[MUSIC]
Many people would like to think that racism is a thing of the past,
but I'm here to tell you that racism is institutionalized and
very much a part of our systems today.
Prior to business school I spent a lot of my spare time advising small businesses.
And during that time I saw time and time again that they could be two
businesses with virtually the same exact profile on paper, but
experience totally different outcomes when the only thing that
separated the two was the color of their owner's skin.
Every time I go back home to my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland,
I'm known as the business guy.
>> [LAUGH] >> I mean, I've done taxes for
mobile retailers, marketing plans for bus companies, I've read tons and
tons of business plans, I've even managed property.
All while working full time in Washington DC as a regulatory,
compliance and cyber security consultant.
But one day I got a call from the daycare center that I went to while growing
up in Baltimore, asking for my help with their small business loan application.
I mean, I went to this center.
>> [LAUGH] >> My brother went there,
my mother had worked there.
In over 22 years this center had touched the lives of thousands of
people within our community and had a huge impact on my family.
So when I went to visit them I saw that they have 46 children
currently enrolled in their program, eight full-time employees, and
a long, long wait list of families just hoping to enroll in their program.
I noticed that, on paper, this was a solid business opportunity.
With 22 years of track record of positive cash flows, and also profitability.
So I prepared their business plan and their application, and
I went to a bank, and after few meetings, our loan application was denied.
We moved forward and we went to a second bank, but
after few meetings, again, our loan application was denied.
So I asked a few questions and re-revisited and
revised our materials, and we presented an even stronger case.
And we went to a third bank, and again,
our loan application was denied.
So I felt confused, I felt helpless.
Why couldn't the banks acknowledge the value that was
clearly on the paper, a solid business opportunity?
According to a Baltimore economic development group,
black entrepreneurs are denied small business loans up to three times
more often than white entrepreneurs.
So I asked myself a question.
Why can't black people get loans in Baltimore?
And so I Googled it.
>> [LAUGH] >> And
I spent some time scrolling through the results.
And after a few minutes I saw a map.
And honestly, I'll never forget the map.
So if I step back in time and tell you about the 1930s, during that time
the government had amazing ideas, like the 30 year fixed interest rate mortgage.
The government also created the Home Owners Loan Cooperation, the HOLC,
which was designed to evaluate 239 cities across the country.
And literally drew lines on maps categorizing them green,
blue, yellow, and red.
Green meant the rich upper income, White people areas.
Blue meant middle class white people.
Yellow meant poor white people.
And then black, I said that wrong, red, >> [LAUGH]
>> Red was labeled hazardous on the map.
And red meant black.
Do we see the difference here?
The government literally created a system where they categorized
the White people by socioeconomic class, and then created a separate
catch-all bucket of his own for Black people and marked it hazardous.
Red line maps, like this old map from the 1930s in Baltimore,
institutionalized racism in my hometown.
And a study as recent as 2017 found that 74%,
74% of areas that were marked red back in the 1930s are today still low and
moderate income in almost entirely majority black today,
while 91%, 91% of areas that were marked green
over 80 years ago are upper income and majority white today.
So redlining like this has really had an impact on so
many communities, and frankly, it makes a mockery of
our ideals of the American dream in this country.
In 1977, the government created the Community Reinvestment Act,
which is a law that federally mandated banks to devote a portion of its
loan portfolio investments and services to the low and
moderate income communities in which they were operating in.
But too many neighborhoods, too many people, and
too many businesses are just not seeing those loans, investments, and services.
Just come, travel to Maryland with me and you can see it for yourself.
It's going on right in the front of our eyes and
we are not doing anything to make change happen.
The Community Reinvestment Act was meant to end redlining, but
racism has been institutionalized in our healthcare systems,
education systems, banking, housing, and criminal justice systems.
And frankly, it makes a mockery of our ideals of the American dream.
There are billions and billions of dollars of high quality
investment opportunities that are still being left on the table.
Black Americans have $1.2 trillion of buying power and
incredibly innovative ideas for products and
businesses that just need better, that deserve better.
But we continue to leave those high quality opportunities on the table.
We haven't erased the red lines of the past,
we just continue to limit our country's full economic potential.
Is this the type of country we want to live in,
to raise our families in, to leave for our children, really?
Is it okay that your zip code is a better predictor of
your health outcomes than your genetic code, really?
Is it okay that three out of four neighborhoods that were
marked red over 80 years ago are the majority of our low and
moderate income communities today, really?
Is it okay that even on this very past weekend, in 2019,
a very nice woman still asks me, what is it like to be a black man in business?
Because it must be really, really hard.
And you know what?
She's right, it's hard, because collectively we haven't been questioning
our ideals and perspectives on race, class, and the American dream.
Collectively we haven't been questioning our local banks and
asking them what are they doing to provide loans and investments and
services into the low income communities in which they're operating in.
But today, you can help.
And right now we can all make a difference.
I recently launched a website called grantbridge.org,
where you can go and you can nominate a business that may be underserved so
we can better connect them with their local banks in their community.
Today, you can change the paradigm and shift the way that we think about risk,
and move away from these old school racially charged color coded systems,
because collectively we need better.
Collectively, we all deserve better.
There are billions and billions of dollars of high
quality value that's being left on the table.
Billions of dollars of opportunity that just so
happens to be located in black communities.
Today, it's time to redesign our future for everyone,
including those 46 children, those 8 workers, and that long,
long wait list of families from my daycare in Baltimore.
Thank you.
>> [APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC]