Читать книгу Corporations Compassion Culture - Keesa C. Schreane - Страница 30

Black business leaders were savvy when wielding power in the capital structure. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several Black business leaders and their employees enjoyed equitable work environments and the ability to achieve greater social purpose, too. This didn't work out as well for others. Some business leaders, who sought to have their own enterprise and share the marketplace with White, established business, did so while paying the price in terms of brutality, violence, destruction of their business, and even death.

In 1892, a mixed-race neighborhood in Memphis was the home of two grocery stores. People's Grocery was a Black-owned store that enjoyed significant success. The other grocery was owned by William Barrett, a White store owner.¹³ What happened between these two establishments offers a perfect example of what happens when racism exists in a marketplace where violence is an acceptable solution.

Allegedly, a quarrel between White and Black children playing a game near People's Grocery escalated into a quarrel between adults, including workers from the People's Grocery. After the dispute, the White men involved allegedly threated to return to the store later on Saturday. Sensing return was code for confrontation, People's Grocery shopkeepers went to the store Saturday night and armed themselves in preparation for a confrontation. After the men came into the grocery store, People's Grocery shopkeepers shot and wounded them.

After the confrontation and subsequent shooting, the three Black storekeepers, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart and several Black men were “dragged from their home and jailed.” A mob broke into the jail and zeroed in on Moss, McDowell, and Stewart. Each of the three People's Grocery store owners were then shot and killed.¹⁴

Research by Ida B. Wells highlights the assumption that when White-run businesses felt threatened by Black-run businesses, they resorted to violence to eliminate the competition.¹⁵

Another example is the case of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, home to Tulsa, Oklahoma's Black Wall Street. Violence ensued, after what was later determined to be a false accusation against a Black youth, and White members of the community destroyed the Black Wall Street section of town. More than 1,200 homes were burned and hundreds more were looted. The community lost stores, churches, a school, a library, the hospital, two newspapers, and much more.

Healthy markets expand and grow. Racism in business in all its vile forms, from violence and brutality to intimidation and passive aggressive behaviors, is unhealthy, uncivil, and unethical. These examples demonstrate how racist attitudes and actions may start in public spaces, but they slither their way into business environments. Racist behavior that is tolerated by social culture, eventually diffuses into business culture. Although some of these behaviors and actions may be illegal and unethical, business leaders can still create and maintain discriminatory and violent cultures while operating completely within the parameters of what is acceptable. This is the origin of the systemic racism, or racism that is ingrained in the culture, that people of color experience in corporate culture today.

There are historical moments of positivity that we can look to for inspiration for compassion and inclusion and the bottom-line benefits that follow. Many center on Black entrepreneurship.