Giving Black: What’s In A Name?
Controversy undermines a special day, but also a month and entire movement
By Dr. Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland
While Black Philanthropy Month™ (BPM) 2019 has come to a close, it marks the start of another full year of giving black. Thousands of individuals, groups and institutions engaged in BPM 2019 observances, bringing the total to 30 cities, four states, the US Congress and United Nations. BPM is here to stay and last spring I created a community fund, Black Alliance for Community Revitalization (BLACR™) to sustain it and other initiatives that preserve and advance black culture for the benefit of black communities.
One of my proudest achievements was creating Black Philanthropy Month™ in 2011 as chair of the Pan-African Women’s Philanthropy Network (PAWPNet). During PAWPNet’s groundbreaking summit in 2011, many then emergent leaders — now some of our brightest stars such as Trista Harris, Tsehai Wodajo, Valaida Fullwood, and Opal Tometi — participated and created networks that advanced their success as leaders who continue to make us proud.
Still mostly led by volunteers, BPM carries a purpose that is pure, simple and almost sacred: To celebrate and promote the proud history, culture and practices of black giving nationally and globally for the benefit of African-descent communities everywhere. BPM exists to advance the root meaning of giving, “love of humanity,” which includes love of black people, affirming our giving culture and our right to be agents of our future.
I founded BPM and the people who make it real are grassroots giving advocates, BPM Architects Valaida Fullwood of New Generation of African American Philanthropists and The Soul of Philanthropy exhibit, and Tracey Webb of Black Benefactors and BlackGivesBack.com. Together, as collaborators over the past eight years along with other volunteers and organizational sponsors, we have found a way to launch BPM every August. We have been blessed to inspire nearly a million people with our message about African-descent giving and calls to action to expand care for humanity through giving. Part of a greater Black Philanthropy Movement, BPM has grown due to amazing creativity, solidarity and leadership over the years. Yet as uplifting as this August has been, BPM 2019 witnessed an ominous threat that we must call out and stop. The danger emerged, shockingly, because of a project name featuring a ubiquitous phrase: Giving Black.
One of the many exciting, independent initiatives sparked by BPM is Giving Black Day, organized by the Young, Black and Giving Back Institute (YBGB). YBGB Founder Ebonie Johnson Cooper, whose grassroots efforts have focused on the Millennial generation, had the idea to host Giving Black Day, annually, on August 28 — a date of historical significance — to raise money for community-based, black-led nonprofits. After a locally focused initial effort in 2017, YBGB launched Giving Black Day nationally in 2018 to highlight and support often underfunded black-led nonprofits.
Ebonie’s idea of an entire day dedicated to for us, by us philanthropy resonated widely. Further, the name Giving Black Day, conveyed a clear message, particularly with black audiences. Phrases such as “giving black” and “give black” have long been African-American vernacular, synonymous with the term “philanthropy,” and available for anyone in our community to freely use when communicating about philanthropic efforts. The terms refer to supporting black organizations as well as a black people’s civic duty to give to the broader community (Hancock 2012; Jones 2010).
After an earnest 2018 nationwide launch, promising momentum and sponsors for 2019, during BPM month YBGB received a cease and desist letter from aggressive attorneys representing a philanthropy affinity group, New England Blacks in Philanthropy (NEBiP). NEBiP asserted that it owned both the term and even the entire practice of “Giving Black” or any variant of it. Approached just days before the start of Giving Black Day 2019 and without the funds for a trademark attorney, YBGB capitulated to NEBiP’s demands to pay them 1% of any funds YBGB raised for its own operations during Giving Black Day — a new and unprecedented kind of “giving black tax.” Further, YBGB learned that NEBiP, appropriating the very fundraising campaign that YBGB created and popularized, has plans to organize its own, separate national Giving Black Day for next February.
In addition, NEBiP has contacted others using the phrases “giving black” and “give black,” effectively asserting that, by trademarking a common phrase, it owns our giving culture and gets to determine who uses it. NEBiP will, however, give permission to those willing to pay its fee and adhere to its terms. Truly unacceptable.
I am busy just like everybody. I do not usually take such public stances on community issues, preferring to work behind the scenes as an advocate of global black philanthropy and funding. Whether my day job is specifically focused on black giving or not, this work has been a consistent passion for a long time. With the increasing turbulence in the world, and in the spirit of BPM, I have made a conscientious decision to step out front, using my voice more to speak up for what is right.
It is time to for us all to speak truth to power and bring this specific matter to light. NEBiP’s actions need to be known, and our community should stand up against tactics that serve to bully, stifle innovation and co-opt culture. Collectively, we must let NEBiP know it has gone too far and must immediately stop legal actions against our own people expressing our own culture for good. This terrible precedent, if left unchecked, will line NEBiP’s pockets, making them an illegitimate arbiter of who gets to give black.
Since it is an organization that touts a mission to strengthen black philanthropy, NEBIP should know and be a force against the two corrosive trends that have no place in our embattled community that is literally fighting for dignity and survival everywhere: over-commercialization and cultural appropriation by mainstream philanthropy. Trademarking the name “Giving Black” is legal and, in fact, NEBiP has a bonafide US Trademark and Patent Office trademark for the term. In fact, when I first learned of the trademark of what I just thought was the term, Giving Black, I found it annoying but not worthy of a public stance.
However, upon reading the actual trademark description, it is clear that NEBiP has engaged in an unconscionable act of cultural appropriation. The trademark claims that NEBiP actually owns the act of giving to advance black communities! Click here to see the offensive mark on the US Patent and Trade Office for yourself. As proven by their intimidating tactics during BPM 2019, they are misusing the trademark as a patent, functionally claiming they created, own and therefore get to police and tax organizations and people that use the phrase giving black. Cultural exploitation is wrong, even when committed by black organizations. NEBiP’s actions interfere with our community’s basic human right to exercise our culture, including our black philanthropy practices and colloquialisms.
