Combating Racism – Our Dollars Make a Difference

Back in July, I wrote a newsletter listing organizations that work to combat racism, with hotlinks to the websites of each organization (a partial list at best). If you missed that newsletter, you can find it here.

Now I’ve thought of additional ways we can use our dollars to combat racism. The five ideas below are thought starters. I welcome additional suggestions from any of my readers.

1.     Bank Black. Take a small portion of your money and open an account with a Black bank or credit union. Imagine: If one million people found one Black bank and put $50 into that bank, the bank would have enough money to make small home loans, business loans to small Black businesses, etc. that larger commercial banks have refused to make to Black homeowners and Black businessmen and women.

A list of Black owned banks can be found here.

A list of Black owned credit unions can be found here.

At the very least, consider moving some or all of your checking, savings, mortgage, etc. from banks that deny loans to qualified Black customers.

This article highlights the dramatic lending discrimination faced by Blacks both historically and currently. Controlling for nine economic and social factors (e.g., income, loan amount, neighborhood where they wanted to buy), racial disparities persist in 61 metropolitan areas across the country including Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Antonia, Mobile, Greenville, Gainesville.

2.     Move money. Get your organization to move some or all of its money to Black-owned banks, as Netflix is doing. For inspiration, see this article about Netflix’s commitment to Black communities.

3.     Support Black businesses. You can find lists of them at any of the following sites:

In addition, Yelp has a feature to search for Black owned businesses, restaurants, and nail and hair salons by location.

4.     Donate. In addition to the organizations listed in my July newsletter, consider donating to the work of organizations such as the following:

You can join their listservs and take actions suggested in their emails. (Not that we don’t have enough emails in our inboxes!)

5.     Support Black youth. If there are Black children or teens in your life or in your neighborhood, contribute to their college savings plans or open one of your own. You can also contribute to a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) of which there are 107 in the United States, or to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

Great things are accomplished by a series of small actions brought together. Together, we can use even the smallest amounts of funds to make a huge difference in the lives of Black Americans.

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