KILLEEN, Texas(KXXV) — “To whom you give your money is to whom you give your power,” Mr. Babtunde, a Killeen businessman, said.
- Advertising helped Black businesses survive.
- Killeen's only black newspaper was published in the 90's.
- World Book Day will be held on March 8.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
These are the words Mr. Babatunde is well known for in our community. He was born in New York but grew up in North Carolina during the Jim Crow era.
“It was something that I never forgot. I mean, we couldn’t go into bathrooms, you couldn’t ride at the front on the bus, and as a kid, you begin to ask the question—why not?” Babatunde said.
The military is what brought him to Killeen.
He said he developed leadership skills through the hard times. Keeping in mind the goal of one day becoming a businessman. Since arriving in Killeen, he's owned several local businesses, including a bookstore.
“When my daughter was accepted into Spellman College the year prior to going they sent her a list of 100 books by African Americans to read I couldn’t find them anywhere,” Babatunde said.
He traveled all over Texas searching for those books with no luck.
“So I said, that's it right there, that's it, why don’t we have an African American bookstore in Killeen,” Babatunde said.
This is just a sampling of the books Babatunde sold in his store.
Babatunde said he invested in scholarships for seniors, Juneteenth parades, poetry nights, and a black chamber of commerce helping with advertising in support of small black businesses.
There's also a Black newsletter, which evolved into our community's only black-owned newspaper in the late 90’s. It covered various issues, such as religion, education, and entertainment.
The paper also gave the community a detailed history of baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson's time at Camp Hood, modern-day Fort Cavazos.
“The Killeen paper didn’t put very much about the history of African Americans here, and so, of course, my paper and I went and did sixteen pages of nothing but African American history In Killeen. And let me tell you, they would pick it up and say, this is accurate.”
“They made the foundation of what we are standing on now— they were the beginnings of the ’40s,” Babatunde said. “And I started from enslavement right here in Killeen, Texas they had plantations,” Babatunde said.
Mr. Babatunde credits his first late wife for much of his business success.
World Book Day will be on March 8th in Killeen at the E-Center. Doors open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., featuring African American children and adult books.
