After the historic gubernatorial win in Alabama showed overwhelmingly high percentages of Black voters with women casting ballots backing a Democratic candidate at almost 100 percent, many mull over ways to galvanize the energy and momentum of that race.
Ark Republic simply asks for you to invest in a black woman, any woman in any industry, and hopefully multiple black women.
This is not a call to action for you to replace ma’am or miss with “queen,” or “sister,” although that is flattering. This is a call for everyone to provide substantial support to a group that is underemployed, underpaid, overlooked and certainly underestimated.
The Dilemma
Black women are a growing group of entrepreneurs; however, it is more likely to turn water into high grade tequila than acquire funding, according to trends.
In the midst of foraging for leads and money to keep the Ark Republic afloat, I ran across a study reporting that less than 1 percent of black women tech companies receive venture capitalist funding. And when they do, it is significantly less than anybody. For example, the average for white men was 1 million dollars, while for black women it was $36,000.
Black female entrepreneurs still exist at the bottom of the food chain. We are a demographic with the lowest wealth, with one of the highest underemployment rates; and as a professor (which I am between the Ark), we die the fastest.
However, black women overwhelmingly move votes in critical elections; we stand at the front lines to challenge the status quo; we feed communities and nations, putting in sweat equity for its sustainability; while unfortunately, we essentially are left out of our cut of resources.
Last week, I spoke to a prominent veteran hip hop female emcee who struggles to find funding for a day trip for Newark high school teens to visit the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Boasting a 100 percent success rate, her program mentors young women and helps them finish school. But she too hears crickets.
Currently, the necessity of investing in a black woman is more than a safety pin or social media like, it is incumbent upon the lifeline of people. History shows that black women always use their entrepreneurially endeavors as a way to connect back to social matters.