As established in literature for 30 years now, our diaspora’s giving has proud, deep historical roots that reach back to Africa. Our rich, dynamic practices are the birthright of every black person. It is part of our collective culture. Our culture is our wealth. Neither NEBiP nor anyone else can stop any of us from using it. And as the literature documents, cultural appropriation is not just humiliating for its survivors, it has negative economic consequences.
Black-led nonprofits, including those centered on philanthropy, have enough trouble raising funds. Cultural appropriation has caused incalculable damage to black communities, ensuring that everyone but us benefits from our cultural wealth, while as a people we continue to struggle for economic survival in an increasingly competitive global economy (Thompson 2015). Since our 1619 arrival to the United States, our grassroots, voluntary efforts have been the social glue that has held our beleaguered community and families together during the worst of times. Why dishonor this tradition by charging those practicing it what amounts to a giving black tax?
By charging YBGB or any black-identified person a fee for using our own culture, NEBiP has added commercial exploitation to the indignity of cultural appropriation. And to add insult to injury, it initially tried to have YBGB refer to the licensing fee it would pay them as an NEBiP Giving Black Day sponsorship; thus veiling the true story. Its over-the-top legal actions undermine black giving and suggest it is comfortable using cultural appropriation and commercial exploitation as part of its fundraising strategy.
Often called “philanthropocapitalism,” I am not opposed to the responsible use of the market’s tools for social change and funding (Bishop 2013). Afterall, I have spent my career using market tools to promote giving, first a consultant and later a scholar, foundation and bank executive. But there are clear ethical lines. And NEBiP has crossed them. Neither they nor anyone else has the right to try and stop our community from using our philanthropic traditions, literally built on the backs of our ancestors’ sacrifices and a critical foundation for our survival today. We can balance the heart and the business of giving without engaging in exploitative practices that have hurt our communities.
Black philanthropy affinity groups exist to advance giving black, not exploit it. NEBiP’s efforts erode the free expression and expansion of the Black Philanthropy Movement. No other black philanthropy group has been engaging in such practices. In fact, the Association of Black Foundation Executives has long collaborated with grassroots black philanthropy and other efforts understanding that they represent the culture and constituency upon which all professional blacks in the field stand.
There is no inherent problem with trademarking a vernacular term from our culture. More power to NEBiP, in that respect. Make and sell a “Giving Black” coffee mug. Do a “Giving Black” fundraiser to legitimately support your organization without taxing largely defenseless grassroots giving groups. But attacking the people and organizations that created the culture your organization draws from is unethical and quite frankly, greedy.
Even Disney knows better. For example, there was an understandable outcry of cultural appropriation from the global black and allied community when Disney trademarked the Swahili term, Hakuna Matata based on its use in “The Lion King.” But Disney at least limited the use of the term to clothing and footwear. The company knew that if it tried charging East Africans licensing fees for using the language and underlying culture native Swahili-speakers created in the first place, it would trigger a monumental public relations disaster. Disney understands that it did not create Hakuna Matata and, therefore, should not behave as if its trademark is a patent.
Similarly, NEBiP has its Giving Black trademark. Fine. But when it tries to use it to stop black people from practicing our cultural heritage by charging us to use what is already ours, it joins the list of a long line of organizations that have appropriated and exploited our cultures worldwide for centuries. It is shameful and unnecessary, especially since there are multiple ethical fundraising strategies at NEBiP’s disposal. Despite NEBiP’s contorted trademark claims, it did not invent giving black or black philanthropy. It is saddening that one of our own does not know better and would engage in such a blatant act of cultural appropriation.
I want everyone reading this to contact NEBiP (@GivingBlackNE on Twitter), letting the organization know that its tactics with YBGB and other black grassroots giving advocates are wrong and destructive at any time of the year. Escalating such ploys during BPM 2019 is disgraceful to the spirit of mutual support that underlies black giving and our annual celebration of it. Why not respectfully use Giving Black to support your organization and uplift the community?
In African-descent cultures, names have special spiritual power. Children are given names at birth to embody and manifest a successful future. A single word of a griot can encapsulate millennia of ancient history and wisdom. Words are energy, ideally used with respect and forethought as their utterance is an action that can help or hurt people for generations (Coleman 2002). “Giving Black” is more than words; it is part of our identity as a people. It signifies our faith that we can overcome history’s and today’s atrocities to create a new future based on love for self and humanity. Even if trademarked, it is still ours. We created giving black and no one organization has the ethical right to own it or charge us a tax for using it. Give Black fearlessly every day; it is an expression of our hard-won freedom. Our future depends on it. Ashe!
Contact Black Philanthropy Month™ at info@blackphilanthropymonth.com for uplifting ways to give black year-round to support your nonprofit work. Later this month look for my upcoming article on new ways our community can join with others to save our planet.
HistoryMaker and Black Philanthropy Month Founder, Dr. Jacqueline Bouvier Copeland, is a social justice executive and scholar of black diaspora giving and social finance more generally with multiple books and articles that have influenced the field. A sought-after global speaker, she is a cultural anthropologist and design technologist. She also is founder of the Black Alliance for Cultural Revitalization (BLACR™), a community fund that supports Black Philanthropy Month™ as well as other initiatives that preserve and advance black history and culture for the benefit of black communities throughout the United States and worldwide. This article represents her own opinions and not necessarily those of any organizations with which she is affiliated.
#GiveBlack365 #OurCulture #ForThePeople #WeOwnUs #WeAreBLACR™
