune.com
Ebony Experiment encourages other African-Americans to do the same
By Ted Gregory | Tribune reporter
March 9, 2009
John and Maggie Anderson read a bedtime story to their children Cori, 2, and Cara, 3, at their Oak Park home on March 2, 2009. The family is conducting what they call the "Ebony Experiment", spending this year buying all their goods and services from black-owned businesses only. (Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans / February 26, 2009)
Maggie Anderson drives 14 miles to buy groceries, which might seem curious given that she lives in bustling Oak Park. She and her husband, John, patronize gas stations in Rockford and Phoenix, Ill. They travel 18 miles to a health food store in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood for vitamins, supplements and personal care products.
The reason? They want to solve what they call "the crisis in the black commu- nity." They want to, as they say, "buy black."
The Andersons, African-Americans who rose from humble means, are attempting to spend their money for one year exclusively with black-owned businesses and are encouraging other African-Americans to do the same. It is part experiment, part social activism campaign.
They call it the "Ebony Experiment."
Related links
Doing the right thing?
Do you agree with the "Ebony Experiment," in which the Anderson family tries to spend their money only at black-owned businesses?
"More than anything, this is a learning thing," said Maggie Anderson, who grew up in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami and holds a law degree and an MBA from the University of Chicago. "We know it's controversial, and we knew that coming in."
But the Andersons said they also have known that a thriving black economy is fundamental to restoring impoverished African-American and other "underserved" communities, and they have discussed for years trying to find a way to address the problem.
What they came up with is provocative. One anonymous letter mailed to their home accused the Andersons of "unabashed, virulent racism." "Because of you," the writer stated, "we will totally avoid black suppliers. Because of you, we will dodge every which way to avoid hiring black employees."
Apart from that letter, a solid majority of comments they have received have been encouraging, the Andersons said, adding that most people see the endeavor as beneficial to all.
"Supporting your own isn't necessarily exclusive," said John Anderson, a financial adviser who grew up in Detroit and has a Harvard University degree in economics and an MBA from Northwestern University, "and you're not going to convince everybody of that."
The undertaking "is an academic test about how to reinvest in an underserved community" and lessen society's burden, John Anderson said. Focusing the estimated $850 billion annual black buying power on black businesses strengthens those business and creates more businesses, more jobs and stronger families, schools and neighborhoods, the Andersons and other advocates said.
"When a thriving African-American or urban community is realized, certainly as a society as a whole, we all win," John Anderson said.
They are using a public relations firm, have created a slick Web site—ebonyexperiment.com—have been laying the groundwork for nearly two years and have enlisted researchers from Northwestern to detail and extrapolate the impact of their spending.
Still, the first two months posed challenges in finding stores that meet what Maggie Anderson called her "exacting standards." Her latest crisis is finding shoes and clothes for the couple's toddler daughters.
The Andersons buy gasoline cards from black-owned stations in Phoenix and Rockford and use the cards elsewhere. After several weeks of searching, Maggie Anderson found Farmers Best Market, 1424 W. 47th St., Chicago, a black-owned grocery 14 miles from their home, and God First, God Last, God Always Dollar and Up General Store, 2243 E. 71st St., a black-owned general merchandise establishment 18 miles from their house.
They moved their personal accounts to Covenant Bank in Chicago but have been unable to switch their mortgage and student loans to black-owned financial institutions. Their utilities payments will continue going to the companies collecting those now. Maggie Anderson said she has struggled to find financial support for the Ebony Experiment's grander plans, and she lamented the campaign's low national prominence.
Lawrence Hamer, associate professor of marketing at DePaul University, called the Andersons' project "brave and courageous" and said its logic was "exactly right." But it probably will be futile in achieving meaningful impact in the black economy, he said.
"It's just so hard for a small group of individuals to have an impact on something that's so huge," said Hamer, an African-American. "It's almost like a viral marketing campaign. It only works if enough people catch the virus."
Even if they do catch the virus, he said, it is extremely difficult "to get people's attention to change their behavior in any significant way."
Maggie Anderson conceded that "it's still little by little and it's still a lot of work, but I'm still very committed to this."
Although it may be one of the more well-organized and monitored projects of its kind, the Ebony Experiment is not the only buying black venture, said James E. Clingman, a prolific writer on African-American economic empowerment who teaches a class on black entrepreneurship at the University of Cincinnati.
African-Americans have been buying black for more than a century, Clingman said. Booker T. Washington, long an advocate for African-American economic power, was an early proponent, and African-Americans have been forming black-buying cooperatives for decades, Clingman said.
But thriving black businesses began dissolving in the mid-1960s, when African-Americans focused on political power and civil rights and began patronizing white-owned businesses under the misconception that buying white signified blacks' upward socioeconomic mobility, Clingman said.
"Unfortunately, many black people abandoned their own businesses and supported others, thinking that politics was the way out," he said. "Politics still will not get you anywhere unless you have an economic base. Quite frankly, I'd rather have more black businesses than black politicians."
In June, Karriem Beyah opened Farmers Best Market, which he calls "the only African-American grocery store in Illinois that offers a full line of fresh market products." Since being featured on the Ebony Experiment Web site, Beyah said, he has experienced "incremental increases in the customer count" and received numerous e-mails and phone calls of support.
He said he believes in the mission.
"We, as African-Americans, support everyone," he said. "The Ebony Experiment is saying, 'Listen, let's pay attention to us. Let's give some support.'
"The Ebony Experiment can bring awareness, and in that awareness comes better profits and better services and better opportunities. It just grows from there."
tgregory@tribune.com