August is Black Business Month

I have been in the small business/entrepreneurship movement for quite a few years now. It was more than 20 years ago that I began to appreciate the importance of small business and entrepreneurial efforts to be the transformation of the Black community. We know that there has been the racial wage gap in the United States. 

We know that enslaved people were denied wages in order to build wealth for the business owners. We know that oppressive wages and denial of employment opportunities were strategies used to grow profits on the backs of Black people through Jim Crow era and beyond. We know that by creating enterprises of our own we acknowledge our own value and the value of the people in our community and are able to build wealth. 

However, it is not without a struggle. Black entrepreneurship is not an easy road to travel. We know that most Black businesses do not have access to the resources and funds afforded other communities with historic wealth and access to wealth, either through direct racist policies or through years of economic oppression. We know that most Black businesses do not have access to opportunities that are afforded to other communities. We know that many of the relationships that begat business are not afforded and are often blatantly denied Black businesses. We know that direct harm is aimed at successful Black businesses as evidenced by Black Wall Street in Tulsa.   

What we know is that we still take on the efforts of the struggle. We know that it is the collective strength and honor that allows us to mobilize. Over 20 years ago, I became a part of the Black Chamber movement. We know that being the voice of the voiceless was important. Black business is important because we know that it is the way in which we raise the economic realities of the Black community. Black businesses employ Black people. Through the Black chambers we can bring information and resources to the Black community that truly are effective in starting, growing and saving Black businesses. Access to information is vital in being able to survive. I am privileged to say that I was involved in the creation of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. The U.S. Black Chambers has been the voice of Black business for the past 15 years.   

As we have experienced the pandemic, thousands of businesses were dependent on information regarding the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans that were transformational for the small business owner. The U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., was the vehicle that provided information to thousands of Black businesses that struggled to survive. The collaborative efforts of the Black business community are vital to make voices heard. As Frederick Douglass stated hundreds of years ago, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.” The collaboration of Black businesses to fight injustice and inequity is necessary to fight evils of unrestricted power.   

I have been privileged as the last incorporator of the U.S. Black Chambers still serving. I was proud to expend my time, talent and resources as a board member and the corporate counsel for the U.S. Black Chambers from the inception until today. It is with great pride that I step down to allow for the next advocate to serve.   

As Ron Busby Sr., president and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., states, to have a strong America, we must have a strong Black America. To have a strong Black America, we need to have strong Black businesses. To have strong Black businesses we must have strong Black chambers. We as a people must stand together against injustice, inequity and fight for the strong America. We are better together.