[ad_1] OneUnited Bank, America’s largest black-owned bank, has released a statement supporting Blackout Day, an event in which people of color are encouraged to not spend any money for a full day to show the power of their finances and demand change. The Boston-based bank has supported other social justice movements including the Black Lives Matter movement and movements on social media including #TakeAKnee and the #1619Project. Since OneUnited Bank was founded, it has always encouraged African Americans to use their spending power to demand change. African Americans contribute more than $1.2 trillion in annual spending, according to the bank. OneUnited believes African Americans keeping their money in their pockets or spending it with black-owned companies, no matter how big or small will aid in fighting for the change they want. Blackout Day started in 2015 after a Tumblr user noticed the lack of positive black figures in the media and on social media. After the event launched, organizers decided to make it a monthly event, but some organizers felt it was too frequent, so it was soon changed to a yearly event. This year’s event is dedicated to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. “As the largest black-owned bank in America, we’re compelled to play a leadership role to galvanize our community and allies in support of #BlackOutDay2020 and to fight for social justice,” Kevin Cohee, chairman & CEO of OneUnited Bank said in a statement. “We need to use our power—both our spending power, our vote and our voice—to demand criminal justice reform and to address income inequality.” OneUnited Bank is promoting #BlackOutDay2020 to its 300,000 supporters, shining a light on the movement through social media and providing support to the organizers. In addition to supporting social justice issues, the bank has also helped black-owned businesses secure PPP funding during the coronavirus pandemic. window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '348280475330978', autoLogAppEvents : true, xfbml : true, version : 'v3.0' }); var penciCommentCallback = function ( response ) { jQuery.ajax( { type: 'GET', dataType: 'json', url: 'https://www.blackenterprise.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', data: { action: 'penci_clear_fbcomments', post_id: '' } } ) }; FB.Event.subscribe( 'comment.create', penciCommentCallback ); FB.Event.subscribe( 'comment.remove', penciCommentCallback ); }; (function ( d, s, id ) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName( s )[0]; if ( d.getElementById( id ) ) { return; } js = d.createElement( s ); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v3.0&appId=348280475330978&autoLogAppEvents=1'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore( js, fjs ); window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init( { appId: '348280475330978', autoLogAppEvents: true, xfbml: true, version: 'v3.0' } ); }; }( document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk' )); [ad_2] Source link