BUSINESS A New Black Renaissance Popping in Prince George’s By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Leon Chapman slowly walked alongside a table covered with handmade soaps, colorful earrings and other accessories. But the Capitol Heights resident wanted a specific item from Malik’s Fashion Boutique: a lightly scented oil called “Amber White.” “I just got this little bottle that will last me for a month,” Chapman said Saturday, Sept. 5 outside Everlasting Life Restaurant in Capitol Heights. “It is very important for the community to have something like this [during COVID-19 pandemic]. It is nice
to see people being able to survive and still make a living.” Chapman purchased his small ounce bottle of oil during the first day of the Black Wall Street Renaissance pop-up shopping bazaar at Everlasting Life. The free community event will last a week until Saturday, Sept. 12 for almost a dozen Black vendors to showcase art, African garb, books and other merchandise. The week-long exhibit held every first Saturday of the month is designed to become a commercial fixture aimed at circulating cash locally, especially in majority-Black Prince George’s County. The idea is emulate the bustling commercial district that thrived a century ago in Tulsa, Okla.’s Green-
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5 Lark Dixon, left, owner of Finding All the Chakras, listens to customers Sept. 5 during Black Wall Street Renaissance at Everlasting Life Restaurant in Capitol Heights. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
wood district where an estimated 10,000 African Americans settled and established commercial hub that included grocery and clothing stores, barbershops and hair salons, a bank and even a Black newspaper called The Tulsa Star. “We just decided a couple of years ago to help support small and local vendors,” said Al-Qamar Malik, owner of Malik’s Fashion Boutique and who helped organize the event in Capitol Heights. “This is to circulate our dollars within the community. What better way to do it than through a renaissance?” Baruch Ben-Yehubah, owner and founder of Everlasting Life, opened his health-conscious business 20 years ago in Prince George’s. He launched similar businesses five years earlier in the District with two other establishments at the Anacostia Arts Center in Southeast and Takoma area in Northwest. Ben-Yehubah said plans are in the works to open a
fourth location by next year. Also available was an eatery with a vegan menu that offered chopped chicken salad, seaweed wrapped fish, green cabbage and a variety of smoothies. Besides the various vendors, the restaurant presented a cold salad
The week-long exhibit held every first Saturday of the month is designed to become a commercial fixture aimed at circulating cash locally, especially in majority-Black Prince George’s County.
bar Saturday that included olives, salsa, guacamole, and non-dairy cheese. Although Prince George’s 2018 health data showed improvements in the state of health care facilities, both primary care and dental care, the county ranked last among the state of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions for residents uninsured and near the bottom of diabetes monitoring. “Even though this community has changed quite a bit at least economically, the health disparity is still prevalent,” Ben-Yehubah said. “We, as a business, are established to have an alternative to what is contributing to the problem. We want to contribute to the solution.” Some vendors such as Emeka and Deneshia Oruada link its merchandise back to Africa. The couple from Oxon Hill sell colorful $15 masks for children and adults with fabric from Emeka Oruada’s homeland of Nigeria. Each mask has a small, clear visor attached that can be flipped up to cover the eyes. “We’re connecting on the continent to have them designed and made there and bring them here to all of our people,” said Deneshia Oruada, an intelligence analyst for the federal government who established Black Travel Brand with her husband last year. “We have about 4,000 on stock. We can protect an army.” WI
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