What does Black History mean to you?

When I think about what Black history means to me, I immediately begin to think about cultural resources and wealth building. I remember growing up as a child in the New Orleans, LA observing the grit and grind of the small business owners in my community. I particularly remember going door to door passing out sales advertisments for our local black owner grocery Felton's Food Store to help support our youth football team. It was my first job and I felt like I had some kind of responsibility to make sure that I was representing Mr. Felton in the right way. Although, Mr. Felton passed away a few years later, I remember his wife and and children taking over the business in his place. The most important thing I remember is when I had a conversation with Mrs. Silvia (Mr. Felton's wife) about how she felt disrespected when our community gradually stop supporting their business mainly because the other stores were cheaper but owned by other ethnic groups. She said it was more hurting to see people that their family had helped for decades quickly turn their backs on their family business just because she wouldn't lower her prices. That's when it dawned on me that supporting black businesses was a priority that I would always cherish and preserve for my family legacy as well.

Thus, Black History means to me supporting our Black owned businesses no matter what trials or tribulations that may occur. This is my way of giving back and not because I'm black but because our black ancestors sacrificed blood and tears to make sure that we could have something that we can call our OWN and for that reason I'll always be FOREVER grateful.