Sponsored by The Boston Foundation
The Banner is expanding to include a business section, and we couldn’t be more excited. In 1965, when the Banner first hit the stands, the goal was to provide compelling and useful content to Black readers, including coverage of economic and business development focused on our community. This business section is being created with the same goal — to provide Black residents in New England with insights into expanding business opportunities and wealth creation in our rapidly evolving economy.
Anchored by our continued commitment to journalistic excellence, our Banner Business section’s managing editor will be Malia Lazu. A seasoned Black businesswoman who sits on many boards, she will work with experienced writers and community business leaders to create stories focused on anything and everything that touches on business — from current events and public policy to the ABCs of entrepreneurship and business case studies. Throughout the year, we will also highlight local organizations working to support Black businesses throughout the region. With partnerships with the Boston Business Journal and GBH, we look forward to sharing relevant content from their platforms as well and working with them on select in-depth business stories about issues that affect our community.
We know that Black business has a long and proud history in this country in spite of America’s fraught history of slavery, violent segregation and continued exclusion. Telling stories of the Black Wall Streets of the past helps us better understand the importance of creating the Black Wall Streets of today.
There is much to celebrate, from the way Black businesses are growing and thriving in New England to how African Americans shape corporate America. The role of investment funds and Community Development Financial Institutions in creating new models for Black capital development will also be explored. The Banner Business section will be a platform for all these topics. We also want to hear from you and what you would like to see, so tweet us at Twitter/X @BayStateBanner or email us at info@baystatebanner.com.
The Banner continues in the tradition of the Boston Guardian, the city’s leading Black paper of the early 20th century, ensuring that Black residents of the region are also full citizens in its economic growth.
We want to thank The Boston Foundation for its continued commitment to the Boston Black community through their one-year sponsorship of the Bay State Banner’s new business section.
We at the Bay State Banner continue to move forward in our commitment to our community, adding this business section because of this truth: There is no justice without economic justice!
As President Barack Obama said at the ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington in 2013, “They were there seeking jobs as well as justice. Not just the absence of oppression, but the presence of economic opportunity. For what does it profit a man, Dr. King would ask, to sit at an integrated lunch counter if he can’t afford the meal?”
— Ron Mitchell, Bay State Banner editor and publisher, and Malia Lazu, Banner Business section managing editor
