How successful was the Black-owned movement in the Hudson Valley?
This time last June, the world was gripped not just by the pandemic, but by the Black Lives Matter movement. The reaction to George Floyds murder had a ripple effect that was more pervasive than any societal reckoning in recent memory, sparking worldwide protests and spurring friends to have frank conversations on racism. On social media, people shared Instagram explainers of white privilege, booksellers routinely sold out of anti-racist titles like White Fragility, and the call was made to support Black-owned businesses. One year later, we are emerging from the pandemic, with vaccinations rising and New York fully opening. We asked Black entrepreneurs and activists in the Hudson Valley their thoughts on the impact of BLM movement, and how the campaign to shop Black-owned businesses impacted them personally. Fahari Bazaar: Chatham, Columbia County  Fahari Wambura was not surprised that she saw only a one-week spike in orders last year during the call to support Black-owned businesses. From my experience last year, after the murder of George Floyd and what came out of that, I kind of concluded that people have a very short attention span, said the Tanzanian owner of Fahari Bazaar in Chatham, where she sells her handmade dresses and items crafted in her home country. To her mind, quick-fix responses  like supporting Black-owned businesses  to a traumatic and tragic event was an emotional reaction that could not be sustained over time. As an immigrant who moved with her family first to New York City in 2011, then Ghent in 2014, she says she is not steeped in the history of the African-American experience. But she is keenly aware of how race impacts her life in America. Ive never thought of myself as a color until I moved to this country, she said. Just walking out the door, she says shes made aware of her difference every day. You cannot change hundreds of years of history or a mindset within a year, said Wambura. Its a lot of work that takes effort. Its not like you  study racial justice for one month and then come out a different person. I think thats why these things keep repeating themselves, because we dont realize its going to take much more effort for anything to change. You can buy all you want, but do the biases and stereotypes still exist?  Essies: Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County  Vanessa Williamson / VW Freelance Photography  Chef Brandon Walker of the Poughkeepsie restaurant Essies sees the Black Lives Matter movement as a positive development overall  not necessarily for business, but for the awareness it created. Because of that movement  I think there has been a lot of exposure to African Americans who are doing good things in their communities. And in that regard, I think that's great, he said. In his case, any uptick in customers he may have received because of the grassroots campaign to support Black business owners did not erase the drastic drop in sales he saw during the forced closure of in-person dining during the pandemic. And now he sees the urgency of supporting Black-owned businesses waning. In any business or any type of initiative theres a high point and peak and then they drop off, said Walker. Now that he has fully reopened, finding enough staff to operate at full capacity has not been easy. Things are building back up. I've definitely seen a little increase in sales, but now like every other restaurant and food service operation, [its] a challenge finding good help, he said. So Walker, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, has streamlined his menu to feature a smaller number of dishes. (His signature grit croquettes and jerk ribs are still there.) And while the media attention post-BLM may have faded, he personally remains committed to patronizing Black-owned restaurants and entrepreneurs around him like Twisted Soul, Sweet Bakes and Berry Bissap. I always try to look for Black-owned businesses in my community and support them as much as I can, he said. Newburgh Mercantile: Newburgh, Orange County  Eric Jarmann  This gift and framing shop is owned by Jacqui Watkins, who says she initially saw an increase in people visiting her store, including some who said they found Newburgh Mercantile on one of the many Black-owned business lists circulating online last year. We had a lot of people come in, and the funny thing is they werent local, said Watkins. They were mostly from New York, Long Island and even people up from Vermont who came to support my business.  Today she doesnt get as many customers as she did last summer, or at least they arent as vocal about why theyre stopping in. The support was great, said Watkins. I didnt expect anything to come off those lists but what people are doing is they will go explore a different area and then seek out all of the Black-owned businesses in that area.  Watkins has also seen an increase in the amount of Black customers to her shop  more than shes ever had before  but, like other Black-owned businesses we talked to, she said she cant exactly pinpoint if that is due to the buy-Black movement. See and Be Kitchen: Cairo, Greene County  Chrissy Traore  Chrissy Traore, a Long Islander with Italian roots, and Ben Salif Traore, who emigrated from Burkina Faso in West Africa, came together to create the bakery and kitchen that blends their backgrounds. While theyre grateful that last years Black Lives Matter protests brought more attention to Black-owned businesses, they both think that it didnt get at the root of changing systemic discrimination, particularly when it applies to other Black or minority business owners. We want to help people who want to start businesses, said Ben. Not that many minority businesses are opened, but there are a lot that want to open a business.  Not only is it harder to secure funding as a BIPOC entrepreneur, but Black-owned businesses tend to be located in communities that were hardest hit by the pandemic, and entered the lockdown with weaker financial footing, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As a result, twice as many Black-owned businesses closed last year compared to 20 percent of white-owned ones. Last year, See and Be launched a bake sale to support organizations that further the development of people of color and that help those who are food insecure, like the Community Action of Greene County. This years bake sale will feature goods from several local bakeries, restaurants and community bakers when it takes place on July 31, this time benefiting community-based food initiatives. Since the Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year, Chrissy recognized that while it boosted dialogue and foot traffic to their bakery in the beginning, the people coming in were usually white. As a business owner, we appreciate that it brought some new customers that hadnt met us before  maybe it was a way for them to know we are here, said Chrissy. But she encouraged people to go further and support Black-owned businesses that arent as established. Blue Byrds Haberdashery & Music: Kingston, Ulster County  Morgan Y. Evans  John Allen Blue and his wife Maureen Byrd co-own this longstanding Kingston-based headwear and music store. Blue said that between the pandemic causing the stores temporarily closure until July 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests happening before that, it is hard to make any true connection between the initiative to support Black-owned businesses and the impact its had on their sales. Blue said there was a slow and steady increase in customers to the shop later last summer. However, he speculated that it may have had more to do with peoples comfort levels shopping in person with the eased COVID-19 restrictions. I would want to believe that people are continuing to do business with us, not because we are a Black-owned business, but because we provide a good product and that people appreciate our friendship and we appreciate their loyalty, said Blue, who has been in business for almost 30 years. Rise Up Kingston: Kingston, Ulster County  Callie Jayne  Callie Jayne, founder and executive director of the advocacy group Rise Up Kingston, is in the business of organizing support for, and forging political paths to racial justice, and has an on-the-ground perspective of the ebb and flow of attention on the Black Lives Matter movement. We see these upticks [of interest] a lot when there's a very publicized police execution in the middle of the street, said Jayne. But last Junes outpouring of support was remarkable for its pervasiveness. Even Amazon and Netflix, they point out, were broadcasting the phrase across their platforms. At the beginning, we were definitely seeing an increase of people saying, you know, How can we help, what can we do? The nonprofit also saw an increase in donations last summer, though Jayne says that funding could also be attributed to the money Rise Up was receiving to help mutual aid groups during the pandemic. Now, Jayne can see the attention on the movement dwindling, most visibly in the falling attendance at the weekly Wednesdays Walk for Black Lives in Kingston. Jayne also feels that the ubiquity of the phrase Black Lives Matter has diminished its meaning over time, particularly when its used by those who do not embrace BLM platforms like defunding the police, a contentious tenet that calls for diverting a portion of police budgets toward more social services. Its very easy to say, I see you, I hear you, Black Lives Matter, but I think in some ways the popularity of that phrase is being used to try to silence the movement.