Years ago I was talking with a friend of mine at his place of business.  Now he owned a spot in a mall serving baked Buffalo Wings and sides. He had an interesting story.  He started out by delivering wings to local barber shops.   He made so much money he was able to get a small place in the mall. The brotha was an instant hit in the local community. I got to know him because Rom loves some Buffalo Wings.   I would be there to get some as they came out the oven.   In fact his wings were such demand that he often had to fulfill orders directly from the oven.   As I said most of the community supported him but you always get those one or two people who want the “hook-up.”

We all know about the “hook-up.” That’s where someone gets food, service, or a product from someone at a greatly reduced price or preferably free.  So I’m talking with my man about business and life in general when this bama, who had to be in his thirties, walked up and wanted some free wings or as he said a sample. The owner looked at him and told him he didn’t give samples. The bama had the nerve to get an attitude saying, “That’s why I didn’t support Black businesses because they didn’t give samples.” The owner looked at the bama calmly and said, “Go around the corner to Popeye’s and ask for a free piece of chicken.  Come back and tell me what they say.” The bama had nothing to say at that point.

In the Black community we talk about having more Black businesses, economic empowerment, and creating jobs.   Yet when Black men and women actually create businesses we don’t want to pay full price for the products or services.   That’s if we even support the businesses to begin with.   We want the hook-up.  Then when we don’t get the hook-up we get mad at the business owner.  In some cases we’re ready to fight the business owner.   We’ll call him or her names, claim they’re not really down for the Black community, and storm out of the business stating that we will never support them. Here’s the kicker.   We will go to a white or Asian business and pay extra for the exact same product or service. In many cases Black people will be treated like crap in those non-Black business establishments.

Black people have to get out of that “hook-up” mentality. First of all Black people have to realize that when they support a Black business they are ultimately supporting themselves and their future job prospects.   For example, say of group of Black men open a grocery store. The community supports that store fully.   That grocery store can provide several jobs for members of the community.   In turn if the grocery store provides an outlet for products from Black owned companies that creates jobs in other Black communities.   Jobs can even be created for the trucking companies that deliver the products.   Every single dollar that supports that grocery stores turns into several more dollars.   All of sudden you have several thousand Black people who are benefitting from that one grocery store. Now let’s turn this around.

Say many people go into that Black-owned grocery store wanting the hook-up.  Okay the store owners are smart enough to say hell no.  Then being petty, the community stops supporting the grocery store.  The store goes out of business.  All of a sudden people who could have had a job instead are now unemployed and this has an effect on other businesses as well. Those grocery employees spend their money on rent, cars, and clothes.   Now they don’t have the money to do so.

Many of us want economic empowerment.   Any sane group of people will want this. We cannot be economically empowered if we are constantly searching for the hook-up and then stop supporting a business because we don’t get it. Going forward we have to kill the hook-up mentality.