Look Who it Was Random video

Black people are now doing the #BlackBusinessChallenge

2,682 views · Published 5 September 2014 · 4:54 · Indexed 20 October 2026

Channel: The Dr Boyce Watkins Black Excellence Channel · 2014 · Nonprofits & Activism

Watch on YouTube

The Ice Bucket Challenge was a recent phenomenon that gained a great deal of momentum around the world.  Millions of dollars were raised to fight ALS, a serious disease in great need of additional funding and research.  

Black people and black celebrities were at the front of the line, dumping frigid ice buckets on their heads and then challenging their friends to do the same.  I respect that.  I don't want to be that cold. 

Then, Andre Hatchett from BuyBlackNYC.com came to me with an even more compelling idea.  Andre proposed that for the month of September, we do the #BlackBusinessChallenge.  I was most excited because this challenge didn't involve anything cold and only required me to pull out my cell phone for 20 minutes and load a video onto Facebook.  

I tried it and it felt amazing.  The process was simple:  I just went to a small black business on my way home from the gym, pulled out my phone and talked for about 2 minutes about the business, the owner and the products I'd bought.  I then loaded the video to my Facebook page and put #BlackBusinessChallenge as the hashtag. 

Others have done the same and I hope that you will too. The challenge was designed to only be for the month of February, but I hope Andre doesn't mind that I've taken the liberty of suggesting that this be something that we do all year round.  

The truth is that if we don't support black businesses, no one else will.  If we don't take care of each other, then the entire community is vulnerable.  In my 20 years of teaching Finance at the college level, one of the things I've figured out is that often, the simple solutions and baby steps are the ones that create the giant magical moments that transform an entire generation.  

Let's create a economic earthquake by using social media as a way to put money into the pockets of our people, thus creating jobs and attacking the black unemployment problem head on.  Most jobs in our economy are created by small businesses, so by giving that tiny bit of support to businesses in our community, we are putting our people back to work and taking that next tiny step toward the elusive goal of true socio-economic equality. 

I can't lie, this challenge excites me.  You can see that in my face during this video.  It actually makes me feel more like a strong, proud black man......that's a wonderful feeling.

More from this channel