NEW YORK (HRNW) – Jeannine Cook had only opened her Philadelphia bookstore for a few weeks when the coronavirus forced its closure, the latest in a string of obstacles for the Black business owner.
Landlords refused to rent to her, and, like many Black-owned businesses, her Harriett s Bookshop was too new and small to be eligible for a U.S. government Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 setbacks.
“The fact I m a woman, the fact that I m young, the fact that I m Black, the fact that I m urban … I would be silly not to think those things don t play a part,” said Cook, who has renewed her lease while worrying about reopening too soon.
“Do I think there s prejudice and institutional racism? I think that s 100% sure we know that,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The thing about racism is that it hides, and it s very covert, and so it s able to live in the shadows.” Often unwelcomed by mainstream financial institutions and facing racist practices in business, Black Americans have suffered financial inequality for decades.
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