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August 4, 2005

An encouraging trend

Economic reports on African Americans are usually disquieting. However, a recent United States Census Bureau report on the growth of minority businesses is encouraging.

The Census Bureau’s survey of business owners found that while the overall number of businesses grew by 10 percent between 1997 and 2002, the number of black-owned businesses grew by 45 percent. That is a substantial jump in just five years.

The Census Bureau definition of a business is an entity that files taxes as an individual proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation and earns $1,000 or more in revenue a year. It is not necessary to have employees to be considered a business.

With a business growth rate more than four times the national average, the African American business boom exceeded that of other minorities. Latino-owned businesses grew by 31 percent and Asian-owned businesses grew by 24 percent during that five-year period.

Most American businesses are so small that they do not even have employees. The national average is that only 24 percent of businesses have employees. Black-owned businesses are substantially smaller than the national average. In 2002 only eight percent of black businesses had employees.

The average annual salary for employees of black businesses in 2002 was $23,440. This was less than the average for all firms – $34,420. Nonetheless, black-owned firms were able to provide jobs for 770,746 employees in 2002.

It is encouraging to see that so many African Americans have decided to venture out on their own and go into business for themselves. Financial support services and business opportunities must be available to encourage those who want to become entrepreneurs and to enable existing businesses to grow.

In plain view

The luxuries that a successful business career provides can be very seductive. Some youngsters are inspired to study hard, go to college and business school, then enter the world of industry and finance. Other youngsters view that road as too remote and fraught with failure. They prefer the quick returns that life in the underworld offers, despite the peril.

It is incumbent upon society to establish for all to see that “crime does not pay.” Poor blacks find it hard to believe that dealing in drugs is not financially profitable. Indeed, one might choose to eschew that line of business for moral reasons; nonetheless, the possibility of accumulating a substantial sum of money in a short time is very possible.

City, state and federal law enforcement recently closed down a sophisticated crack-cocaine ring operating in Roxbury, Mattapan, the South End and Jamaica Plain. Estimates are that the ring may have been operating for a decade with revenues of $50 million.

When one considers that there were estimated sales of $450,000 per month for an extended period of time, the police must have been aware of the traffic. At $10 a pop, that amounts to 45,000 sales a month.

Such volume should have aroused the attention of the police much earlier. Also, the ringleaders were not inconspicuous while riding around in Bentleys. Perhaps it is time to investigate whether any of the police were silent accomplices in the enterprise.

How can community activists be expected to curb youth violence when the police permit an open and notorious drug ring to operate for a decade?

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