In a newly released report, details of how one hate group is using a website to cyber-bully millions of citizens living the American dream and realizing Dr. King’s has emerged. This site is dedicated specifically to document and harass interracial couples, taunting them and exposing details of their personal lives for racists to see.
The VICE report explains that white supremacists have created a site that “names, shames, and effectively promotes violence against interracial couples and families.”
While the site, which we will not disclose, explains that it does not condone violence but goes on to label white women as “traitors.” The loophole comes subversively, with visitors to the site often encouraging violence toward them and editorial that points to racially-inspired abuse.
It actually has an entire section called “toll paid.” This area is a list of white women who have dated Black men and have experienced violence, injury, murder as a result. The aim is not explicitly stated, but its mere presence serves as a wicked warning to those who date outside of their race.
The sickening details are explained through the story of one woman whose name was changed to protect her identity. She explains to VICE that she kept receiving disturbing direct messages and comments on her Instagram page where she and her African American partner often shared photos sometimes using the hashtag #interraciallove.
Marci and Chris Johnson, an interracial couple August 7, 2007, in Jena, Louisiana. They are the parents of a 19-month-old son and complain of repeated incidents of prejudice in their interactions with the town since getting together. Marci and Chris were married recently. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
According to the VICE report, about a quarter of the approximately 80 women targeted by the site as “traitors” were already internet-famous as models or influencers. The rest of the women on the site are regular people who are submitted by users: teachers, food service workers, and more can be uploaded to the site by anyone.
Experts have said that the site is exposing itself to liability if something happens to anyone who has been added to the site. Further, because they accept random submissions, it is possible that people can hide behind fake names.
“They could very well find themselves subject to prosecution,” said Subodh Chandra, a former federal prosecutor, “should anyone be harassed or otherwise harmed as a result of this activity.”
A Danish model, who was previously married to a Black man, was added to the site but was unfazed by being targeted. “When we were still together, I would get messages almost daily,” Zienna Sonne said. “Unfortunately we live in a world where this is normal.”
According to theUS Census, more 10% of married couples in this country are interracial.
This week, Andy Greenberg talks about his profile of hacker Marcus Hutchins, and we get an update on contact tracing programs helping to slow the pandemic.
Streetwear has taken center stage in the fashion world with numerous celebrity figures sporting designs that quickly become instant trends. The Plugged NYC has quickly become one of those brands that captures what true chic street fashion is. You’ve probably seen its signature camouflage pants and other designs ranging from celebrities to fashion influencers from Rihanna, Wiz Khalifa, Drake, and numerous others. Meet Tizita Balemlay.
Designed to fit the versatility of women, Balemlay started her company, Plugged NYC, in 2016 after being influenced through social media while trying to work her way into the fashion industry. “I actually really never envisioned having a clothing brand,” said Balemlay in an interview with BLACKENTERPRISE. “I really wanted to go into marketing and advertisement for Vogue. I spent [my] early college [years] interning for various magazines in NYC. Social media led me to starting a brand.”
Since the brand’s inception, the Ethiopian designer has since had her fashion featured in Vogue, The Cut, and BuzzFeed all before the age of 25. “My greatest accomplishment with my brand really has been my perseverance and my outreach of A-list clients for such a small company in a short time,” she continued.
Image: Instagram
The designer has since expanded her brand to open her own independent factory where other emerging designers can also go for their creations. “I was being overcharged at factories, not taken seriously because of my age [or] gender,” she explained. “I really wanted to start my own factory, own workers. When I had the chance to financially it’s the first thing I invested. I wanted to also open it to the public so other designers and creatives can also get their garments made. Our factory Plugged Studios is located in New Jersey.”
Balemlay has accomplished a great deal in her entrepreneurial journey and wants to encourage other aspiring black designers to not conform to the industry and stay true to their authentic selves. “It really important that we push ourselves and our expectations that we have for ourselves as designers…It’s really important independent black designers understand that marketing is truly everything, designing is the easy part,” she said. “Anything is truly possible, especially in [a] generation where social media is so powerful.”
