Memphis Black Restaurant Week will be held this year, from March 6-12.

Cynthia Daniels, creator of the idea said she wants to get more people acquainted with black-owned restaurants in Memphis and create a platform where they can be showcased.

“Many Memphians aren’t aware of new black-owned restaurants, Daniels said. You haven’t heard of most of these restaurants. Certain restaurants are on the radar. You know a year in advance something is about to open. We don’t have that in our community, unfortunately.”

In 2015, the first year, Daniels was able to eight restaurants to participate. What happened next was something that she did not anticipate: $85,000 was spent in one week and 38 jobs were created.

Because of job creation a lot the staff was able to stay on board full time.

“This will be the second year. Really, what happened is I’m a big fan of Downtown Dining Week. I have a company that does a lot of social media for different companies in the city — Cynthia Daniels & Co. So, I was working with HM Dessert Lounge. She opened up November 2015. That’s during the same time as Downtown Dining Week.”

This year, participating restaurants will feature a two-course lunch for $15 and a three-course dinner for $25.

Daniels who seeks to provide a holistic experience for those in attendance, for example this year during Black Restaurant Week Two Vegan Sistas will be on the roster. Two Vegan Sistas is a vegan restaurant in the Summer-Bartlett area which serves only gluten free foods and is about holistic eating.

HM Dessert Lounge, who does chicken and waffles will be participating again this year. Fran Mosely the owner says Black Restaurant Week brought exposure to his restaurant and other restaurants.

“It brought folks from around the tri-state. So, we had folks from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas. We also had folks from Louisiana, Texas, Chicago that came in to support the effort to bring awareness and drive revenue to some small restaurants that are owned by African-Americans” Mosley said.

If you’re in the area or are interested in participating you can find out more information on their website here: https://www.blackrestaurantweek.com/memphis

By Amy Lukau

Twelve black professionals are putting group economics to work. Creating the Miami Millennial Investment Firm, these Miami-Dade professionals seek to get black people to invest in gentrifying neighborhoods of Brownsville, Liberty City, Overtown, Gladeview and Little Haiti.

“We decided we wanted to make this a black project,” one of the group’s founders, Fabiola Fleuranvil told WLRN.

“People were saying, ‘How are you going to find young professionals who can put that type of money on the table?’ And we were able to find it without a problem.”

The firm’s inaugural investment was raised by finding 12 individuals with $10,000 each.

Miami Millennial Investment Firm is a closed group although they are in talks to create subgroups for future investors.

The firm has purchased two single families homes thus far planning to add commercial and industrial properties to their portfolio.

Fleuranvil said “We see the opportunity, but we don’t want to sit back as bystanders. We’re coming in to do it.”

Fleuranvil said when she looked at who was coming in on the cusp of neighborhoods changing in Miami and buying properties and then making large sums from profit it was foreign investors, big-name national and local developers. However, young black professionals were absent from the equation.

Steven Osakue one of  the firm’s investors said other groups have been strategic in South Florida when it comes to ownership in their own communities but in predominantly black enclaves black professionals do not  always see the potential in staying and investing.

“I think it’s been systemic for many generations that we haven’t been taught what to do with our money as much as other communities have,” Osakue said.

Firm members understand that black investors need to be creative and build a collective that pools money together if they are going to be successful in combating gentrification in the twenty first century.

In a week that has seen rideshare giants Uber and Lyft undergo tremendous scrutiny because of their top executives’ ties to President Donald Trump, all is not lost on the “little people” who are in need of some form of on-demand transportation.

Another rideshare platform, known as Moovn, stands a great chance of taking a substantial amount of disgruntled passengers who have been involved in the #DeleteUber movement for the past several days. Launched in 2015 by a Melanoid man from Tanzania by the name of Godwin Gabriel, the app has created quite the buzz on social media and by word of mouth. As of right now, the app is available for passengers in several markets, including Atlanta, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Seattle. Moovn also is gaining an international presence, setting up shop in cities like Johannesburg, South Africa, and Nairobi, Kenya.

The recent launch of Moovn couldn’t have come at a better time. In October of 2016, the National Bureau of Economic Research released a study which found that many Melanated people — namely Black people of African/Melanoid descent — were being discriminated against on both sides of the rideshare platforms…as passengers and as drivers. In an August 2016 interview with Geekwire, Gabriel stated that “Being a late-comer in this space allows us to learn from our competitors’ missteps, which has helped us strategically navigate our own course towards continued growth”.

