March 6, 2016

To Be Equal 

The Color of Money: Reaping the Dividends of Entrepreneurship
By Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “So our people not only have to be reeducated to the importance of supporting black business, but the black man himself has to be made aware of the importance of going into business. And once you and I go into business, we own and operate at least the businesses in our community. What we will be doing is developing a situation wherein we will actually be able to create employment for the people in the community.” – Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” April 12, 1964

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Sarah Breedlove was born to sharecroppers on a plantation in Louisiana. Breedlove—later known to millions as Madam C.J. Walker—died on her beloved four-and-a-half acre estate overlooking the Hudson River in Irvington, NY. At the time of her death, Madam Walker’s estate was worth close to six million in today’s dollars—making her one of the most successful, self-made business women of the twentieth century. Asked how she got her start, Madam Walker is said to have famously answered, “I got my start by giving myself a start.”

Entrepreneurship is deeply embedded in our American DNA. It can take a woman from the Jim Crow era cotton plantations of the South to the pinnacle of American business success. And entrepreneurship’s benefits extend further than the heart and mind of the man or woman possessed with the dream of owning their own business. Entrepreneurship is an inspiration and an opportunity that can be shared. It is a driver of the American economy and has the potential to provide new economic opportunity to local—and even distressed—communities.

Nationally, the number of firms owned by people of color is on the rise. According to the latest small business survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, minority-company ownership is up from 5.8 million in 2007 to eight million in 2012. This includes a 46 percent increase in Hispanic ownership; a 34 percent rise in the number of African-American owned businesses; an almost 24 percent increase for Asians; and a 27 percent increase in firms owned by women. And as the growth in minority-company ownership booms, so do its job numbers.  It is estimated that minority-owned companies provide seven million jobs and companies owned by women employ up to eight million workers.

To save our struggling cities, we cannot solely rely on getting jobs. To strengthen our streets we must be on the forefront of creating jobs and economic opportunities. The National Urban League has created the Entrepreneurship Center, a signature program to foster the growth of minority-owned businesses and offer business owners the resources they need to grow their bottom line.  Through counseling, mentoring and training services, the National Urban League’s Entrepreneurship centers work with owners to develop management skills that will help their businesses obtain financing that supports job creation and preservation. By improving their strategies, the centers have helped over ten thousand business owners experience increased competitiveness and profitability, start their businesses with higher survival rates and break out to new markets and higher growth. To date, the center has helped entrepreneurs create or save close to 1200 jobs and get more than 73 million dollars in new contracts and capital.

As women and people of color continue to create and own record numbers of businesses, the buying power of communities of color continues to grow exponentially. According to the latest Multicultural Economy Report from the Selig center, Hispanic buying power leads all groups at 1.3 trillion dollars and Black buying power has seen an 86 percent increase with their buying power rising to 1.1 trillion dollars. Yet, how many of those trillions of dollars stay within our economically disadvantaged communities?

An NAACP study found that a dollar in circulates in Asian communities for 30 days, as opposed to six hours in Black communities. It found that only two cents of every dollar African Americans spend goes to Black-owned businesses. One researcher estimated that if Black consumers spent at least one dollar out of every ten with Black businesses, it could generate one million jobs for African Americans. Minority buying power can do far more than purchase; it can become an investment in stronger, local communities.

Buying Black is more than just a slogan. When you buy Black you help assure Black business growth. And, when you shore up Black business growth, you play your part in helping to revitalize the communities where those businesses reside.

March 6, 2016

Where is Today's Madame CJ Walker?
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Women entrepreneurs have a powerful role model when they consider Madame CJ Walker.  One of our nation’s first female self-made millionaires, her story of combining herbs to develop and manufacture a hair pomade, of empowering tens of thousands of women as sales agents for her products, and of establishing a beauty school to teach beauty techniques (and provide economic empowerment for even more women) are the stuff of legend.  She was not only an entrepreneur, but also a philanthropist.  She “lived large”, owning two cars and a sprawling estate, Villa Largo, in Irvington, New York, but she shared her wealth (Black millionaire Harold Doley purchased Villa Largo in 1993.   It is a National Historic Landmark).  She was possessed with an amazing self-confidence that served her well in business and in life.