Cleveland’s only African American female firefighter has hung up her jacket after 30 years on the job.
According to The Root, Daphne Tyus retired from the Cleveland Fire Department on Friday. Tyus was one of only three women in the department. Being the only African American woman in the department was a long and difficult road for Tyus.
“When I got that particular accolade, I said ‘I can do this job,’” Tyrus said in an interview. “I could do it because they didn’t think I could.
“Did I cry? Not on the job,” Tyus continued. “Did you cry? Maybe at home. The next day I got up again and did it again.”
Tyus joined the Cleveland Fire Department in 1987, and today it’s still rare to see a woman on the job in the city.
“You’d never seen a female on the job; however, there are many females across the United States as of today,” Tyus told The Root.
Although she has retired, Tyus wants to train female firefighters in order to help a new generation of female and African American firefighters take her place and show others there’s a solid career in being a firefighter.
Tyus has received many honors during her career and was featured with the other two female firefighters in the city, on the cover of Cleveland Magazine in 2018. According to the article, no woman has been hired by the city’s fire department since 1989. Now the other two women on the cover are the only female firefighters in a group of more than 700.
African American men and women have had a hard time becoming firefighters. In 2017, The Daily News reported 63% of the applicants for New York City’s firefighter entrance exam were African American, Latino, or Asian. However, it took a 2014 lawsuit by a group of black firefighters and a settlement which included a federal judge watching the department’s efforts to hire minorities for that to happen. Many white firefighters spoke out against the lawsuit.
Health experts say we need up to 200,000 more people to track down the infected and anyone who crossed their path. I took the training to learn how it works.
NFL players Deandre Baker and Quinton Dunbar are facing armed robbery charges after a cookout in Florida on Wednesday ended with them allegedly stealing thousands of dollars worth of possessions from party guests.
Arrest warrants have been issued in Miramar for Baker, a cornerback for the New York Giants, and Dunbar, who plays corner for the Seattle Seahawks, law enforcement told TMZ on Thursday.
Law enforcement officials claim the two athletes, who are both from Miami, were partying at the cookout where guests were playing cards and video games. Things took a dramatic turn, however, when an argument ensued and Baker allegedly pulled out a semi-automatic firearm.
Jabrill Peppers #21, Oshane Ximines #53 and Deandre Baker #27 of the New York Giants react as a play is being reviewed during their game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium on October 06, 2019 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Police say Baker and Dunbar then robbed the guests, taking their watches and other valuable items. Baker also allegedly instructed a third man wearing a red mask to shoot a guest who had just walked into the party, but cops say no one was actually shot.
There is also conflicting reports from witnesses, as some told investigators that Baker did not have a gun.
Authorities claim the men got away with $7,000 in cash and several valuable watches including an $18,000 Rolex watch, a $25,000 Hublot, and an Audemars Piguet timepiece.
One witness said they met Baker and Dunbar just a few days before the incident and that the two had gambled away approximately $70,000. Witnesses also told police the men were gambling at the cookout on Wednesday.
Quinton Dunbar #23 of the Washington Redskins looks on during the first half against the New York Jets at FedExField on November 17, 2019 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
Some partygoers believe the robbery was planned from the beginning. Police say when the men finally took possession of the valuable belongings, three getaway cars — a Lamborghini, a Mercedes-Benz, and a BMW — arrived to “expedite an immediate departure.”
The Miramar Police Department confirmed to TMZ that both men have warrants out for their arrest, but said neither have been placed in custody. Law enforcement has reportedly been in talks with the football players’ representatives to negotiate a planned surrender.
Baker, 22, was the 30th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and is expected to start with the Giants this season. Dunbar, who was traded to the Seahawks in March, is also expected to compete for a starter’s position.
The New York Giants issued a statement on behalf of Baker’s alleged involvement in the heist saying, “We are aware of the situation. We have been in contact with Deandre. We have no further comment at this time.”
