Minority Business Owners Receive Grants in Charlotte

• Author: Kelly Cooke
• Posted: 2024-08-31

2020 has been a very active and polarizing year. Aside from the obvious struggles most are going through because of the Coronavirus, there have also been ongoing nationwide protests against system racism in American policing, after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. For many minorities in America, they feel as if progress still has not been made, as if they exist in a nation that does not want them. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the government is working hard to change that perception by targeting businesses owned and operated by minorities and women in order to shed the old skin of "white male" being the only successful type of person.

On Thursday, August 6, the city of Charlotte dipped into its Coronavirus relief funds to offer business grants to 34 different area businesses owned by racial minorities or females, out of a pool of $1 million. This does not seem like a lot of money on its face, but each of the 34 businesses received between $20,000 and $40,000, which is a huge windfall of money for businesses that were struggling due to the global pandemic.

North Carolina is one of those states that have opened back up despite the virus, but things are far from business and usual. With so many people fearful that they may get the virus, or may get laid off, or that the economy may be shut down again, consumer confidence is pretty low and people simply are not spending money with small local businesses like they used to. The government recognizes that this puts an extra burden on minority and female-led businesses, so these demographics received 94% of the awarded grants, out of 196 applicants.

As of late Friday, August 7, it was announced which businesses would be receiving this grant money, with all the business owners notified, and the sentiment thus far has been quite positive, with minority and feminist communities happy that government is focusing on their plight during this pandemic. Local economists claim that this is a very good thing, as spurring the micro-economies of the very businesses most likely to go under during these tough times helps in numerous ways. Not only does it keep the original business afloat and therefore keep people employed, but it also does wonders for overall consumer confidence. When locals see that these small businesses are open despite what's happening around us, it spurs great confidence in the local economy and ends up assisting all businesses.

Not everyone is thrilled with government picking winners and losers, however. Some critics of the policy have already voiced their concerns to local media about how discrimination is never okay.

The Worry of Discrimination

According to some critics, the worry over discrimination has nothing to do with helping minorities and female business owners. Rather, it's the idea that due to historical injustices in this nation, the people being punished are people who were not even alive when these injustices occurred, many of whom cannot even trace their ancestry back to a time when they were occurring. The idea that because of how you were born might exclude you from government benefits is the same logic used by the very white supremacist bigots that government claims to be fighting against now.

This is definitely a very polarizing issue at the heart of it. Though as critics of the policy claim, they are fine with minority and female businesses getting these grants, if they qualify like everyone else. The fact that they jump to the front of the line is showing a type of favoritism whereby it makes is impossible to trust the government process. After all, if minorities and women are given preference, then it doesn't really matter that their businesses may be less qualified to receive grants. They will still receive them, despite any qualifications, and some claim that this will end up hurting the economy. When you have better businesses struggling and going under because other businesses were propped up after failing, then this artificial boost ends up crippling the businesses that were doing well yet could not receive grants, while the businesses originally struggling still end up ultimately failing.

So, what you're left with are fewer businesses after the smoke clears, because the qualified businesses could not get help because the owners were the wrong race and gender. Objectively speaking, this does seem quite odd in the face of wanting to help.

Regardless, 34 minority and female-led businesses have grant money now, hoping that they can survive this economy.