A week ago I posted an article expressing my outrage that the State of Ohio’s Department of Development allowed their racism to show by producing a commercial that urged citizens to support businesses that are closed due to the coronavirus by ordering food online for takeout.
But the problem was (but probably not to the folks who produced the spot) that all 10 of the businesses featured were white-owned and -operated. But I was wrong. Upon seeing the commercial again the number of exclusively white-owned businesses featured actually was 20. Not one minority-owned establishment was featured. Not one.
As soon as I posted the article I called my state representative Stephanie Howse to express my outrage and a week later, a new ad featuring three minority businesses was being aired. That’s what’s called excellent “constituency services.”
I knew that she would raise the issue with Governor DeWine since she’s an articulate and ferocious champion of black people, but more importantly, she champions what is right and fair. So much so that some of her white colleagues in Columbus have attempted to marginalize and silence her by attempting to dismiss her as simply an “angry black woman.”
As I’ve written before, if any demographic in America has a right to be angry, it’s black women. They literally had to pick up their black race with their strong backs and carry us during the darkest days of our enslavement, and even now vote in such larger numbers than their black male counterparts they put us to shame.
So thanks, Stephanie, keep fighting the good fight, and one day — hopefully soon — the rest of us will get our act together and follow your shining example of activism.