The COVID-19, or novel coronavirus, pandemic has hit the food and restaurant industry hard with many restauranteurs struggling to keep their businesses afloat under the new stay-at-home restrictions. While the restaurant side of the industry may be on the verge of collapse, it is the polar opposite for supermarkets and other food items sold in local grocery stores. One sector that is particularly thriving under the virus outbreak is vegan food products.
An estimated one billion people worldwide do not eat meat and have removed animal products from their diets. In countries like Germany, the sales of vegetarian and vegan products have increased by 65.3% since 2017. Numerous celebrities such as Nick Cannon have invested in opening vegan restaurants while influencers like Tabitha Brown have found new fame teaching others how to make vegan dishes.
According to a Veganz poll, 95% of participants cited animal welfare as a factor in why they went without animal products while 83.9% also listed environmental reasons as a factor in opting for vegan products.
Since the start of the pandemic, vegan brands have seen a significant increase in sales and product gains. Beyond Meat have increased their sales by 82% since the beginning of the year. Bio Gaia gained 8%. This was during the same period the Dow Jones fell by 15% while the DAX lost 18% of its value.
According to forecasts and new data collected, the sales of vegan meat products worldwide will reach roughly $120 billion within five years. By 2040 that number could rise to $450 billion.
“Manufacturers of vegan products are also increasingly popular on the trading floor,” says cryptoscene analyst Raphael Lulay in a press statement. “Not least due to the food’s reception among consumers. In particular, progress in the field of in-vitro meat production could give an already strong growth trend a further boost.”
Millions of Americans are anxious to get out of the house and get back to work. Yet, no one truly knows what the workforce and the daily routines of going back to work will look like post-COVID-19. As leaders plan and prepare for the unknown, some are opting-in for digital health screening options. But the question remains, will it work as it relates to keeping people safe while on the job? Experts are saying that it might not.
In a recent New York Times piece, experts weighed in on a number of symptom-checking apps and fever-screening cameras that are said to predict sick workers and help flatten the curve. In short, they believe that a number of the devices could violate privacy and produce inaccurate reports.
For the story, The Times followed Subway franchise owner Bob Grewal who has begun screening his employees in Los Angeles. Grewal is using PopID, a facial recognition and fever detection camera service to take temperatures before staffers clock in and records historical health data. Grewal asked employees to check their temperatures four times a day.
“People are going to adjust,” Grewal told the Times. “They’re going to have to understand all the safety precautions that chains have taken.”
As leaders look for solutions to keep their businesses moving forward, experts say that added surveillance might not be as helpful as some might think.
Michael T. Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told The New York Times, “I think employers need to look carefully before they jump into any of this. Some companies are embarking upon things that are not going to help and may actually set us back.”
To date, Salesforce and PwC are using similar technologies to help track employees through contact tracing. A number of employers are said to follow suit using similar mapping and surveying efforts to monitor employees based on White House guidelines to re-open America.
Experts believe that mandated health screenings could create a new class system for employment and a number of other issues.
Hank Greely, a professor at Stanford Law School who studies the social implications of new health technologies told the Times, “Do we really want a world where some people can go to work and others can’t based on their immunity status? The people who can’t will say, ‘This is unfair,’ and they’ll be right.”
Others have expressed concern about inaccuracies from infrared technologies that can’t detect sickness in people who are asymptomatic.
Health screenings can change the workforce indefinitely. For that reason, some employers are taking their own health and safety measures so that screening technology doesn’t interfere with how they do business.
For more insight, continue to read the full story on The New York Times.
London railway worker Belly Mujinga died just weeks after a man assaulted her. Mujinga was working at the city’s busy Victoria station when a customer became irate with her. In his aggression, he coughed and spat at her and her coworker on March 22. He then told them that he had coronavirus.
Both Mujinga and the coworker became ill not long after. Mujinga succumbed to the virus on April 5.
A police investigation was launched more than a month later. Railway police are asking for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
Mujinga’s union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, said she was “a vulnerable person” and classified as high risk because of health issues “known to her employer.” Despite her preexisting conditions, Mujinga was reassigned to a more customer-facing role and was not provided with personal protective equipment.
Commuters arrive at London Victoria station. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, called Mujinga’s death, “tragic.” He added, “The fact that she was abused for doing her job is utterly appalling.”
