How I Earned My Black Card.
When I was a little girl in Virginia Beach, I was laying on the grass in the front yard with my brother and a few of his friends. He was standing on the curb, bouncing a basketball. A police officer riding by stopped his car and told my brother not to bounce the ball, because the area of gutter right next to our curb was public property. After a few smirks and scowls, he rode away.
We were lucky.
When George Floyd died, I was tired. Years and years of death and violence had worn me weary. I wanted to do something lasting, something tangible. So when a good friend approached me with an idea to help out protestors being detained by raising money to buy them gift cards from black owned restaurants, I hopped on the idea. My only thought was, how do I use this card to make an impact, not just on individual lives, but on the community as a whole. How could this small project change the world?
In 1906, O.W. Gurley bought the 40 acres of land in the Greenwood District of Tulsa Oklahoma that started a community of wealthy blacks fleeing oppression called Black Wall Street. Fifteen years later, the community was terrorized, bombed and burned in a racially motivated massacre, but what many people don’t know is that they rebuilt. A massive reconstruction of the district was completed in 1922, and only one year after the riot eighty businesses were opened. The community flourished, even through the great depression. So what finally crushed Black Wall Street?
Ironically, much needed desegregation resulted in white owned businesses setting up shop in black neighborhoods, and black families moving into predominantly white neighborhoods. As an unexpected consequence, by 1961, 90 percent of African American income in Tulsa was spent outside of the Greenwood district. Closing businesses and disinterest sapped the community of much of its vitality. In the end, bombs didn’t crush Black Wall Street, economic famine did.
That’s why we partnered up with black owned companies all around NYC to create a card for communities in need. Our goal is to provide food and relief to people who need it while circulating money in the black community, a necessity for creating real systemic change in our country. First, we launched a campaign to create gift cards for organizers and detained activists protesting police brutality. Next, we raised money for a second round of cards for transgender youth, a group disproportionately affected by violence and apathy. All the money spent on the cards goes to black owned businesses.
Now, 10% of the revenue from our projects goes towards The Black Carte. Every one of our projects can make an impact not just through media, but in dollars to the people that need it. It’s our goal to expand the card to cities all over the country, and to create a community of thriving businesses with a mission of social good.
Amber Lee-Adadevoh | Executive Producer | Mission Based Projects
