>its still about being valued and now allowing that disrespect
>to be the norm
>esp since black business has had trouble thriving
>in the absence people still have the right to be respected for
>their dollar


I don't think that I'm getting your meaning.

I don't believe that people allow disrespect, they make a choice when shown disrespect. They move away from it, challenge it, or stay and continue to be disrespected.

When people go to an establishment and find that they are unwanted/unwelcome/unvalued they have the choice to leave or spend money. All too often they choose to spend money, occasionally in excess of what was originally planned, to show they can afford to shop/spend in that location and thus should be valued because they can afford it. My disagreement with that is that the disrespect shown is not because they question whether or not you can afford the item/service. The disrespect shown is because they do not believe you are valuable enough as an individual to partake in or own the item, regardless of your ability to afford it.

I agree that people do it because they want to be valued, but it is misguided. What I don't think that they understand is that people are/were not discriminated against because they were Black & poor. They were discriminated against because they were black. Wealthy Blacks were subject to the same treatment as poor Blacks, including lynchings. Black purchasing power has never purchased equality, and it never will.

You challenge a businesses practices by creating barriers to its success and profitability. Not by throwing money at it. The lunch counters lost money because paying white customers could not/would not go in. The bus company lost money because Blacks stopped paying to be put in the back. They lost money in each case. They disrupted the businesses ability to function and profit. They did not give them money to prove they could afford it.

That's why giving money to an establishment that doesn't value you as an individual is the opposite of what was done via sit-ins and boycotts. Blacks aren't discriminated against because of lack of finances. They're discriminated against because of a perceived lack of value.

We are being pushed out of communities because we, as a group, see our struggle as being healed by establishing larger individual bank accounts instead of stronger communities. The people coming in are taking the relics of what used to be a strong community and restoring it in their image. The children of the previous generation are selling off their communities to enrich their bank accounts, only to find they are still undervalued outsiders. Their reaction is to throw money at the doors they willingly exited and closed behind them.