The incident has sparked outrage across the United Kingdom and in the United States where other acts of assault and even murder of essential employees have occurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a report by the BBC, the TSSA union wrote a letter to Johnson appealing for more compensation for essential employees who will be dealing with more passengers as the country begins to reopen. “Belly Mujinga was one of many transport workers bravely going to work to keep our country moving through the pandemic and ensuring that other key workers can get to their workplaces.”
The report says that in addition to Mujinga, 42 other railway workers have died in the United Kingdom.
Mujinga leaves behind a husband and an 11-year-old daughter, Ingrid. A GoFundMe campaign to help support her family has raised tens of thousands of pounds. The page was been set up by Victoria staff Representative on behalf of her family.
Gabrielle Deculus began her entrepreneurial journey in 2008 at 19 and has earned herself a reputation for delivering results. For nearly a decade, Deculus has gained experience in branding, marketing, public relations, and social media while keeping people at the center of her work.
Deculus’ latest entrepreneurial accomplishment, Saint Josephine, is a marketing consulting firm for social good. She created this firm to house her brands, serve her clients, and build a space for partnerships to develop. One of the brands—Business Rules for Women (BRFW)—just celebrated a 240,000 milestone, now reaching success-driven women on six different continents. The BRFW online network distributes unique content to over 2 million viewers per month.
BLACK ENTERPRISE had the chance to speak with Deculus about Business Rules For Women, how to pivot your business strategy, and how to successfully execute a fully virtual conference.
BE: What is Business Rules For Women?
Deculus: Business Rules For Women was created for women who are looking to dominate in their careers. The Business Rules For Women platform was founded in April 2015 in Houston, Texas, and currently reaches over 1 million women each month through online content. We have built a global community for a wide range of women totaling just under 250,000 coming from major cities like Atlanta, New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and Lagos.
How were you able to successfully pivot a three-day conference into a virtual conference?
To me, it was all about pivoting this event. People purchased tickets and were traveling from all over to attend this conference so I had to make this happen. After many conversations with my team, volunteers, and mentors I decided that I had to have this conference. Before contacting the attendees I knew that I had to have a solution for them. I was able to work a deal with on-site vendors to transition the physical meeting into a fully virtual conference utilizing the technologies that were available. We were expecting a few hundred attendees so we literally had to pivot every aspect of the conference to the virtual space. We developed a conference app that allowed attendees to check-in at workshops, panels, and health and wellness events that were scheduled. We had a QVC-style business marketplace for our vendors to still take part in the virtual experience. We took the experience of a physical conference and took it virtual.
What key lessons did you take away as a result of having to pivot to a virtual conference?
Information and being a resource is so powerful. This is what this conference really did for us. It solidified the importance of education, and access for people. How can you continue to be a resource for women and men in the community regardless of uncontrollable things happen? Being innovative in the face of uncertainty is possible.
Three pieces of advice you have for entrepreneurs to get through this period of time:
Great companies are built when the rest of the world is in chaos. Be a solution and let people see you as a resource.
This is a time to reconfigure what your business looks like, and what your products and services look like. You may have a product or service that before COVID-19 was positioned for one thing. Now is a great opportunity to possibly re-market and pivot that same product for a solution it provides today.
Invest in yourself. This is a great opportunity to learn new skills and become even more of an expert in an area. There are a lot of free online classes and trainings that are available due to the climate we are in. Take advantage of them.
Frustrated with the lack of diversity featured in children’s puzzle drawings, Matthew Goins knew he had to start his own puzzle company to address that issue. The creation of Puzzle Huddle has led to young children being able to see images of kids that look just like them in the puzzle arena. With the effects of the coronavirus running rampant, forcing schools to close and families to stay at home, the timing has increased sales for Puzzle Huddle.
Goins talked to BLACK ENTERPRISE about how his company is different than most and his life as an entrepreneur.
BE: What motivated you to become an entrepreneur and how has that decision affected your life?
I’ve had a lifelong interest in becoming an entrepreneur. I sold Blow-Pops out of my locker and bookbag in middle school. I’ve also had a lifetime discipline and interest in academic progress through school. My academic and pragmatic career disposition had more influence over my life until recently.
My upbringing in Detroit, then attending Howard University, connected to a peer group of people that are determined to achieve and make a difference in the world. I feel like a part of a generational cohort that know we need to make a difference where we can.
Self-employment has created increased uncertainty and income instability, but it’s one of the most fun and fulfilling things I’ve ever done.
What inspired you to start your children’s puzzle company, Puzzle Huddle and how is business these days?
As my family grew to include three young children, we looked for toys and games that would support their learning. Puzzles are a pretty standard purchase for families with young children, but I was very frustrated with the lack of diversity featured in the puzzle drawings.
We had an unseasonal increase in sales as many school districts suspended class and parents were preparing to have their children at home during the day.
During this coronavirus pandemic, have you seen any type of change in people ordering items from your company?
More families are ordering and we’ve also seen an increased interest in larger, more complex puzzles because students of all ages have been affected by school closures.
What sets Puzzle Huddle apart from other companies that may be similar in theory?
Our puzzles emphasize diversity and career images. Browsing our website we hope people notice the ranges of skin colors, hair textures, and career images. We enjoy hearing from parents and children that believe the puzzle art was drawn to look like them. We started with STEM images and we’ve added public safety careers, art professionals, Bible story characters, and others.
What has entrepreneurship taught you and what advice would you give others seeking to start their own endeavor?
Entrepreneurship requires comfort with risk taking and storytelling. I recognized early that people were interested in the small business journey, so we communicate a storyline around our products and business journey.
A reporter from News4Jax was the first to notice the note. Jenese Harris photographed and tweeted it. She mentioned the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and TMZ in the tweet.
While covering the Ahmaud Arbery case on Tuesday, May 12, I noticed this card. I took a photo of it. I understand this is now a piece of evidence and a part of the investigation. Did the person witness the death? @GBI_GA@TMZpic.twitter.com/WGKksyZCMd
Attorneys for Arbery’s family became aware of the note and released a statement.
“The family of Ahmaud Arbery is very interested in reaching out to the individual who left the heartfelt note at the site of Ahmaud Arbery’s death. They feel great sympathy for the person who wrote that note and would like to speak with them to determine what they knew or what they saw,” the statement read, “If that person would like to confidentially come forward and communicate with the family, they can contact the legal team or reach out directly to Mr. Arbery’s family.”
According to an update by TMZ, Arbery’s family attorney, Lee Merritt, said a picture of the note will be sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. A copy of the picture will be sent to the appropriate investigators within the District Attorney’s office.
The ambiguous note seems to suggest that there is a possible unknown witness to the Feb 23 slaying of Arbery by Gregory and Travis McMichael. Merritt reportedly called the note a “critical piece of evidence.”
The statement from the attorneys continues, “Ahmaud Arbery’s family has been overwhelmed by the well-wishes and expressions of kindness sent to them from people around the world. They would like to extend their sincere thanks to those who have taken the time to send a letter, write an email or honor Mr. Arbery in their own way. Support from family and friends and the kindness of strangers are the only things keeping them going during this incredibly difficult time.”
As the US Chamber of Commerce’s Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Outreach, Rick C. Wade plays a pivotal role in ensuring companies, large and small, take care of business as they grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For two years, he has been busy initiating programs to forge diverse relationships and partnerships for the world’s largest business organization representing 3 million firms. Over the past two months, however, Wade has been in engaged in everything from rallying the business community to lobby Congress to replenish stimulus funding to holding conference calls to help companies put employees back to work.
As a senior adviser to President Obama and Deputy Chief of Staff at Commerce during The Great Recession, the Lancaster, South Carolina, native intimately knows how such crises can devastate black businesses. That’s why he’s spent considerable focus on helping African American entrepreneurs gain access to immediate financial and strategic resources while guiding them to remake their firms for a post-COVID environment.
