This article focuses on these Sustainable Development Goals:
Recently, social media apps, such as Instagram, have been bursting with many different posts and stories on the racial discrimination which has come to light in the world. Of those posts, several are asking to support black-owned businesses. Personally, I support this initiative, but not for the same reasons as the posts suggest. Let me explain.
According to the New York Times, the unemployment rate of the black community in the USA, as per April 2020, was 16.7%, whereas it was 14.2% for the white community. If employment rates keep on plummeting as they currently are, reaching SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth will become a much more difficult task to achieve. As per the UN, COVID-19 could have caused 400 million job losses from April to June in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected African-Americans very negatively, causing them to lose their jobs more than other races, thus amplifying racial inequality which takes away from SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. The heavy job losses have also caused 71 million people that have been pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 which makes reaching SDG 1: No Poverty harder to achieve.
The April 2020 unemployment rate (blacks compared to whites).
So what should we do? I propose 2 solutions:
Spread Awareness on this issue.
Support the Black Community.
Spreading Awareness
By spreading awareness, I don’t mean posting a black square on Instagram, or by adding the various hashtags such as #nojusticenopeace or #blacklivesmatter. By spreading awareness, I mean spreading facts and statistics on how grave this issue can be for us if we don’t do anything about it. For example, did you know that less than 50% of black adults have a job currently? These workers suffer from a phenomenon called “first fired, last hired” according to The New York Times. In April, the percentage of black adult workers was much lower than for other ethnic groups/races such as Asians (52%), Whites (52%), and Hispanics (51%). Their unemployment rates seem to be increasing, which is not the case for other ethnic groups. If this doesn’t stop, the minority job losses could become permanent. We need to inform people about this dangerous situation so that something can be done about it. This will help to achieve the SDGs 1: No Poverty, 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, and 10: Reduced Inequalities.
The percentage of employment rates of different ethnic groups and races before and during the pandemic.
Support the Black Community
According to Guidant Financial, there is a 19% decrease in black solopreneurs from 2019 to 2020. 45% of black-owned businesses only have 2-5 employees. Supporting these businesses will help them expand and hire more employees. There are many websites on the internet for this cause. Doing this will help achieve SDGs 1: No Poverty, and 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.
Please remember, these are only a couple of solutions while there are many more. There will continue to be ups-and-downs in the world, and not all the issues will be solvable, but everybody can help. Every small action may seem like a drop in the ocean, but every drop counts. Every bit helps. As Mahatma Gandhi had said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Remember, change begins with you.
External Resources
Support these businesses:
Statistics:
Works Cited
“2020 African Americans in Business.” Guidant Financial, 2020, https://www.guidantfinancial.com/small-business-trends/african-americans-in-business/
“Home | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations, United Nations, https://sdgs.un.org/
Smialek, Jeanna, and Jim Tankersley. “Black Workers, Already Lagging, Face Big Economic Risks.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/business/economy/black-workers-inequality-economic-risks.html
Comentarios