If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going - Harriet Tubman
If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going - Harriet Tubman
Black Business Empowerment Committee (BBE)
The Village of Harlem has been the cultural epicenter of Black America for the last 100+ years. More recently, Black Harlem has
been confronting the adverse effects of gentrification and economic stagnation of the majority of its Black-owned businesses. This harsh economic reality led WEG to form the Black Business Empowerment Committee (BBE), a Harlem based collective of Black community organizations, churches and business owners that have come together to put forth a plan for Black Business Empowerment in NYS and NYC. Subsequently, BBE gave birth to the 'BBE Commission'.
Something to think about...
WEG is focused on the devastating financial impact of the systemic and institutionalized racism stemming from centuries of chattel slavery and the Jim Crow era that continues to negatively impact Black people’s ability to develop and grow Black businesses. The Black Tax, the incremental cost of being Black in America, creates a massive financial burden on Black American households that dramatically reduces our ability to leave a substantial legacy for future generations by greatly reducing Black people’s ability to invest in new business development, education, housing, employment and other activities that lead to wealth accumulation.
Through a strategic partnership, WEG, HBA and the We Are 400 Foundation seek to bring awareness to this 'Black Tax’ that Black people are subjected to and unknowingly paying. Shawn Rochester quantifies the Black Tax is his book, The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America.
Over $70 trillion of resources were extracted from and/ or not provided to African-Americans, which effectively destroyed Black America's ability to accumulate wealth and leave a substantial legacy for our children's children. Let's take a look at the numbers; they are a frightening and sobering look at how pervasive and systematic discrimination and biases have taxed and negatively affected Black America in general and descendants of chattel slavery in particular. A short summary of the Black Tax 1619 to the Present:
