The same billionaire Black man that paid off the debt of the entire Morehouse 2019 graduating class is proposing a “2 percent solution” that would help Black people move closer to financial freedom and assist the Black community’s overall wealth.
During a conversation with #Forbes, American businessman #RobertFSmith suggested a plan to funnel 2 percent of corporate America’s annual net income into Black communities for 10 years, according to Bossip. Smith also said that he is calling for large banks to give more money to financial institutions that provide for Black-owned businesses. He says that banks often withhold money from Black businesses, and those same funds are often shared with white communities and businesses instead.
“Nowhere is structural racism more apparent than in corporate America,” Smith said. “If you think about structural racism and access to capital, 70% of African American communities don’t even have a branch, bank of any type.” He mentioned this plan pointing out that the rollout of money in the Payroll Protection Program for COVID-19 greatly excluded Black businesses.
He says that the net income of the 10 largest U.S Banks over the last 10 years was $968 billion. He explains that if those businesses just pull out 2 percent, which would equate to $19.4 billion, that money could be used to fund the core Tier 1 capital of community development banks and minority depository institutions that predominately cater to Black communities, Bossip reports. He also noted that the capital could be distributed in a tax-advantaged, non-profit fund that would provide the core bank capital.
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