I truly enjoyed Ms Anderson and this topic. Ms Anderson has expressed what I have been feeling for most of my adult life, supporting businesses that empower my community. Other ethnic groups make no bones about supporting business that look like them and share their same beliefs. It’s called ethnic pride.
I find nothing that Ms Anderson said to be offensive toward anyone or group. But when African-Americans (people of Afrikan descent) try to unite and support each other, some would try to make us appear to be divisive from other groups. They don’t see the larger picture and how our communities have suffered the most from discrimination. The outsiders that come into our communities to do business with us (to take our money out); do not hire local children from the neighborhood after school to work in those shops. They do not invest in our communities. They take the dollars out and spend elsewhere.
Ms Anderson is trying to help African –Americans families be aware of our spending habits and teach our children to be conscious. I think that some people are afraid for us to show solidarity with each other.
I have no problem spending my hard earned dollars with people of all different ethnic backgrounds. But I will make more of an effort to spend them with people that look like me and share similar beliefs as mine. Buy Black, develop ethnic pride.

The Asians,Hispanic, Africans that are now business owners in minority neighborhoods,are newcomers, compared to the African Americans that have
been in those neighborhoods for decades.

Asians, Hispanic, Africans all have their own horror stories, the hell
some of them have fled from in their countries of origin.

But they have found a way to make it here.

I must say I find this woman's rhetoric pretty offensive. When you start dividing up people by their ethnicity and start suggesting not shopping at a place because they are the wrong color for the neighborhood does nothing to help bring our communities together. Of course, I understand her logic and it is absolutely necessary to support community owned businesses. However, I cannot support her focusing on "the outsiders" those "Greeks", "Arabs" and "Koreans" that move into predominantly black neighborhoods to open businesses. I am reminded of the Rodney King riots and how Korean owned businesses were the target of arsonists and looters. She should focus on ways to bring investment back into black communities and not blame what she seems to believe are the foreign interlopers for ruining the chances for successful, black owned businesses; there are much broader reasons for this.
The other day my sister , who makes homemade jams and jellies for extra income, brought a selection to her goods to her workplace to sell to co-workers. She was told straight out by one of them that "I don't buy anything from white people, only blacks". My sister, who is a very amiable sort of person was totally flabbergasted. The worst part is, if she had done the same thing she would have been labeled a racist and probably would have lost her job. Would Ms. Anderson be happy with this senario??

I've mixed feelings on this.

First off-- the guy who fixed my sidewalk was Pakistani. I pulled him after seeing him do work on another neighbor's House. He was in the area and he was polite and his work was good.

Second-- My BEST hardware store is a Yemeni-owned. He's in the neighborhood. He's open 7 days. I feel welcome when I go in and when I ask a repair question, I will get far better answers than from a part-time stock worker at the Home Depot.

But-- when I needed to convert my furnace. The list of companies I got from the Gas co were all white, established firms. A couple of them were actually uncomfortable just being in an african american home. And the rest frankly only wanted to work with the Six-Figure crowd down around Park Slope. So I asked my neighbors to get me the names of black heating contractors via the Work of Mouth grapevine. The guy was young, professional, and knowledgeable in his craft. And he has email and a website and kept in touch via his blackberry. It all worked out very nicely.

I did my part. But I'm not going to do a Reverse 'Jim Crow' on my spending choices. The world is different from the one my parents grew up in.

So I'll still go to my Yemeni Hardware store for plumbing bits and the Dominican run Supermarket for my grocery. NYC in the 21st century is Mixed.

I live in Harlem and in the process of opening a restaurant and as a man of color I would like to see this happen in Harlem. One of my biggest concerns is the way people who live here treat the neighborhood. From throwing trash in the streets, people hanging out in front of businesses, these are things that I have to think about. These things are allowed to happen in Harlem that don't happen in other neighborhoods. It's something that has to be addressed!

Hey Eric!
You've got a great voice.
Let's have more of you when Leonard is away.
Good job

This issue is really complex and extends beyond local communities. Consider that the best known "Black" websites are not owned by Black people. As a result, advertising buys and other resources are really going to large multinational corporations (which is not readily obvious to visitors).

The resulting lack of financial support prevents thse sites from growing or developing (much like the communties Ms. Anderson speaks about).

Good program!

Bob you obviously missed something, she never said that but it would not be a bad idea since Black people are currently the largest consumers.

I know as a white guy I'm not supposed to be offended by insensitive racial speech, but I am! I'm offended that the store owners in black neighborhoods are dismissed as "Arab" or "Greek", who "take the money back to their suburbs" where they come from. Stereotype and assumptions running rampant. It sounds like what's being requested is that non-blacks not do business in black communities? Seriously? I strongly approve of Black empowerment, I strongly approve of and support black owned businesses. But I'm strongly opposed to driving investment out of an ethnic area due to differing ethnicities. Segregation kills neighborhoods/cities/countries. All Americans need to work together, side by side.

...all you had to do was disclose the location of this potential business venture to get denied.

It was so bad until Black Americans I know over 70 still think it is that way, they were so discouraged until they did not try again.

Now a whole new generation are becoming entrepreneurs but not opening their business in the low income communities..so opens the doors for immigrant business, the Koreans, the Arabs etc...

I wish the host would ask Ms. Anderson if she would feel good about other groups patronizing only their kind of people, whites going only to white owned stores, gays going to gay owned stores, Jews to Jews, and passing by the available black business person. The problem with her stand is that by including her own she excludes others based not on customer service or quality but on race alone. When whites do that, we're called racist.

Black folks should open stores in Park Slope. Watch all the Park Sloper make it a badge of honor to shop there.

It is/was a calculated economic move to deny loans to Black Americans back beyond the 70s - the effects of which are still being felt in the community.

How do you determine if a business is black-owned? Everyone working at a place might be black, but the owner could still be from outside the community.