If the app achieves much success, it is due solely to Godwin Gabriel’s ability to serve a need to a demographic that is being disproportionately marginalized while simultaneously serving the transportation needs of the dominant society as well. His disruptive approach to a relatively new marketplace which has already shown more than enough  “Good Ol’ Boys’ Club” tendencies will serve him well in his endeavors with Moovn.

For those who may be wondering, this app is named Reachfolk, it’s about to make Black Society’s life a little easier–one city at a time. Created by podcaster and author Daniel FreeMan (who wrote the Bestselling book titled: How To Make A Dollar Out Of Fifteen Cents!), the platform is currently in its beta stages, and a campaign to raise the funds to complete the development of the app has been launched which can found by following this link.

Whether you’re looking for a Black Owned hookah lounge or a mechanic, Reachfolk is a surefire way to stay connected–no matter where you are.

B. Clark

Had she remained in the Deep South, Mary Ellen Pleasant could have possibly received as much–if not more–recognition for her contributions as Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and Rosa Parks…to name a few. Ms. Pleasant’s story was unique in comparison with many Blacks who were enslaved in the Antebellum South: Born in Augusta, GA in the early 1800s, she was born as the illegitimate daughter of the son of then-Virginia governor and a Haitian voodoo priestess, who was enslaved  as well.

As a child, Pleasant was taken out of slavery by an unknown family. As a young woman, Pleasant married a wealthy Mulatto abolitionist by James Smith sometime in the 1840’s. After her husband’s untimely death, Pleasant inherited his substantial fortune.

Moving to New Orleans shortly after this turn of events, she connected with a woman named Queen Marie Laveau–also known as one of the greatest voodoo priestesses to reside in the “Crescent City”. It was said that Pleasant studied under Laveau to learn the science of voodoo as a means of empowering her people. In spite of her selfless acts of service to her fellow Melanoid people in New Orleans, it was a short matter of time before she would be on the move again — this time to San Francisco.

In April of 1852, Mary Ellen Pleasant arrived in the Bay Area’s largest city. Once she got there, she had to take on two identities, due to California’s Fugitive Slave Act of 1852 –in order to avoid being captured by slave hunters. Under her two identities, she lived a double life — One as “Mrs. Ellen Smith” (her married name), and the other as “Mrs. Pleasants”, who operated as a businesswoman and abolitionist. Under the “Ellen Smith” moniker, she worked as a white boardinghouse steward and cook. With a job in the service sector, she was often in the midst of a sizable number of wealthy white businessmen in ‘Frisco, who she served as she worked. She was well-liked by many of the men, but she used their admiration for her as leverage to have them hire Black people, and give them benefits they were previously denied access to. It was because of her personal brand of power brokering that many people in her circle nicknamed her “The Black City Hall”.

With a secret business partner, Pleasant eventually amassed a fortune worth over $30 million. She used much of that fortune to challenge the white supremacist status quo that’s always plagued this country, with her most notable deed being that she financially backed the storied abolitionist, John Brown.

For more on the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, follow this link.

B. Clark

]]> https://www.melanoidnation.org/mary-ellen-pleasant-the-30-million-dollar-mother-of-civil-rights-in-california/feed/ 121 https://www.melanoidnation.org/joes-crab-shack-used-a-photo-of-lynching-in-one-of-its-restaurants/ https://www.melanoidnation.org/joes-crab-shack-used-a-photo-of-lynching-in-one-of-its-restaurants/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2016 20:54:04 +0000 http://melanoidnation.org/?p=3332 ROSEVILLE, MN — A major seafood franchise is receiving much attention this week due to one of its restaurant’s racist decorations.

A Joe’s Crab Shack near Minneapolis was visited by two Melanoid people on Wednesday when they noticed a photo depicting a lynch mob featuring captions with tasteless humor. Tyrone Williams and Chauntyll Allen–the two customers who noticed the photo, complained to management about what they saw, then opted not to dine at the establishment.

The Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP intervened upon hearing of the incident, and the chapter’s president, Nekima Levy-Pounds had the following to say in a press conference:

This disturbing incident that occurred at Joe’s Crab Shack, demonstrates that racism is still alive and well in this country. It is sickening to know that someone would make a mockery of black men being savagely lynched and then use that imagery for decorative purposes in a restaurant.

“I have felt sick to my stomach and stressed out since seeing that image on the table where I was planning to eat my food,” Tyrone told Minneapolis’s KARE 11.

