Story at a glance
- The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the economy, and small businesses are especially struggling.
- The holiday season is traditionally celebrated with gift-giving, during which Americans spend more money than other times of the year.
- In the wake of a national reckoning over racism and inequality, some shoppers are choosing to make a statement with their choices.
Finding the right present is hard enough. But the right present from the right place? Even trickier.
Still, money talks, and more and more Americans are using it to speak out about their values. The coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Black, Indigenous and Latinx populations, has also taken an economic toll on people of color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ people. Amid the pandemic, systemic racism and discrimination have continued, and police violence against Black people has sparked protests and demonstrations — as well as support for Black-owned businesses.
As winter brings a new wave of coronavirus cases, however, many Americans have less this holiday season and so every penny counts. A search for Black-owned or LGBTQ+ businesses to support brings up pages of results, but that itself can be overwhelming.
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Here is a list of five directories to vetted businesses you can support this year:
- Certified by Beyoncé — Queen B herself — the Black Parade Route is a directory of Black-owned businesses that benefits BeyGOOD’s Black Business Impact Fund, administered by the NAACP. The artist gifted $1 million to Black-owned businesses for her birthday this year, and while we can’t all be award-winning music icons, her directory aims to help you give what you can to Black-owned businesses in the United States and Africa.
- Beyond Buckskin is a blog, business and your guide to Native American fashion. Jessica Metcalfe, who is Turtle Mountain Chippewa and has a PhD in Native American high fashion, curated this list of stores to buy from in order to combat the problem of non-Native stores that make false (and illegal) claims about the authenticity or make of their items.
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- Since their launch in 2006, Remezcla has become the go-to source for all things Latin. Courtesy of writer and podcast producer Theresa Avila, the online culture magazine has a list of several Latinx-owned stores to buy from. And if you want more specific suggestions, you can find plenty more lists of Latino-owned stores, from jewelry to coffee.
- An online search for LGBTQ+ owned stores is particularly cumbersome, with dozens of lists from various outlets published all year long. While several others will do, we’ll point you to this one from LGBTQ Nation, an LGBTQ+ online news outlet owned by a certified LGBTQ+ media company.
- This last one works for nearly any community you want to support. Etsy is a well known e-commerce website intended as a “global marketplace” for sellers who may not have traditional storefronts. You can use their search function to search for, say, “Black-owned shops” as an example, and it will pull up a list of shops to peruse.
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