Black products, white profits

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African American women spend over a billion dollars every year on hair treatments and products — but according to northern California’s EAST BAY EXPRESS, the dollars they shell out are no longer filling the pockets of fellow African Americans.

While other ethnic groups have grown savvy about the profits to be made in the black hair-care industry, African Americans have let slip their hold on it. Koreans now run at least 60 percent of the nation’s beauty supply stores that cater to black customers, and white-owned manufacturing companies control more than half the market for black hair-care products.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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