The question is—will elected officials put measures in place to ensure the economic health of the Black community during and after the current COVID-19 crisis or will they continue to ignore the economic health of the Black community?
The question is—will elected officials put measures in place to ensure the economic health of the Black community during and after the current COVID-19 crisis or will they continue to ignore the economic health of the Black community?
It's not about Democrats or Republicans...
It's about policies, even news commentators are telling Black people not to be BAMBOZOOLED - Watch the video!
Black Business Empowerment (BBE) Report Cards
The 2020 and 2021 election season provides an informed Black electorate with an opportunity to negotiate the terms under which we will vote for those seeking elected office. We have to set the terms and broker commitments before the clock runs out. WEG will be seeking Legislative, Policy, Capital Infusion and Discretionary Spending Remedies to eliminate the well documented economic disparity and effects of the vistages of chattel slavery and the Black Tax on the Black community with a focus on Black businesses.
Above is how much time Black people have to:
​
1
Get answers to the questions below.
2
Formulate an 'ASK'.
3
Negotiate the terms for delivering our vote.
​
Before we decide who to vote for in the 2020 election...
Questions Black people need to ask politicians before voting...
ALL CANDIDATES
-
What effect, if any, do you have on business creation as a public official?
-
How have you used your position as an elected official to create businesses in general and for Black people in particular?
-
History tells us that MWBE programs across America were designed to remedy discrimination against America’s non-white population in general and its Black non-immigrant population in particular. Additionally, white women were added to the designation at some point. Today, the most recent data in NYC/ NYS shows that the Black diaspora and particularly, the Black non-immigrant business community lags way behind the economic advancement of white women and other non-whites. What legislative, policy or contract set aside remedies have you put forth to remedy this disparity. If none, are you prepared to work with the historically harmed Black community to craft legislative, policy or contract set aside remedies to address the disparity?
-
Access to capital is crucial to Black people’s ability to create and sustain profitable businesses that will lead to wealth creation. While there are several programs designed to provide capital to NYC’s micro and small businesses, for many reasons Black businesses have not benefited in a measurable way. Would you support Black Business Empowerment Zones that have capital access funds at their core that are managed by locally based entities that have historically served the Black community’s capital needs?
FEDERAL CANDIDATES
-
Are you familiar with H.R. 40, the Reparations bill that calls for a commission to study the case for reparations that has been sitting in the US Congress since 1989?
-
Will you push the House Judiciary Committee Chairperson and Speaker of the House to move HR 40 from committee to the floor for a full vote?
-
Will you vote in favor of H.R. 40 when it comes to the floor for a full vote?
NYC/ NYS CANDIDATES
-
The Black diaspora represents about 22% of NYC’s population and about 2% of its businesses. Would you put forth legislation and or polices that guarantee this statistic will change from 2% to 22% by 2022?
-
In NYC’s affordable real estate market, a prescribed number of units are typically set- aside for neighborhood residents to mitigate displacement and gentrification. Would you support a similar set-aside for Black businesses and workforce that includes prime, sub-contractor and supply chain contracts whenever public money is used to develop or enhance real estate or to incentivize business development?
-
The Black community has been harmed since it arrived on the shores of America. The prison industrial complex along with the improper and some might say; illegal surveillance of Black people has had a devastating effect on the Black community. Would you support remedy in the form of, but not limited to:
-
Non-competitive Cybersecurity workforce development grants designated for locally based entities that have historically served the Black community’s need for workforce development?
-
Cannabis licenses for dispensary operation in Black communities being issued solely to those most harmed and the outright barring of large corporations from operating dispensaries in Black communities?
-
The MART 125 on NYC’s historic 125th Street was envisioned in 1979 as an incubator for Black owned businesses. It opened in keeping with its vision in 1986, was shuttered in 2001 and has been vacant since. Several plans, none of which came from the community, have been announced in the past few years. Would you support and promote a community vision for a Black business incubator with an African Trade Center as its anchor on the MART 125 site?
-
NYC’s Comptroller Scott Stringer’s 2018 and 2019 Making the Grade Report details NYC’s contracting with the Black diaspora. Will you use your position as an elected official to call for the tracking of dollars spent specifically with NYC’s Black non-immigrant population in all future Comptroller reports?
-
December 2018 NYS instituted a Rapid Response Program to build a statewide network of attorneys to quickly provide emergency legal services to immigrants targeted by ICE raids and arrests. Given it is well documented that Black people are disproportionately unfairly targeted by police and other enforcement agencies as most recently documented by the spate of brutal social distancing enforcement videos captured and uploaded to YouTube; would you support a similar policy or legislation to assist unfairly targeted Black New Yorkers?
-
NYC/NYS elected officials have put forth legislation and polices to provide comprehensive health care, social services, legal services and other needs for immigrant families and children in partnership at the City and State levels and CUNY has adopted the Golden Door Scholars Program implemented in 2013 to promote upward economic mobility for undocumented students. Did you vote for the Golden Door legislation and would you support similar legislation for NYC’s descendants of American chattel slavery as a path to upward economic mobility because Black families and children DREAM too?
Something to think about...
Black people must realize the potential of the Black voting Bloc. In 2012 there were 1,159,123 Black registered voters in NYC.
​
-
In 2013 Democrat Bill de Blasio received 795,679 total votes and won the Mayoralty.
-
In 2013 Republican Joe Lhota received 263,420 total votes for the Mayoralty.
-
In 2013 total votes cast across all candidates in NYC was 1,087,710.
-
In 2020, all 63 seats in the New York State Senate are up for election.
-
In 2020, all 150 seats in the New York State Assembly are up for election.
-
In 2021, the Mayor, Comptroller, all five borough presidents, and 35 of 51 City Council seats
are up for election.
#2020blackout