“There’s nothing more urgent than short-term measures to keep businesses alive. That has to be our No. 1 objective. As we’re doing this, we have to recognize that the American economy is being redesigned and we can’t afford to be left out of that redesign. You got to take the initiative to reboot, reinvent, reimagine,” he asserts, citing healthcare, tech, and global business as prospective entrepreneurial hotspots.
The following are edited excerpts of Black Enterprise’s interview with Wade on today’s unpredictable business environment.
What has been the impact of the COVID-19 environment on your role at the Chamber?
A lot of what I do is making sure that we build an economy that’s diverse and inclusive, not just in terms of workforce, but access to funding and opportunities for African American- and other minority-owned business, and to the extent that we are inclusive in our policy advocacy on Capitol Hill. So the urgency, immediacy, intensity of this work is so important because, as we’ve seen, this pandemic could have a disproportionate and adverse impact on the African American business community as well as other minority communities.
With the second tranche of funding for PPP that started on April 27 and new provisions for financing through Minority Depository Institutions and Community Development Financial Institutions [CDFIs}, have you been encouraged by the availability of capital to black- and minority-owned businesses?
We all are very interested in data and being able to measure the impact of these funds, which we don’t know yet. Due to the provisions of providing the $60 billion to CDFIs and minority depository institutions, credit union, et cetera, these are places where minority enterprises are more likely to have open relationships. So I’ve been hearing encouraging news that that process has been working but that is a first step to what has to be a longer-term investment to make sure that minority enterprises across the country are not left behind.
The recent MetLife -US Chamber study found that only one-third of small businesses have applied or tried to apply for a PPP loan. So what can you do in your role to just encourage more small businesses and minority businesses to apply for the PPP funding?
I think in the short term, we have to consider the outreach that we have been dealing with, literally on a day-to-day basis, to make sure black-owned companies understand the application process and know that they’re eligible. I have been leading calls and been on calls with organizations from fraternities and sororities to faith communities and other organizations trying to get the word out. We’ve also been working closely with one of our partners, the Minority Business Development Agency [MBDA] and their minority business development centers across the country to engage minority firms at every level possible and give them the technical support they need to be successful in the application process.
Wade with members of the Minority Business Development Agency
So how should business owners position their companies post-crisis?
We’ve got to think short term because we have an immediate problem and if we don’t address it my fear is that a lot of minority businesses won’t survive. But we also found that we must think long term and figure out this whole broader access to capital issue, and not just from the lending institutions, but private equity.
One of the areas that I’ve had a lot of experience at the Department of Commerce is following direct investment. How do we look at every piece of capital and build a structure that is a very diverse structure in terms of capital access for black-owned enterprises? What about joint ventures? What about acquisitions? What about new structures for partnerships? Also, reimagining business infrastructure and restructuring how we access capital to do business. There’s going to be a lot of innovations that come out of this new normal world that we live in. I want to make sure that African American businesses are thinking and leaning forward in providing business solutions to these challenges that we are confronted with.
So your message to black business is to do what they need to do to stay alive today but at the same time, focus on what’s going to be the new, new economy?
Yes. There’s going to be the new economy. How can we fit in this new design model of the future? I’ll give you an example. I had a call with barbershops and beauty salons and trying to get them connected because we know how important an important role they play in our social and organizational structure. We are trying to get them connected to PPP and other resources to keep them alive. In reimagining our community, I then ask what is the role of barbershops in terms of healthcare information? There’s a study I found in The New England Journal of Medicine where barbershops were used to convey information about hypertension to black men, coupled with their medication, and there was significant improvement of hypertension among black men.
So when I say lean forward, how can we re-examine and reimagine the businesses that we have to help address some of these underlying structural, historical challenges that have always existed in the black community? And I think that presents opportunities. For example, having pharmacies co-located at churches or in barbershops to give people the ability to access prescription drugs as well as educate them on healthy eating and lifestyles.
So based on your role and what you’re communicating, now is not the time to stand still and look for saviors because in a certain sense, like in every environment, we must be our own cavalry.