B. Clark

The social media giant, which found itself in hot water after it was revealed that its employees were crossing out “Black Lives Matter” (and replacing the term with “All Lives Matter”) on the headquarters’ signature wall, has been a hot button issue as of late.

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stepped forward to order his employees not to make such changes to the signature wall, citing the following statement which was included in a company announcement letter:

“I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my communication, I now consider this malicious as well”

For more on Zuckerberg’s written statement regarding his employees’ anti-Black gestures, please view the following photo.

As expected, the controversy surrounding this issue prompted many to take yet another look at the minuscule amount of Black employees who work for Facebook. This is perhaps one more case of the systematic exclusion of Black tech professionals from Silicon Valley. As seen in this story’s featured image, Facebook has changed its sign to be decorated with a traditional African tribal-themed print.

To get a glimpse of how the regular Facebook greeting sign looks, view the image below.

In spite of Zuckerberg’s attempt–albeit a contrived one–to smooth over his company’s image (as it pertains to Black people), many are not convinced. In recent months, it has been shown that many Melanoid people with a large Facebook following have witnessed their accounts be suspended when using their accounts to address specific Black issues, which is a stark contrast to the countless white supremacists who have used their Facebook pages to spread and cosign anti-Black–and often violent–rhetoric, which often goes unpunished.

In order for Black Society’s social media experience to remain fair and enjoyable, a solution has presented itself, which will prove to ensure just that…a fair and enjoyable social media experience; free of harassment and trolling by white supremacists.

For more on this solution, please follow this link.

B. Clark

Ben Hill Custom Cleaners is a dry cleaning service located in the Metro Atlanta area, and it is owned by a non-Melanoid person. A Black man and his son pulled up to the drive-thru to pick up his dry cleaned clothes, and was met with an extremely rude reception by the business’s owner. Check out the video below to see the the whole scenario unfold for yourself.

There is an old saying that goes, “Go where you are celebrated, not tolerated”. In this case, the owner of Ben Hill Custom Cleaners did not even display the slightest inkling of tolerance for his Black customer(s). Black Society, are THESE the types of people who you trust to give you exemplary customer service?

B. Clark

Mr. Allen has filed a lawsuit against two entities that have a stronghold in the media world: Charter Communications and the Federal Communications Commission. 

The lawsuit has been filed because of accounts of the media giants’ racial discrimination against various Black media platforms. The lawsuit referred to Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. section 1981 which has been violated on the grounds of Black media outlets being disparaged. The $10 billion lawsuit was filed earlier this week by the Founder & CEO of Entertainment Studios.

B. Clark

]]> https://www.melanoidnation.org/media-mogul-byron-allen-is-suing-two-major-media-related-entities/feed/ 48 https://www.melanoidnation.org/web-directories-that-list-black-owned-businesses/ https://www.melanoidnation.org/web-directories-that-list-black-owned-businesses/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2015 17:58:42 +0000 http://melanoidnation.org/?p=272 There are many Melanoid people who have the good intentions on patronizing and/or promoting Black-owned businesses, yet they feel a sense of helplessness when it comes time to doing so. The reasoning for this is because locating a Black owned and operated business can sometimes be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, the onset of the Internet has made finding such businesses a little easier. Here is a list of online directories that list Black-owned businesses for the convenience of the potential Black clientele.

1. iZania.com

Founded by former IBM employee named Roger Nelson, this site was created by him to be a “virtual Black community” that embraces  strong African principles, and aims to unite the global Black Family via group economics.

2. HBCU Money’s 2015 Black-Owned Directory of Banks

Perhaps one of the most sought after Black-owned businesses when it comes to Black Society, this directory will serve as a guide for your future Black banking needs. Let the dollar circulate…this time in the hands of Black bankers.

3. We Buy Black

This site is prime location for practical products (and cool miscellaneous items alike) that can be utilized by Black consumers on an everyday basis.

4. Melanoid Nation

To some, this entry might come off as being a shameless plug, but to those in the know, our organization has promoted Black economic empowerment since our inception in 2014. From featured stories on up-and-coming businesses, to young aspiring entrepreneurs, we will continue championing the resurgence of Black businesses (as well as Black entrepreneurs).

As listed above, these are just a few more ways that you as the Black customer can keep your money in Black hands as much as possible by supporting Black owned businesses. Stay tuned for future stories that will continue to show you who and what to support so long as it leads to the uplifting of Black businesses.

B. Clark