By Roy L. Williams
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Over 50 years after the 1964 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, many Blacks remain enslaved by the economic disparities of crime, education and unemployment created by poverty.
The 2015 A.G. Gaston Conference is bringing two respected speakers, Eugene A. Mitchell of New York Life and Margarita “Maggie” Anderson, to host an African American Town Hall Meeting: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap through Economic Empowerment.” It will take place from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, February 17 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. They will lead a candid discussion about what individuals and businesses can do, collectively, to close the racial wealth gap and ensure the sustainability of African American-owned businesses.
According to the Pew Research Center, the wealth of white households was 13 times higher than that of Black households in 2013, up from eight times the wealth in 2010. Black Americans were hit harder by the Great Recession of 2007, largely because much of their wealth was lost in in the housing market collapse, and Blacks lost a far greater percent of jobs than whites during the economic downturn.
Mitchell is the architect and driving force behind New York Life’s African American Community Empowerment Plan. His vision is to change the financial landscape of Black America by building wealth and creating financial legacies that will help fund dreams of a college education, home ownership, entrepreneurialism and philanthropic endeavors for future generations.
Anderson, of Oak Park, Ill., and her family made history as national media covered their year-long stand in 2009 living exclusively off Black businesses. The ‘Empowerment Experiment’ resulted in a landmark study by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business, which proved how support of Black businesses can rescue Black communities and improve the American economy as a whole. She is author of “Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black,” CEO of The Empowerment Experiment and speaks across the country promoting the importance of supporting Black businesses.
To register for the Feb. 17-18 A.G. Gaston Conference, go to www.aggastonconference.com.
