Top Stories
- Reparations: Evanston, Illinois is developing a Home Buyer Assistance Benefit as First Reparations Program (Evanston Roundtable). The city has set aside $10 million from marijuana sales. It will make $25,000 home buyer assistant grants to any Black resident of Evanston between 1919 and 1969 and their descendants.
- How Don Peebles Became One of the Wealthiest African-American Real Estate Developers(C Suite Quarterly)
- The movement for Black Lives has updated it’s policy platforms (M4BL) — It includes many economic proposals.
- Fact check: Ghana is not offering money or land to lure Black Americans (USA Today)
- “Black Business” trended up on google, as people searched for Black Businesses to support. Searches increase by 600% during the week of May 31st to June 6th.

Protest
- The movement for Black Lives has updated it’s policy platforms (M4BL) — It includes many economic proposals.
- What’s life like in Baltimore right now (Christian Science Monitor)
- How did companies respond to the killing of George Floyd? (Bloomberg)
Coronavirus / Paycheck Protection Program
- Black Workers More Likely to Face Retaliation for Raising Coronavirus Concerns (BlackPressUSA)(NELP)
- Pandemic continues to hurt Black business (Spectrum News One – Cincinnati, Ohio)
- In Moore County, Black and Hispanic Residents Disproportionately Affected by COVID-19 (The Pilot)
- Kent County defends hiring Chamber to distribute $25M to businesses after minority groups raise concerns (Michigan Live) – Grand Rapids Black businesses are concerned they will be shut out.
Unemployment / Employment / Wages
- Coronavirus layoffs have not been equal. Here are the workers that have been hit hardest (Business Insider)
- Black Professionals Miss Out on Recent Job Gains (Pew)
- Why Do We Pay So Many People So Little Money? (NY Times)
Big Business / Corporate Misbehavior
- The Black Lives Matter movement is driving customers to Black-owned businesses. Owners worry it won’t last. (CNN)
- National Association of Real estate Brokers (here) has some proposal to improve Black home ownership. – Funny and hypocritical coming from the single industry most responsible for limiting Black wealth.
- AT&T claims $3 billion in Black business spending over five year (PR Newswire)
- Bank discrimination summary by Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
- Microsoft promises $573 million in investment with Black suppliers, banks, and partners (Microsoft)
- Corporations pledge millions for Black-owned businesses. But are they missing the point? (CNBC)
- SECU supports the African-American Credit Union Coalition with $125,000 donation (Winston Salem Chronicle)
- Donor list for Racial Justice (Chronical of Philanthropy). Another donor list from World Economic Forum.
- Uncle Nearest and Jack Daniel’s Join Forces to Launch, “The Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative” to Increase Diversity in American Whiskey Industry (BlackPressUSA)
- Women in Banking A purpose-driven CD and other ideas for advancing economic justice and diversity. (American Banker)
Black Business / Interesting Businesses Stories
- How Don Peebles Became One of the Wealthiest African-American Real Estate Developer(C Suite Quarterly)
- Black Business Boom – Entrepreneur creates coupon program for Black-Owned businesses (Chicago Defender) — Black Groupon ?
- Black-owned businesses in Berkeley demonstrate the city’s economic resilience (Berkeleyside)
- Black run Founders First Capital in San Diego announces $100 Million social investment fund (NBC News)
- Maurice “Arkansas Mo” Fayne, who stars in Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, has been indicted by a federal grand jury. (US Attorney Northern GA)
- Black-owned businesses in Baton Rouge see a surge in customers (The Advocate)
Retail
- The Importance Of Shopping & Supporting Black-Owned Businesses Can’t Be Overstated (Zoe Report)
Small Business
- L.A.’s ‘social equity’ program for cannabis licenses under scrutiny (LA Times)
Black Technology /Apps / Innovation / Startups
- Update on Atlanta Black Tech (Atlanta Business Journal)
- Black woman leads healthcare block chain company (Patientory)
- Piegon.ly – inmate communications service (Pigeonly) – They are trying to reduce the cost of telephone calls. If you have ever tried to call in or out of a prison, you know how expensive a call is and poor the quality is.
- Shear Share (ShearShare) is a hair stylist booth rental app.
