Harlem Bespoke:  The spring season will have more on the calendar for everyone and will feature local live events such as the 30th Annual African Film Festival at Maysles Cinema this weekend.  Keep it all in the neighborhood and help support uptown’s small businesses!

* This article was originally published here

According to npr.org, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D, Missouri) has introduced new legislation calling for $14 trillion in reparations for Black Americans, in an effort to see the federal government atone and attempt to compensate for the practice of chattel slavery for over 250 years and the generations of racist policies that have followed.

To quote from npr.org:

“The United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people,” Bush said in a Wednesday news conference attended by Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., as well as other stakeholders.

“America must provide reparations if we desire a prosperous future for all,” Bush said.

Rep. Bush’s resolution is the latest in a long line of congressional efforts by Democrats to compensate Black Americans for centuries of racial inequity. Similar language about reparations has been introduced in every legislative session since 1989.

“We know that we continue to live under slavery’s vestiges. We know how slavery has perpetuated Jim Crow. We know how slavery’s impacts live on today,” Bush said, citing the racial wealth gap, voter suppression, infant mortality rates and other negative health outcomes for Black people.

“It’s unjust and it wouldn’t happen in a just and fair and equitable society,” Bush also remarked. “Those are not the natural consequences of human society… They are directly caused by our federal government’s role in the enslavement and exploitation of Africans and Black people throughout our history.”

California is currently exploring reparations on a state level, San Francisco is proposing reparations to bring Black people back to the city, while Evanston, Illinois started offering a form of reparations in 2019 through its Restorative Housing Reparations Program.

RELATED:

• https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-black-families-seeking-reparations-in-californias-gold-country
• https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/13/us/reparations-state-local-commission-reaj/index.html

* This article was originally published here

Many are concerned about the future of banking for African Americans and where they keep their money considering the impending debt limit crisis that threatens America’s fiscal status globally and the failure of SVB, Signature, and First Republic banks.

In March, SVB was the first to fail as rising interest rates lowered the value of the bank’s holdings.

After a tumultuous weekend after SVB’s demise, Signature Bank ultimately shut down due to an overwhelming demand for withdrawals.

With their demise, America avoided the largest bank failure since 2008, when Lehman Brothers’ collapse triggered the Great Recession.

After this month’s seizure of First Republic by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), financial experts have officially declared a banking crisis.

And just as the adage goes, “When America catches a cold, Black people get pneumonia,” Black-owned banks could be unintentional victims of the United States’ current banking crisis.

Dominic Mjarten, CEO of Optus Bank, a Black-owned bank formed by Black leaders in 1921, expressed great worry to Yahoo News about the impact on the community bank system.

Not necessarily a crisis for Wall Street, but a major problem for Main Street, he said.

The FDIC reported that, of the more than 5,000 U.S. banks, just 25 are Black owned.
Based on experience, Mjarten explains, “When we have any hiccups, or any challenges in our financial system, underserved communities feel the impact first and recover last.”

Mjarten said Optus Bank is feeling the pressure since consumers are nervous about their money and are switching banks.

In effect, the funds have already left the areas Optus supports.

“It’s migrating over to larger institutions that are not as equipped to serve some of the smaller, underserved parts of our economy that we are,” Mjarten said.

Forbes adds that the failure of banks, especially Silicon Valley Bank, which dealt with roughly half of all U.S. technology firms funded by venture capitalists, will have immediate and long-term effects on the Black entrepreneurial environment.

“Even though Black entrepreneurs receive less than 0.5% of all venture dollars invested in the U.S., the fallout from SVB could have greater consequences for them,” Forbes wrote.

Experts agree that Black business owners to be competitive in a wide range of industries, they need access to capital.

But, Teri Williams, president of the Black-owned OneUnited Bank, told the Washington Informer that African Americans shouldn’t lose any sleep.

“If you go to our website at OneUnited.com/FDIC, you’ll see a great article on this point,” Williams said.

“If you have $250,000 or less in the bank, you can sleep well because your money is safe,” Williams exclaimed. “If you have a joint account, it’s insured up to $500,000.”

She noted that the FDIC insures all deposits up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for joint accounts. Further, “if you have more than one bank account, you can look for ways to increase FDIC coverage,” she stated.

“In the case of the banks that failed, they are very different institutions,” Williams explained.

“The average deposit at Silicon Valley Bank was $4 million. They had deposits of up to $500 million. There really was a lack of appreciation for the need to have multiple bank accounts or talking to your banker about whether you have FDIC insurance.

“If you like your bank, there are ways to get additional coverage. The FDIC insurance protects 90 percent of our community, so we don’t have to worry about failures. You are protected.”

This week, President Joe Biden proclaimed that the nation’s banks are safe.

“Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe.

The taxpayer will bear no losses,” the president declared. “Managers of these banks will be fired. Investors in these banks will not be protected.”

Williams offered further distinction from the 2008 collapse to the latest failures.

She said Black-owned banks wouldn’t be allowed to manage the way others have. “We are regulated, some would say over-regulated, so this is not our problem,” Williams posited.

“This also isn’t 2008, when we had a mortgage crisis. There isn’t a mortgage crisis today. If you own your home today, it’s probably worth more than when you bought it.

“In 2008, people paid more than their homes were worth, banks have tremendous capital today, and we are better regulated and managed than anything you saw in 2008

The post How the recent banking collapses might affect Black financial institutions appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here