What If I Were Black?
If I were black, or even brown, I could sell on the We Buy Black online marketplace, but I'm not. I'm a fair skinned half white, half American Indian.
This is a review of the We Buy Black marketplace, a marketplace that goes to great lengths to make sure its sellers are black.
I was one of 10 "fair skinned kids", (I'm half white aka European and half American Indian from both parents). There were about 25 Latinos and about 3 Asian kids. The rest of the students were black born American kids, with the exception of several who were born out of the country. It was a learning experience for sure. My entire education here in California all the way through college I would be a minority. So I know exactly what racism is and what it's like to be the target of those who deny equality and fairness in based on skin color.
In 2016, We Buy Black claimed to have 2,000 black sellers on its marketplace. In August 2020, We Buy Black had 9,746 registered sellers / vendors.
And that is why reviewing this particular marketplace was so depressing. I'm part of the X-generation, and at least here in California, I had thought we had made great progress towards racial equality. I had black bosses, Latino pastors, had black friends most of my life through school, never even met a white woman to date until 2010. We even had a black president.
But somewhere along the line, for some people, apparently that wasn't what they wanted; they wanted special access, and privileges, the same ones they accused me of having. I've never gone into my background much or ethnicity because I don't care what color your skin is unless its green and you have five arms, but I have lots of stories where being considered white in California didn't help me.
So I attempted to be as objective as possible when I originally made this video. Fair and impartial to a group of racist sellers and marketplace owners who have a double standard. In retrospect I now regret doing that, they wouldn't have given me or anyone else who doesn't fit their profile a break in calling us racist or accusing us of discrimination if they wanted to participate in something they felt excluded from. I now realize I was to easy on them. I didn't hold them up to the same accountability and standard that I would have of upheld any other marketplace that blatantly discriminates against any other race or ethnicity.
We Buy Black - Terms of Hypocrisy
Despite having the normal "no discrimination for race, gender, ethnicity, etc. written into its public "Terms of service", this marketplace 100% violates its own Terms of Service, in addition to US Law regarding businesses violating these areas, in Section 15:
In its application to sell on We Buy Black, it clearly and intentionally discriminates against anyone who, well.... isn't black. Sellers, are clearly asked to identify their business as black owned up front, at the top of its registration process to immediately reject non-black owned and operated businesses. They even require sellers to provide a photo so they can visually confirm the seller is black.
Maybe the idea in essence was genuinely authentic in wanting to help black sellers promote products targeted specifically to black shoppers, but its doctrine isn't any different than any other group that marginalizes or discriminates against anyone else. We Buy Black does to others, exactly what blacks have complained about companies doing to them in hiring practices in the past.
As far as I know, We Buy Black is the only racially exclusive marketplace online that has any notable presence. Imagine if you had to be white to sell on Amazon, or Asian to sell on Mercari. You can't can you, because the idea is so unfathomable in this generation, yet here we have We Buy Black, doing just that.
The only exceptions I know of are marketplaces that are language specific. But even the big marketplaces have attempted to address that issue by having a separate or translated version of their online services. If you can read, write and communicate in the language of the marketplace, you can sell on any of them I've encountered. They don't ban you because your skin or national origin is wrong.
Everything about this marketplace reeks of racism; even in its application process to become a seller, you have to chose between "Yes, I have a Black Owned business", or "No, My business is not Black owned".
Even if you choose, "Yes, I have a Black Owned business", what does that really mean. If you are married to a white person and you are black, and you jointly own a business, does that mean We Buy Black will block your acceptance as a vendor? Yes, it does if the photo they require of you suggests you are not of some kind of black origin.
This marketplace goes so far as to put in their customer service facts that they require photo proof that a seller is black and tell other vendors to look for and report any seller who might not be. White Supremacy has become the token word under Joe Biden's White House and Nancy Pelosi's congressional leadership and majority, and that is what we have here, except it's not white supremacy, its black supremacy. It's an exclusive group that wants inclusion everywhere except for within their own inner community. They want diversity in opportunities they want to participate in, but exclusion for their stores and sellers on We Buy Black.
To be clear, I am honestly disappointed in We Buy Black. I like the idea and support the idea of a marketplace that offers ethnic specific products, regardless of which ethnicity. But We Buy Black is everything I think America was created to not be. America was created with the motto "One nation under God, with Liberty and Justice for ALL." That "ALL" is colorblind. That Liberty is colorblind. That Justice is colorblind. There may be some states where politicians have locked in laws that distort that colorblindness. If I break the law, I should get the same punishment as if you break the law. When we are divided or provided special opportunities in any way, we are weak, and our history proves that.
We've had enough of this kind of crap in our history and from our politicians. Time to grow up, own up, do unto others as you want them to do unto you.
Conclusion about selling and shopping on We Buy Black marketplace.
I do not recommend We Buy Black for shopping or selling I hope to see a massive discrimination lawsuit against its owners and any investors in the near future, just like what would happen if any other group created online marketplace that specifically discriminates or marginalizes against a group of people.We've had enough of this kind of crap in our history and from our politicians. Time to grow up, own up, do unto others as you want them to do unto you.