Madame (as she is called by her great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles, the keeper of the family history and author of books about her ancestor (On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker (Scribner, 2001),  Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur (Chelsea House, 1991; revised 2008), Madam Walker Theatre Center: An Indianapolis Treasure (Arcadia Publishing, 2013)), was a character!  She changed her name from Sarah Breedlove to Madame CJ Walker to provide herself with a “classier” sounding name, and to help prevent white people from calling her “Aunt”, as they called so many African American women.  She didn’t want whites calling her the demeaning “Aunt” (to close to Mammy, for my thinking), nor did she want the patronizing attitudes of Black men to affect the way she went about her business. 

For years, she sought the opportunity to speak at Booker T. Washington’s National Business League, but was denied.  As legend goes, she went to one of the meetings and took the mic and made her speech, despite o`fficial denial.  Why should she not have spoken?  She was one of the most successful business people of her generation.  She was one of the most generous philanthropists.  She financially sponsored the anti-lynching campaign.  Perhaps Booker T. Washington was being a sexist, or perhaps (it is sometimes said) he had an ideological opposition to a woman whose product was perceived as straightening hair.  (By the way, Madame did not invent the straightening comb – Annie Malone who preceded Madame Walker in making her fortune with beauty products and a beauty school that Madame attended – did).

Whether Washington wanted Madame Walker to speak, she had the audacity to take the mic and say her piece.  She noted that she had promoted herself from a washerwoman to a businesswoman, speaking to the fact that few were available to help her to achieve her goals and the goals of tens of thousands of other women.  Her audacity, her self-possession, her activism were notable during a time when few women, regardless of race, promoted themselves, instead choosing to walk softly and speak quietly. Today, women like Cathy Liggons Hughes (TV/Radio One), Sheila Johnson (co-founder of BET), and Oprah Winfrey stand on her shoulders.

And today, in time for Women’s History Month, Madame CJ Walker’s products are making a comeback.  Her historic formulas have been modified for contemporary use, with four formulas made available based on hair texture.   A’lelia Bundles has been supportive of the line which, as of March 4, is exclusively available at the Sephora cosmetics stores.  I’ve not tried the products yet, but I can’t wait to shampoo my hair with a little bit of history, with a product that derives from the formulas of Madame C.J. Walker.

The Madame CJ Walker story takes on a special significance in these economic times. You may have heard that there has been an economic recovery, but if you are like most people in these United States, you haven’t felt it.  Incomes have hardly risen since 2009, when our current President took office.  Not his fault – but that’s not the point.  The point is that too many people are hurting, and some of the pain is joblessness.

Barriers to employment entry are high, especially for some young African-Americans who, despite similar qualifications to their white counterparts, take much longer to find meaningful and remunerative work.  If the labor market won’t absorb these young people, African-American entrepreneurs the inheritors of Madame CJ Walker must.  Where is the business leader who can create tens of thousands of sales agents and provide entrepreneurship opportunities for so many?

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist based in Washington, DC. Her latest book, Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy can be purchased at www.juliannemalveaux.com

March 6, 2016

Here's Why We Need the Era
By Dr. E. Faye Williams 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – A few days ago, we saw our U.S. Supreme Court in action.  Even if you only saw snippets of Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt, a Texas case that threatens to take away a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body, you’ll understand why we need the Equal Rights Amendment in our Constitution.

We heard two men arguing against women’s rights and three brilliant women Justices proving why it’s important for women to speak for ourselves when laws about us are made.  In those arguments, it was great having female Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, who were appointed by President Barack Obama, and the inimitable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg representing our interests. Without these women, we would’ve been railroaded! Add the female lawyer there working for us, and we were closer than ever to justice for women with these women standing up for us against Texas’ solicitor general for passing regulations with no relationship to a woman’s health.

Just as I believe it’s important for all women to tell their story, it’s really important for women of all races and backgrounds to speak for themselves. We can thank President Obama for getting us closer to where some of us can tell our own stories, while I hold onto hope that we’ll have a Black woman on the Supreme Court soon!

Seeing the women Justices in action on a case about women brings me to the ERA and why we desperately need it.  A recent survey shows most people don’t know women’s rights are not protected in our Constitution.  They think we’re there, but surely you’ve heard the phrase “All men are created equal,” and even more, you may have heard the late Justice Antonin Scalia argue that women are not promised protection against discrimination in our Constitution!

Mr. Scalia’s exact words were: “You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society.  Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex.  The only issue is whether it prohibits it.  It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant.  Nobody ever voted for that.  If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.”

He stated that women aren’t protected on the basis of sex under the Equal Protection Clause! That was shocking to many of us who believed equal protection allows all Americans to enjoy basic civil and human rights.

