Patti LaBelle's Sweet Potato Pies: Black Community Shows Power in Dollars Before Thanksgiving

Patti LaBelle's sweet potato pies have been all the rage for the last couple of days – maybe or maybe not because Thanksgiving is upon us! Either way, a viral review filled with singing, a huge personality and charisma made by James Wright sparked a nationwide craze to see exactly how Labelle's pies tasted. Sold exclusively at Walmart, America was able to see the power of the Black dollar within the community in one weekend.

According to Urban Intellectuals, an estimated 2.3 million dollars of LaBelle's pie sold in just two days. In fact, LaBelle's sweet potato pie bakeries were so flustered with callers that upon answering their response was to tell everyone they were out of pies before giving a greeting.

The publication used this information to make an interesting case about the black community. They said, "With over $1.2 trillion dollars in annual spending power, the black community has an opportunity to not only enjoy LaBelle's pies, but also to enjoy some financial control over the future, create jobs, businesses and funds to help make our communities better."

Imagine if the black community only shopped at black-owned businesses for Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving; society would totally change. The idea of scarcity in the black community is what constantly deters from conducting an exchange of business.

Urban Intellectuals also reports that there are only 19 black-owned banks remaining in America. To name a few: Alamerica Bank, Broadway Federal Bank FSB, Capital City Bank & Trust Company, Carver State Bank, and Industrial Bank – all of which were all founded as early as 1919. That number could sky rocket if the black dollar were deposited in these banks. It would be easier for black owned companies to receive loans, which creates jobs in the community, and those taxes would be directly deposited back into the school system and social programs in hopes of building a brighter future for the children.

Readers, what do you think about this idea?