NEW ORLEANS—On a recent Saturday, organizers and over a dozen participants met at the Black-owned Half Shell Restaurant at 9 a.m. for a bus tour to explore Black businesses in the city.
The inspiration for the Black Business Bus Tour originated with Brother Asad El-Malik and Brother Reuben De Tiege. In an effort to continue the spirit of the Kwanzaa principle of Ujamaa (cooperative economics), those men in conjunction with the Man Up March committee and Brothers for Better Business wanted to figure out a way to increase circulation of the Black dollar.
“The idea behind the tour came from the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” said Asad El-Malik. “I was thinking about how much effort it took for our people to pull off the boycott. Then I began to think how would a boycott look and work today? What we came up with was the opposite of a boycott. Instead of avoiding a business, we decided to support Black businesses. What we hoped to accomplish was to raise awareness of different Black-owned businesses, support those businesses, and show the importance of investing into self. I think the tour was great. We introduced a bunch of people to Black-owned businesses in this city, Black businesses made a few more dollars, and gained potential customers.”
The bus traveled to several Black business corridors, stopping at each to allow riders to sample and purchase goods and services.
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