Racial realism in Black finance reflects the persistent anti-Black barriers that keep the Black community from gaining equitable access to capital. At the federal level, one of the largest and least-elevated stories is the immense, anti-Black wealth transfer of the federal COVID-19 relief programs. Specifically, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP awarded over $542 billion in aid to U.S. businesses and organizations to incentivize retaining employees. Less than two percent of that aid reached Black-owned organizations!
To contextualize, Black wealth in 2020 remains near zero due to centuries of systemic anti-Black racism. COVID-19 predictably hit the Black community harder than most, and yet, the massive federal tax dollars used for relief wholesale failed to reach Black communities. Instead, the funding went overwhelmingly to wealthy white communities, only further compounding existing racial wealth, economic, and health gaps.
This is racial realism: the perpetual, unrelenting anti-Black racism baked into every facet of our society. And this is why King County Equity Now was formed: to combat racial realism in King County by: (i) vigorously calling out anti-Blackness in all forms, at all institutions; (ii) organizing with local Black community to elevate equity solutions that, when followed, will lead the Black community to measurable markers of equity; and (iii) ensuring such solutions are put into practice.
Below, we highlight just a few campaigns to combat anti-Blackness in capital access including the: (a) collective demand for $300M in American Relief Plan Act (ARPA) funding to go directly to the local Black community; and (b) Washington State Housing & Finance Commission (WSHFC)'s anti-Black funding policies (including its initial plan to exclude all Black projects from its 2021 quarter billion dollar allocation). That is, we highlight how anti-Black racism impacts the Black community's access to capital both during a global pandemic and routinely in a local institution. Take action to combat this below.