- Black, Latino angel fund backed by Rutgers is ready to hear entrepreneurs’ pitches (ROI-NJ)
Racism and Discrimination
- Fed’s Bullard: U.S. needs ‘structural’ responses to lack of Black economic progress (Reuters)
- Systemic Racism in Alamance County, NC (The Times News) – Including economic racism
- Economic disparities in Atlanta (Atlanta Business Journal) — Atlanta show how difficult it is to solve racial economic justice problems. Black incomes remain low.
- Federal Reserve System makes little progress on diversity (WSJ – Pay wall)
- How the Democrat-Backed GI Bill Left a Million Black WWII Veterans Behind (CBN News)
- The Disparate Racial Impact of Requiring a College Degree (Wall Street Journal)
Slavery / Reparations / Affirmative Action
- Home Buyer Assistance Benefit Being Developed as First Reparations Program (Evanston Roundtable). The city has set aside $10 million from Marijuana sales. It will make $25,000 home buyer assistant grants to any Black resident of Evanston between 1919 and 1969 or a descendant of said person.
- Calls for reparations gain steam as US reckons with racial justice (Reuters)
- Public more aware of racial inequality but rejects reparations (Union Leader)
- Reparations (Big Easy Magazine) – good summary of where we are and how and why we got there.
- “What is Owed” Nikole Hannah-Jones (NY Times) — Reparations
- Dr. William Darity discusses reparations in his new book and on the radio (WBUR)
People are cataloging the actual economic impact of slavery.
- Examining the slave trade — ‘Britain has a debt to repay’ (Financial Times – Pay Wall)
- There are British businesses built on slavery. This is how we make amends (Guardian)
- Legacies of British Slave-ownership (UCL – University College London) – A database of slaveholder and firms from the UK with holdings in Jamaica, Grenada and Barbados.

Inequality of Income and Wealth
- Which states have economies with the most racial equality (WalletHub) and racial inequality. They have a points system for calculating the score. It is interesting to see the weightings.
- Dr. Manual Pastor discusses what and equitable economy might look like. (Forbes)
Housing / Real Estate
- HBCU graduate buying property in Houston’s Fifth Ward to curb gentrification (We Buy Black)
- The segregationist history of Palo Alto (Palo Alto Online)
- Black homeowners pay more than ‘fair share’ in property taxes (CT Mirror)
- Connecticut has an opportunity to tackle housing segregation. It appears to be taking a pass. (CT Mirror) – Wealthy Whites protest then take a pass on affordable housing and desegregating suburbs.
- Segregated by design: How the suburbs work (CT Mirror) – An excellent series on how suburban communities keep the poor and minorities out.
- Home ownership gap among many economic disparities facing Black Arizonans (AZCentral)
- Black Home ownership gets a Boost in Los Angeles (Hollywood Reporter)
Straight Up Econ
- Expert Focus: Leading Black scholars on U.S. economic inequality and growth (Center for Equitable Growth)
Education
- Show that black lives matter by funding Maryland’s HBCUs (Baltimore Sun)
Food
- Black Food Sovereignty Discussion (Civil Eats)
Music
- How to play the rap game while destroying young men (Raprehab)
Investing / Financial Markets
- Don’t Let Blackwashing Save the Investor Class (Jacobin)
- Financial education could help bridge America’s wealth gap (CNBC) – Ahhh. No. The real problem is low paying jobs. When you are in survival mode, you don’t care about saving and investing. Nice job of compiling financial literacy resources though.
Politics / Government / State and Local
- Federal Senior Executive Service vows to become more diverse (Federal News Network)
- Fort Worth spent less than 3% of city contracts with Black businesses in past 5 years. (FW Star-Telegram)
There was No Good News this week
NYT / WAPO – Stories from the dominant news duopoly
Note: We always try to source from Black press, local print, original documents or magazines, but the Times and Post got the newspaper game in a choke hold.
- Are you willing to give up your privilege? (NY Times) — Which asks if your willing to make a sacrifice to make the country better.
Interesting People
- Columbus Ohio names Jerald Mitchell as CEO of chamber of Commerce (Columbus Ledger Inquirer)
- Ken Coleman is new CEO of Birmingham Business Alliance (Alabama Newscenter)
Immigration
- Trump limits H-1B visa (The Citizen)
- Economics of Diversity and Immigration (Forbes)
Africa