Have a black summer!

June 15th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

‘Young Black Professional Guide’Summer is here and few people want to stay home. I know I don’t. And after reading propaganda (joking) from Black Enterprise magazine for the past several years, I’m a bit more cautious about where I’m dropping my nickels and dimes. And I’m encouraging you to become so as well.

Consider supporting black businesses wherever you go this summer.

Contrary to popular belief, summer is actually a difficult time financially for a lot of businesses as many people save up their disposable income for that big summer trip. And while that’s understandable, try to support the black business community while on vacation.

If you’re even more hardcore with your support of our own, consider visiting a place that has a lot of significance in black culture. Or add a community service element to your vacation. My personal experience has taught me that alternative vacations offer memories that can put traditional holidays to shame.

Some of my best vacations involve a car trip with my wife when were just “going together” from the central midwest to the Mississippi Delta. Another memorable trip was with a good friend of mine to a rural part of South Africa.

I know several friends headed to New Orleans for the revamped Essence Music Festival. And another is taking a “black history tour” of important cities in the Deep South. Both trips have service elements as they plan to participate in Katrina relief efforts.

You can’t BUY those memories – or photos – in Orlando!

Many cities have festivals, museums and events that will leave you more informed than you arrived. And just as important - will leave the city’s black business community in good shape as well. Ebony and Essence magazines do a decent job of posting information about them. If you’re unaware of local black businesses, contact the local black Chamber of Commerce or www.blackpages.com.

Don’t let this summer break be a break away from supporting our own. Where you spend your dollars matters!

Viewing 2 Comments

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    I did an interview on my show about Soul Planet Travel tours. Its and African American, African centered touring company that has a tour planned this summer to Brazil and later they are going to France.

    I love to travel.
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    There are plenty of hsitorical stops all over the country. The DuSable Museum in Chicago; Booker T. Washington's home and the George Washington Carver Museum at my alma mater, Tuskegee University in Alabama; musically and socially historic stops from Memphis to Nashville and Birmingham to Montgomery; the Muhammad Ali Museum and E & S Art Gallery in my adopted home town of Louisville, secret stops along the Underground Rail Road in Cincinatti, right across the Ohio River from Kentucky, various points of interest in my original home town of St. Louis, the site of the famed Dred Scott case.

    Great choices no matter where you go, especially if you have an extended break and string a few stops together as a cultural road trip.

    Good idea Eugene. We're going to have to do something like this for the Lindsey household one year.

    And oh yeah, Black Enterprise propaganda is the only propaganda worth reading. They get a thumbs up from me too.
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