“I am the result of a black-owned business,” she said. “I was able to get a proper education, to really experience the world in a different way,” she said. “I feel like if you can support a black-owned brand, that’s what you’re supporting.”

Support isn’t limited to one type of consumer either.

“It’s not just black people buying black, it’s other people buying black and realizing why that is important,” said Ms. McGilbert, who has spoken to her nonblack friends about buying black. “When I presented that as a form of activism that they could partake in very easily, they’ve been very receptive. Whether it’s white guilt or activism or allyship, they are looking for ways to be a part of this movement.”

For those on the outside looking in, the Buy Black movement can be seen for what it is: a concerted effort to right a long history of wrongs. Or, it can be seen as an instance of “reverse racism” (which is not a thing), a hypocritical attempt to segregate or be exclusionary.

“How can anyone look at what is happening to the black community and not support the people from that community trying to show accountability instead of asking those who claim it is not their fault, not their problem, to help us?” Mrs. Anderson said.

Ms. Porcher said: “It’s only offensive to those who want to be offended. White people aren’t going out of their way to find other white businesses because they’re there — they’ve always been there. If our cities didn’t get burned down, if our streets that were filled with nothing but black businesses didn’t get burned down, we wouldn’t have to go seek them because they would already be there. They would be the Nikes, and the Walmarts, because those legacies would have been built.”