I
am pleased to report that my stint as consulting executive director at the
Consortium of African American Organizations ended, effective November 30,
2012. It was a great position from which to gain a strong sense of the pulse of
the community, particularly with respect to the improving environment for
minority business. In fact, I am of the opinion that prospects for a leap
forward in that arena are strong.
I
believe this is true for a variety of reasons. In the first place, Cleveland is
becoming a community that appreciates entrepreneurship and is developing the
infrastructure to nurture and support small business growth. Second, Cleveland
has a growing number of talented and educated African American businessmen and
women who are staking claims throughout our regional economic ecosystem. I see
in place of the attitude that black people don’t merit a place at the economic
table continues to recede — albeit too slowly — a growing appreciation of the
fact that the success of Northeast Ohio depends on significant contributions of
all sectors in our community.
This
emerging and encouraging environment is due to several factors, not least of
which is our community’s generational shift. That too is a slow but
unmistakable and thankfully inevitable progression, and it is impacting pretty
much all sectors: public, private and nonprofit. As that poet philosopher of
social change, James Brown put it so memorably, “Money won’t change you, but
time will take you on.”
For
my part I am looking at opportunities to hasten and support these trends. I
will be writing more about the evidence I see that supports the conclusions I
have advanced here. But for now, take heart that things are getting better.
Except
perhaps in the Cleveland Police Department. Let us hope and pray that some of
the more than half of the police officers who took part in that senselesspolice pursuit of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams but didn’t fire their
weapons, will come forward across that thin blue line. They should recognize
that silent complicity in the rogue behavior of their colleagues stains their
whole profession.
