Some of Us Are Brave. Some of Us Are Bought. But All of Us Are Worthy. Essence Fest, H&M, and the true cost that contracts are costing the community.
- Nikki Porcher
- Jul 7
- 6 min read
In 2016, Buy From A Black Woman started with no corporate dollars, no influencer partnerships, just a vision: that if we invested in Black Women, we could transform the economic reality of our communities.
By 2020, we had entered into a partnership with H&M. We believed we could help transform them from the inside. In many ways, it worked. They said it themselves. There are articles, podcasts, and internal calls where leadership explicitly said Buy From A Black Woman helped reshape how people perceived them both internally and externally. They called it the most fulfilling partnership.
We pushed for real investment, real dollars to support Black Women entrepreneurs, and real strategies for economic equity. We saw a different pattern emerge.
Three Black Women became millionaires because of the collective labor of Buy From A Black Woman. That is the power corporations know exists. That is why they choose surface-level partnerships over deep investments.
Imagine if they chose to multiply that power through true, long-term commitments. Our communities would look very different today.
Contracts Over Community: The True Price
Some say we cannot leave these partnerships because we need to be at the table. Yet in the same breath, they claim to care about Black futures.
But actions speak louder than words. Too many actions show us that the table is more important to them than the people.
Essence Festival once felt like a sacred reunion. A place to laugh, dance, rest, and remember our power without permission. This year, we watched as Target, a corporation that lost billions during boycotts, quietly shifted brand colors and signage to blend in and put Black faces everywhere.
They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew that if they gave us the right aesthetic, we would line up again. And we did.
In a recent Black Enterprise article, Essence made it plain, openly stating that these partnerships are “contract obligations.” That sentence said everything. This is not a community agreement, a liberation strategy, or a business arrangement.
We cannot continue celebrating surface-level gestures and then wonder why real change has not occurred. We have to move beyond empty optics and demand real investments in our communities.
We are living in a time when DEI programs are being dismantled and Black political power is under open attack. A new Trump-era America emboldens those who never wanted us at the table.
Entire movements are being dismantled by the very corporations that once claimed to support them. Target lost billions during recent boycotts. That number is not imaginary. It proves the power we hold and how dangerous it is when we do not know how to use it.
But instead of reckoning with that power, they simply changed colors on their signage at Essence and continued business as usual.
As long as contracts are valued over community, we will never be free. Corporations know this. They know that when the noise dies down, we will return. They know that as long as they can dangle brunch tables, brand trips, and curated gift bags, we will stay quiet.
Does Community Really Matter?
There is one Black Woman who comes to mind. She was advocated for, pushed into rooms, and her name was spoken in meetings. Buy From A Black Woman even built her website so she could show up as her best self on the road. She was welcomed into our homes and our safe spaces. Yet this year, she stood on that stage, aligned with people who continue to show us that community is optional.
Does she not owe a conversation? Does it no longer matter if she still believes in the work because protecting her brand and her check is easier?
These are not just personal betrayals. These are community wounds. They show us how sisterhood has been replaced by self-preservation. How can we have a community if we are not actually in a community?
When we stand together, our impact is undeniable. We often love to quote the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but we forget it began with one woman’s refusal that sparked an entire movement because the community chose to show up and stand together behind her. Imagine if we honored each other today with that same unity and discipline.
What Are We Doing
After my video suggesting we walk past the Target Booth went viral, Tamika Mallory and I hosted an IG Live Chat. During our conversation, we wanted people to understand that this was not about calling anyone out but a moment to move beyond reaction and into intentional, strategic redirection of our power.
Boycotts and Black liberation work are not something to do for social media applause. This is real work. Work that requires collective discipline, sacrifice, and strategy.
Dollar General and the Silent Pivot
Omar Ali led a call with Dollar General and invited me to be part of that planning group. They once publicly pledged to support Black businesses and invest deeply in our communities. But on that call, they clearly stated they did not want to just focus on Black businesses anymore.
Internal messages and public documents show that their Black diversity officer reportedly refused to escalate the issue because he was afraid of losing his job and wanted to protect his position. When pushed further, Dollar General leadership made it clear they were stepping back from their promises. They even turned down a proposed $50 to $70 million supplier readiness fund over five years.
After public criticism, Dollar General forced its former diversity officer to retract certain statements publicly. This was not just about protecting their reputation. It showed how far corporations will go to silence internal critique instead of addressing real harm.
It becomes clear that when the spotlight fades and DEI programs are rolled back, corporations step away from Black communities first. They choose contracts, comfort, and quiet over real accountability and transformation.
Discipline Not Just Dollars
We keep shouting buy Black, but we confuse spending with power. We talk about our $1.7 trillion in buying power, but forget that spending power is not ownership.
We have the power to collapse a corporation’s value overnight, yet act powerless. We are powerful but undisciplined.
We celebrate representation without asking who or what it truly represents. We celebrate celebrities without questioning whether they are building collective power or simply selling moments. A true boycott is not a press run. It is not for social media engagement or influencer clout. It is a sacrifice and strategic redirection driven by long-term vision and shared discipline.
Remembering Our Why
This is the moment to remember who we are and what we owe each other.
Imagine what our neighborhoods would look like if these corporations had truly invested in us. Imagine how many Black businesses would be thriving, how many children would see a different future, and how many families would keep their homes.
Through the work of Buy From A Black Woman, we have already seen what is possible. Black Women have paid themselves, hired within their communities, expanded storefronts, and created living models of self-determination. That ripple effect can shift entire blocks and rewrite futures.
If corporations had kept their promises at scale, we could be living in a different world today. But they did not, and the new administration is working hard to ensure they never have to again.
They know that strong Black economies mean strong Black communities, which means real power. That is why they prefer us to be distracted by brunches and photo ops instead of investing in ownership and collective discipline.
We cannot boycott our way to liberation without unity. We cannot buy our way to freedom without ownership. We cannot brunch our way to sovereignty.
This is not about guilt or shame. This is about truth. The kind of truth that transforms silence into language and language into action.
Our ancestors did not march, organize, fight, and build so we could beg corporations to include us. They did it so we could build systems of our own, look each other in the eye, and know we are enough.
History repeats itself, showing that some of us are brave and some of us are bought. But at the end of the day, all of us are worthy.
It is time we act like it.
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