Charter Schools’ Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics
Charter Schools Find Gold in Federal Government Aid to Small Businesses While Black-Owned Firms Get the Shaft
The charter school industry has done much during the COVID-19 pandemic to add to systemic inequities that afflict Black communities by hijacking small business relief aid originally intended for minority-owned businesses and redirecting these funds to schools that further isolate Black families.
When emergency aid for small businesses hit by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic rolled out in North and South Carolina, Black-owned businesses were mostly bypassed. Only 3 percent of loans worth $150,000 or more went to Black-owned businesses, according to Charlotte-based WCNC, which analyzed loans awarded to small businesses that included race on their applications. Of the 2,026 small business owners and nonprofits who got the loans, only 64 of them were Black, and 1,791 were white.
In Tennessee, the story was much the same. When a Nashville Fox News affiliate compared the amounts of small business emergency aid given out to businesses in Black communities in the city to those in whiter, wealthier parts of town, it found “a huge [negative] discrepancy when it comes to historically Black neighborhoods.”
To their credit, some charter schools recognized the “ethical dilemma” and chose not to apply for the aid. But most faced no such ethical struggle.
This pattern held true on the other side of the country where San Diego public media station KPBS reported, “Storefronts in underserved communities south of I-8 couldn’t get any money.”
In heartland Kansas City, KCTV reported, out of 4,677 emergency loans given to small businesses in the region, less than 5 percent went to minority-owned small businesses, and only 24—less than 0.5 percent—went to Black-owned firms.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV reported, “Only 17 business owners identified as African American, representing 0.62 percent” of small businesses, were loan recipients.
According to a nationwide survey conducted by Color of CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools' Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics - LA Progressive