Speech Presentation: Black Businesses

Young black graduates are often worried about their welfare. They are persistently worried about the probabilities of getting a job in a white-dominated economy. Should one get a job, their white counterpart at the same cadre will earn more for doing less. How can these graduates be made to change their attitude about the future? Fairlie and Robb (2007) explain that more black businesses are likely to fail as compared to white businesses. As such, blacks have been forced to believe that they must end up knocking doors and drop their resumes in every kind of white company. Can they not create their own and run it successfully? This speech is delivered in a graduation party of one of the black graduates. A few more graduates and prospective graduates are in attendance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I know it is now real. The reality of getting some means of sustenance is just knocking on your door. It is time to make hard choices after a great thought. Time for campus parties has just bid you goodbye. It is frightening I know, but be sure, with the correct attitude you shall crack the nut. How about throwing the resume out the window? How about assuming you do not have a flashy degree in the first place? It seems crazy, but it is one way of getting through – for you and many others. Many complain of discrimination against blacks in white companies, but so what? What can you do to be in a position to help the situation? Do not think of getting equal rights through the court, it is often a messy process. What about getting your companies running? Yes, a black company. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” Rise up and be a solution, not the complaining majority. I understand the question of who would buy from you, you, a black company? On this, I urge the community to have Malcolm’s X words reverberate in their minds, “Our people have to be made to see that any time you take your dollar out of your community and spend it in a community where you don’t live, the community where you live will get poorer and poorer, and the community where you spend your money will get richer and richer. […] If we own the stores, if we operate the businesses, if we try and establish some industry in our own community, then we’re developing to the position where we are creating employment for our own kind.” This is the attitude that will get the black community out of this unending problem. Thank you and get something rolling.”

References

Fairlie, R. W., & Robb, A. M. (2007). Why are black-owned businesses less successful than white-owned businesses? The role of families, inheritances, and business human capital. Journal of Labor Economics, 25(2), 289-323.