"I think being able to understand that African American communities were once thriving centers with cultural institutions and banks and theaters, and houses of worship, and schools, and houses and beyond that, set a blueprint for being able to re-establish this sense of community and the opportunity to create healthy and vibrant neighborhoods," he says.
Fairchild has spent a lot of time assessing how to financially reinvigorate Black communities. Although the segregation is illegal, most Americans remain racially segregated, living in neighborhoods and going to school with people who look like them. Fairchild says this leads to depressed social and economic incomes for Black Americans because that financial inequity begins practically at birth.
One way to help close the gap is by establishing financial institutions like banks and credit unions in lower-income communities, managed by Black people or members of other marginalized groups.
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"Having the presence of financial institutions in the places where people live and work becomes important because those financial institutions are mechanisms to provide capital for the local entrepreneur," Fairchild says. "They're mechanisms to allow people living in those communities to have access to savings or loan products." But perhaps most important of all, says Fairchild, is that Americans recognize that society remains mostly segregated and take steps to end that.
"I call it the illusion of inclusion," he says. "I tend to believe that the firms will begin to reflect the environment in which people live and work and since we live in segregated communities and we attend segregated schools, I would expect the firms that we will run will remain segregated unless we are intentional in our recruitment, development, and promotion." (VOA)