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An attack on black progress

Melvin B. Miller
An attack on black progress
“I think you people are trying to get ahead too fast!” (Photo: Dan Drew)

Ronald L. Walker II

Gov. Charlie Baker has selected Ronald L. Walker II to join his administration as secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. An objective review of Ron Walker’s resume would determine that he is uniquely qualified for that post. As co-founder and president of Next Street Financial, Walker has developed a company to provide financial and consulting services to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. However, The Boston Globe has challenged that selection.

Walker’s expertise in developing small businesses is undoubtedly significant for the governor. According to the Small Business Administration, 42.9 percent of the private sector payroll is earned in small businesses. It is anticipated that 64 percent of new private sector jobs will be in small businesses. This is a major part of the workforce.

The problem with small businesses is that their survival is fragile. Only about half of new businesses survive for five years and only one-third continue for 10 years or more. Consequently, even the most arduous intervention by Next Street Financial or any other consultant is likely to have a disappointing result. The risk is unavoidable.

The Globe has picked the wrong industry to assess Walker’s capabilities — community health centers. Unlike most businesses, fees for medical services, the equivalent of sales revenue, are insufficient to pay for overhead and medical costs. Health centers need grants from the government, foundations, drug companies and hospitals in order to operate in the black. Without these revenues many health centers would face bankruptcy.

Although Walker had left the board of directors of the Roxbury Comprehensive Community Health Center before it closed, the Globe still castigated him for its failure because he had served as chairman for several years. They also point out that Next Street’s consulting services to RoxComp did not save the center, but there was no mention of RoxComp’s strategic marketing problem.

RoxComp is encircled by several nearby health centers with updated facilities and expanded services. The Dimock and Whittier Street Health Centers in Roxbury, Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester and the Mattapan Community Health Center down Blue Hill Ave. are all able to erode RoxComp’s marketing efforts in its own immediate area. In addition, Boston Medical Center, a full service hospital, is only about a mile away from RoxComp.

Despite Walker’s professional achievements and his stature in Boston and the black community, the Globe did not cite any positive aspect of his appointment. That attitude is not unexpected. The Globe is often hostile to peer black individuals and institutions. The Globe ran a series of articles attacking the Boston Local Development Corp. because of the Bay State Banner’s delinquency on its loan, even though they knew that there was sufficient collateral to pay both the principal and overdue interest. The Banner loan was a shining example of the value of the BLDC, not an indication of its failure.

Strangely enough, the Globe took the opposite position on the failure of Charles Street AME Church to repay its loan to OneUnited Bank. Why should the Banner be criticized for being delinquent on a fully collateralized loan while OneUnited Bank is attacked for insisting that its loan to the church be repaid?

The only way that these inconsistent policies make sense is that they are all designed to diminish the stature of blacks in Boston. Walker has become a member of the governor’s cabinet, the Bay State Banner is the black-owned newspaper of record for African Americans in Greater Boston since 1965, Boston-based OneUnited Bank is the largest black-owned and operated bank in America, and Next Street Financial is a major national resource for the growth and development of urban enterprise.

Gov. Baker is to be applauded for not yielding to the biased Globe report.