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Black-Owned.
Businesses.
Matter.

Our nation must change, and change requires action. If we do not act, history is doomed to repeat it’s self. Organizations can’t just make statements, then do nothing. Supporting black people and combatting systemic racism has to become our new norm. Our core belief is, businesses have an obligation to support, empower, and enrich the communities from which they operate. In order for any business to live-out this belief we must change; there must be disruption, and dissension must occur. Here’s what we’re going to do about it. 

We've Launched a FREE Consulting plan for Black-owned Businesses.

black-owned businesses Consulting Program

At D.M. Burton we believe that Black Lives Matter because Black lives are under attack, and have been since our nation’s founding. Not only do Black Lives Matter, they are also worthy, innovative, and inspirational. This country was built by free slave labor based on race, some of the greatest innovations our country has produced have been by black Black People, and you can see the black influence on culture everywhere from music, sports, dance, Hollywood and more. Yet in 2020 Black people still do not have the same opportunities as every American. This is why we must protest. 

I want to be perfectly clear, the current outrage in our nation is justified, it is powerful, it is essential to change. For over 400 years Black people have been treated as lesser then, this stops now. In case you missed history class, let us break down some of the highlights: 

A brief history on being black in America.

American's Birth

August 1619: The White Lion, a 160-ton Dutch privateer ship flying a British flag landed at Comfort Point in Virginia loaded with “20. and odd negroes” to be exchanged for food and the “best and easiest rates…” 

June 1640: Virginia’s General Court created what many are calling the nation’s first slave when the court condemned John Punch, an African, to a life sentence of servitude because he was black. Punch, one of the original White Lion Africans, had run away from his master along with an indentured Dutch servant and an indentured English servant. When they were found and brought back to their master, a judge ordered the three absconders to be whipped 30 times apiece. The Dutchman and the Englishmen were sentenced to a one-year extension on their indentured servitude contract. But John Punch received a different sentence. 

1704: South Carolina creates the first modern-day, public police force. Called “slave patrols,” these publicly-funded organizations served three functions: 1) to chase down, apprehend, and return runaway slaves to their owners; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who violated rules. 

March 6, 1857: Supreme Court issues a verdict in Dred Scott v. Sanford, which declares that black people can never be citizens of the United States

The Civil war and Reconstruction

Apr. 12, 1861: 11 state governments unite to form a white supremacist nation, deciding they’d rather stop being Americans than stop enslaving humans. The Civil War is still the bloodiest war in American history. 

December 1863: Reconstruction begins after the end of the civil war, the first black senators, mayors, and councilmen are elected throughout the south.  There is a brief wave of progress that ends immediately at the end of reconstruction. 

Jan. 1877: Following mass violence against African Americans and widespread voter fraud, a group of US senators and congressmen agree to settle the result of the 1876 presidential election. In exchange for installing Rutherford B. Hayes as president, Jim Crow laws were allowed to be established. 

Aug. 28, 1955: 14-year-old Emmett Till is kidnapped, tortured, killed, wrapped with barbed wire, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River in Money, Miss. after Carolyn Bryant tells a white lie. His murderers are never convicted, even after publicly confessing to the crime. 

Civil Rights Movement

March 7, 1965: Alabama State Troopers and the Ku Klux Klan attack 300 nonviolent protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.

 Jun. 18, 1971 Nixon officially declared a “War on Drugs,” stating that drug abuse was “public enemy number one.” Misguided drug laws and draconian sentencing requirements, especially pertaining to crack cocaine, have produced profoundly unequal outcomes for communities of color. The results have decimated minority families – black men, in particular, have been victims of the wars on drugs and on crime.  Studies show black males are three times more likely to be arrested for the same crime as a white males. 

Nov. 26, 2006: Seven undercover NYPD officers fire more than 50 rounds of ammunition at unarmed Sean Bell at a bachelor party. The officers were acquitted on all charges. 

The Last 10 Years

February 26, 2012: 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is stalked, chased and shot by George Zimmerman after 911 operators tell Zimmerman to leave the teenager alone. Six weeks after the shooting, Zimmerman was arrested and subsequently acquitted of murder. 

March 21, 2012: Chicago police officer Dante Servin shoots unarmed Rekia Boyd. He is acquitted on all charges. 

July 17, 2014: NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo kills Eric Garner. Pantaleo has never been convicted of a crime. To date the only person in jail from the encounter is the person who filmed it, a bystander. 

Aug. 9, 2014: Ferguson, Mo. officer Darren Wilson shoots and kills 18-year-old Mike Brown Jr. Wilson was not charged with a crime. 

Nov. 22, 2014: Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehman kills 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Loehmann is not charged with a crime. 

February 23, 2020: A vigilante mob in Brunswick, Ga. chases down and shoots 23-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, killing him. Travis and Gregory McMichael have been arrested for his death after more than 2 months of freedom. A third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, has also been charged after filming the crime. Originally Ahmaud’s family was told he had been involved in a burglary and died. 

March 13, 2020: Louisville, Ky. police officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove entered the apartment of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor to serve a “no-knock warrant” on her boyfriend and shot Taylor dead. No one has been charged with a crime. 

May 25, 2020: Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneels on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; 2 minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd was unconscious. Floyd Dies. Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder after four days of freedom. The three officers who were present — Tou Thao, Thomas K. Lane, and J. Alexander Kueng, were not initially charged but after days of protest and unrest, charges were filed.  

 

And that’s not even the half of it. Check out the whole timeline here.

What we're doing

Let’s create real change, not just write about it. 

  1. We’ve are highlighting Black-Owned Businesses and Entrepreneurs in our social media and marketing initiatives. 
  2. We’ve rolled out a FREE 3 Hour Consulting Package for Black-Owned Businesses and Entrepreneurs.
  3. We are going to push our clients and partners to do more and affect change in our community.   
  4. We will use our voice to educate our community and work to dismantle systems of oppression.