HOW STRONG ARE WE IN NUMBERS?*

Indeed, here in Philadelphia, as of 2022, the White community's population percentage stands at 33.9%, and the combined Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations comprise the balance at 66.1%.

Such population diversity is also occurring in most of the other urban centers across the U.S., wherein Black and/or Hispanic residents have become the largest population segments.

By way of example, the following specific listing includes a small, but geographically representative, selection of cities, nationwide, wherein the largest population segments, in addition to Philadelphia’s, now happen to be comprised of Black, Hispanic, or Asian persons: 

Selected Cities, nationwide, with the largest "Black Alone" population segments:
Detroit, Michigan: 80.38%; Birmingham, Alabama: 69.82%; Beaumont, Texas: 49.15%; Newport News, Virginia: 46.35%; Rochester, New York: 44.55%; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 42.01%.

Selected Cities, nationwide, with large "Latino Alone" population segments:
Laredo, Texas: 95.15%; Miami, Florida: 70.20%; Allentown, Pennsylvania: 54.22%; Los Angeles, California: 47.2%; Providence, Rhode Island: 43.90%; Chicago, Illinois: 29.6%.         

Selected Cities, nationwide, with large “Asian Alone" population segments:
Honolulu, HI: 54.8%; Daly City, CA: 55.6%; Edison, New Jersey: 50.3; Enterprise, NV: 21.2%; St. Paul Minnesota: 17.9%; Ashburn, Virginia: 21.6%. (According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ashburn is a suburb of Washington, D.C. in Loudoun County).

We might even begin to think more confidently about the roles we can play, together, in helping to produce positive changes, across the nation, and on both sides of its political environment.

As Malcolm once advised: "Once you change your philosophy, you change your attitude. And, once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern...and then you're ready to take constructive action."

__________________________________________________________________

Since the second presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, on January 6, 2025, Black, Hispanic, and other historically marginalized U.S. communities, here and across the country, have been faced, disproportionately, with a steady stream of mean-spirited, family-destructive, life-threatening pressures, including presidential orders to eliminate "diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)" program commitments, in both the public and private sectors.

Among other things, executive orders have been issued, by Trump, which have been designed to strip us all, who now represent more than 42% of the country's population, and who possess an annual consumer spending power of $5.3 trillion, as of year-end 2024, of our basic rights to survive, to feed our families, to have the basic capacity to pay our rents or mortgages, or to have access to affordable healthcare.

Even as these disruptive, life-altering, programs have been introduced under the guise of saving yet-undocumented "billions of dollars" of "waste and fraud," you may have also noticed that the recent, Senate-approved national budget also includes a whopping $4.5 trillion in additional tax cuts for larger corporations and the wealthy.

BTW, that's trillion with a "T." 

THIS IS ABSOLUTE GOVERNMENT HYPOCRISY!

It's also a challenge that we, in the long-economically marginalized communities, need to understand and address, ourselves, given that so many organizations and leaders that we have depended upon to "save" us, over the years, have failed to do so, at this critical time.

(Please, stop me when I start lying).
That being the case, with our eyes now wide open, we must identify and harness our real, collective, resources, such as our spending power, to generate the leverage we need to return the federal government and the private sector to some semblance of fair and equitable economic and social inclusion policies.

In the case of the administration's unrelenting efforts to demonize the concept of DEI, the country's long-marginalized communities have become increasingly excluded, by executive proclamation, from public- and private-sector workforce recruitment efforts and have watched helplessly as the doors have been rapidly closed to them, limiting promotional opportunities, corporate management roles and substantial salary increases.

As a direct result of the administration’s aggressive anti-DEI stances, Black, Hispanic, and Asian business owners have also been effectively eliminated from large public- and private-sector contract bidding opportunities. 

We used the word “counter-intuitive,” earlier on, to describe the curious, racially-biased approaches to doing business, by the Trump administration.

Indeed, at the same time that anti-DEI postures have become pervasive across the U.S., respected businesses and public-sector leaders agree with findings in numerous national studies, which emphatically prove that including qualified people of color, and women, in business activities is not only morally appropriate, but also carries significant potential for increased profitability, as compared to companies with less-inclusive business practices. 

As cases in point, studies produced by McKinsey & Company have found that "gender diversity on executive teams...show a 39% increased likelihood of financial outperformance."

Those same studies found that ethnic diversity also produces a 39% increased likelihood of a company's financial outperformance.

In addition, the esteemed Selig School at the University of Georgia has produced, for more than three decades, now, its Multicultural Economy Report, which consistently demonstrates that "diversity, equity and inclusion" have proved to be critically important policies for ensuring morally appropriate business environments and that such environments also contribute, importantly, to the production of more profitable business outcomes.

Regrettably, the excessive and vengeful, social, healthcare, and economic pressures that have been placed upon Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities, and on all Americans, by the Trump administration, have led to far too many of us feeling powerless, losing confidence in the stability of our country, and resigned to the probability of ignominious defeat, in this historic struggle.

On February 28, Peoples Union and The Latino Freeze Movement, with solid, unified community participation, will be monumentally more effective, over the coming year.

As Philadelphians, we have a rich history of community-led initiatives that have driven significant change. As early as the late 1950s, grassroots Black community members were engaged in a highly successful "Selective Patronage" campaign, under the "don't buy where you can't work" slogan, by the Rev.Leon Sullivan, of Zion Baptist Church, here.

Rev. Sullivan had launched his plan, in 1958, after recruiting 400 other Black Philadelphia ministers, to encourage their congregations (300,00 people) to boycott Philadelphia companies that did not agree to provide job opportunities to the city’s Black workers.
Over four years, beginning in 1959, the ministers led successful boycotts against 29 companies, and by 1963, approximately 300 Philadelphia-area businesses had agreed to initiate fair employment practices that would, for the first time, include Black workers.

It should be noted that these actions all took place, successfully, with virtually no coverage by the City’s mainstream print or broadcast media outlets, but with strong and united support from the grassroots community’s shoppers, the City’s Black church congregations, and Black print and broadcast media outlets.

With that background information, we should be extremely successful in bringing our critical messages, and actions, forward to overcome the negative policies of the Trump administration and anti-DEI corporate interests, in 2025.

Let's get this done!

*This is the second and last part of this OP-ED.