United Black America is officailly back in the fight! While you might notice some gaps where images used to be, we are working to re-fill them while giving you fresh and more insightful content. Usually when a site goes down, subscribers drop off, but when UBA went down, our subscriber count didnt change. That lets us know that we have a loyal reader base thats dedicated to what we are doing here.
I appreciate you staying with us as a subscriber while we worked out our behind-the-scenes issues! Now that they are all fixed, you can expect to get faster website load times, fewer error messages, and an easier to navigate site. We are also working on a few more exciting features, like a forum and a Black Business Directory that will be a result of this month’s Black Business Experiment. Speaking of…
Buy Black Business Experiment
I am 10 days into my experiment where I buy only from Black Businesses in my area and online. Hows it going, you ask?
1. I was able to find a few local Black farmers at a Farmers Market thats open in my area every Wednesday. Talking to these men has opened my eyes to the difficulties that Black farmers face. Black Farmers in America actually have an organization that you can learn more about at http://www.blackfarmers.org/. I intend to keep frequenting these farmers as often as I can, plus its always better to get food taken from the land closest to you as opposed to food that has travelled hundreds of miles in the backs of trucks!
2. On top of the things I find at Black farmers market stands, I am supplementing my diet with Morenga. If you arent up on Morenga yet, you can learn more here: http://allthingsmoringa.com/products-page/
3. I cant find any Black suppliers of paper, pens, and other office supplies. Any help here would be appreciated. I also still need some participation as far as you all recommending Black businesses.
4. I havent found a Black web hosting company for this website, so that was a fail. I have, however, found a Social Media Manager for United Black America’s Facebook, Black Planet, and Twitter profiles, so for a few bills a month, one of the men from the accountability group that I founded will maintain and advance our social media efforts. Speaking of….
Black Men’s Accountability Group
A while ago, I wrote about Accountability Groups (http://unitedblackamerica.com/solutions-for-black-america-accountability-groups/) and the power of collectives (http://unitedblackamerica.com/building-black-cooperative-empire/). I am pleased to say that my group has an up and running Standard Operating Procedure, elected officials, a pool of funds that we use for venture capital investments, and we are growing every week. People talk about how black men cant get together and get things done, but the men in my group are proving that to be incorrect. Who would have thought that a group of Black men would actually want to get together to be grilled about getting their goals accomplished by other Black men…and pay to be a part of the group…and show up religiously week after week?
This just goes to show all the talkers out there that if you offer solutions to the community instead of pointless argument and criticism, other Black men and women will jump on board eagerly to support your cause!
If anyone is interested in starting a group in your area, let us know and we will send you a copy of our standard operating procedures!
Again, thanks for subscribing and staying put while we got our ish together. If you havent already subscribed to our email list, do so and you will get a free installment of our new book, 10,000 Streams of Consciousness. Also, hit us up on Twitter and Facebook using the floating bar to the left!
-Asad
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