That’s right. You got to take it upon yourself, take the imitative to reboot, reinvent, reimagine. And in my role at the largest business organization in the world, I want to support black entrepreneurs and help them create these innovative new approaches. So we have tremendous access. So what are the innovative partnerships that we could create with small and big businesses to help provide solutions that’s a win-win for both small businesses as well as corporate America?
NBA legend and entrepreneur Isiah Thomas and Wade at the AT&T lunch during 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend
We Must have A Seat At The Policymaking Table
One aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it fully communicates the importance for black business owners to be involved in politics and policy, which are the drivers of immediate solutions.
I regularly convene all the diverse chambers—the black, Hispanic and Asian chambers—to get them connected to the policies at the federal level and helping them to adjust as it cascades down to the state and local level., we have to be in the room at the table as policies are being constructed.
That’s one of the big value areas of the Chamber. We’re the voice of business as related to Congress, the state level as related to legislatures, and local level related to city councils. This is where the design concept of policy begins. Our work begins with politics, and it ends with policy and accountability. Oftentimes we vote and think, “That’s it.” We have to make sure we are part of that design of the laws, regulations, and policies being promulgated and the results that come from laws and regulations and policies already implemented. There’s a tremendous gap there.
So in designing this new paradigm, do you believe that black businesses need to make a pivot to global markets?
We’re not in the room during the global conversation, considering that 95% of the world’s consumers live outside the United States. So if we really want to think about how we could peak in the future, we’ve got to think and be global. Oftentimes I’m trying to be a bridge at the Chamber, not just in the United States. The American Chambers of Commerce are in over 120 countries around the world. So our footprint is not just domestic but is also global.
US Chamber President Suzanne Clark, Howard University President Wayne Frederick and Wade with next-gen scholars
Keeping The Diverse Talent Pipeline Flowing
In terms of the current environment, how do you move forward with your next-Gen Initiative and the role of HBCUs?
For the last two summers, I’ve focused on next-gen scholars from HBCUs around the country. That program is really about internships and creating a talent pipeline in hopes that these young people will look at business policy advocacy and working in business, and working in corporate America as a career path. We’re going to continue that in this new virtual world.
The other part is how do we engage HBCU leadership as we develop pathways forward for business in our economy? We hosted last year over 60 HBCU presidents at the Chamber and the conversation about the future of higher education in business. So the role of HBCUs is extremely important as we think about not just the workforce of tomorrow but finding entrepreneurs and solving some of the top challenges that we have in our society. How do we move to research at HBCUs from innovation into commercialization? We ultimately create this inclusive economy. This is a really important partnership. In fact, the first time ever in the history of the Chamber, we have the first president of a university on that board; Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick.
What are some examples of how you are engaging HBCUs?
We are looking at how to work with faculty and connect them to some of the policy centers within the Chamber. I recently brought Tuskegee University to participate in our largest summit, the Aviation Summit. We seek to develop a business ecosystem in and around Tuskegee considering they’re one of the largest producers of aerospace engineers. I was thrilled to get them engaged in the summit that included pretty much every CEO of every airline across the industry in America. Whether it is aviation, technology, healthcare or pharmaceutical manufacturing, connectivity to that industry produces opportunities for us to create jobs.
What are some of the other initiatives in which you are focused?
I’m really, really proud of our engagement with the Kellogg Foundation around the Business Case for Racial Equity. Again, this is something I believe demonstrates that the Chamber is leaning in on this issue. Prior to the pandemic, we were having roundtable conversations with business leaders, owners, and stakeholders in Mississippi, New Mexico, and Michigan. I wanted to point that out because we have to deal with racial equity from a business perspective if we’re going to close the equity gap in our economy. Companies will understand that if we close this gap, the economy wins. We look forward to expanding on that in the future.
Another unique program that I put together is called the Business Huddle, convening professional athletes with corporate CEOs and helping them understand how to expand their firms and become more competitive in their businesses. I wanted to mention those things because it gives you a sense of the breadth and depth of the Chamber’s reach. We have an extraordinary footprint where we can be an advocate for diversity, inclusion, asset, equity, capital from all of these different lenses.
