Trump Cronies Got Stimulus Loans While Black-Owned Businesses Went Under

According to a report released last week, a huge number of the nation’s Black-owned businesses have shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic stimulus funds that were intended to keep minority-owned small businesses alive did not get to them in time or at all, leaving their owners with no other options.

Some 440,000 of the country’s roughly one million Black-owned companies have closed for good since the start of February, CBS News reported on Friday. The report noted that the vast majority of those companies that sought emergency relief funding through the federal Paycheck Protection Program were initially rejected — one analysis found that 95% of black-owned business were excluded.

When Donald Trump signed the $6.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March, he promised that its $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program and other provisions would “keep our small businesses strong and our big businesses strong. And that’s keeping our country strong and our jobs strong.” Continue reading.