The day didn’t end without a few more women coming forward on the ERA. Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ) led an amazing Special Order Hour in the Congress on passage of ERA. I received e-mails from women all over the country rejoicing that ERA is finally receiving attention after all the years of near silence on the issue.

The National Congress of Black Women is a lead organization on this issue. We were represented at the dinner held by actress Patricia Arquette in California a few days ago. Kamala Lopez just did a great informative movie called Equal Means Equal. If you don’t know many of the challenges presented to women by not being written into the Constitution, you need to see the movie. We, Black and Latina women, have double challenges of color and sex, so we must be actively and visibly involved in getting ERA passed.

Begin by asking elected officials at all levels for their position on ERA. If they’re not giving the correct answer, remember their answers on every Election Day!  Brothers, please join your mothers, daughters, sisters and spouses on this issue. When we’re all enjoying equal pay and other rights, we can all enjoy a better quality of life.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women. 202/678-6788. nationalcongressbw.org.

March 2, 2016

Clinton, Trump Win Big on Super Tuesday, But Voting Problems Undermine Process
By Hazel Trice Edney

PHOTO: HillaryClinton.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire businessman Donald Trump won sweeping majorities of the votes in the 12 Super Tuesday states this week. But, as the polls closed, the Election Protection program – designed to shield the integrity of the vote - had received more than 2,000 calls.

In the Democratic campaign, Clinton, once again bolstered by 83 percent of Black voters according to a CNN exit poll, won seven states - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and the American Samoa territory. Her opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with only 15 percent of Black voters, won four states - Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont.

Republican Donald Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont. His opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, won Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas; and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won Minnesota. Medical Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich won no states. Only Republicans competed in Alaska and only Democrats competed in the America Samoa.

The Clinton and Trump wins on Super Tuesday added to both of their momentums after the South Carolina primary Feb. 27 where they also won handily. Bolstered by a heavy Black voter turnout, Clinton won 73 percent of the vote over Sanders’ 26.5 percent in South Carolina. Trump won 32.5 percent of the vote in a field that was then six candidates.

As much as the state wins are stressed, it’s actually the numbers of delegates that each state carries that actually count. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. Clinton currently has 1,055 and Sanders has 418. Republicans need 1,237 to win the nomination. Trump currently has 315, Cruz has 205 and Rubio has 106. Other primaries and caucuses will take place through Tuesday, June 14.

Streams of voters turned out on Super Tuesday, the largest group primary and caucus day of the presidential election year. But, according to poll watchers, it may not have been all fair game. The national, nonpartisan Election Protection voter hotline reportedly received more than 2,000 phone calls from voters who encountered issues while voting.

“We received hundreds of calls across the country on our 866-OUR-VOTE hotline from voters who want to participate in our democracy,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, in a statement issued to the media. “I spoke with one voter for over 20 minutes in Cobb County, Georgia who was not given notice that his polling place was temporarily moved and when he got to the new site, he and many other voters found a dark, unmarked building with no signs of any activity.”

The majority of calls reportedly came from Texas and Georgia, the statement said. “The hotline received a steady stream of calls throughout the day with voters seeking information as well as assistance on a range of issues resulting from poll worker misinformation, voter ID problems, overcrowded polls, long lines and ballot shortages.”

Meanwhile, Clinton and Sanders are poised to face off in yet another debate, set for Sunday, March 6 in Flint, Mich., where a government water crisis has poisoned thousands of most Black people, including children, with led. Democrats will also debate March 9 in Florida. Two more will be held in April and May, but details have not been announced. The final Republican debates are March 3 in Detroit, March 10 in Miami and March 21 in Salt Lake City.

The nominees will be selected during the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28 and during the Republican Convention in Cleveland July 18-21. But, as voters prepare to head for the polls Nov. 8, the apparent voter violations reported on Super Tuesday underscored the need for close oversight.

“Today, hundreds of thousands of voters from Virginia to Alabama to Texas headed to the polls and many called 866-OUR-VOTE to receive information and report problems,” said Marcia Johnson Blanco, co-director of the Voting Rights Project. “As in years past, this election showed the continuing need for Election Protection to provide services year-round to help voters as they prepare to cast ballot.”

The Election Protection program will continue providing support to voters during the 2016 presidential primary season and through the Nov. 8 election.

Clarke concluded, “Our experience on Super Tuesday shows that much work remains to be done to strengthen our voting process across the country."