Two years after losing an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 to Cong. Bobby Rush, Barack Obama, an Illinois state senator at the time, invited a group of influential Black business leaders to brunch at his Hyde Park home.
There, he announced his intent to run for the U.S. Senate, and asked for their support. The rest is history still in the making. The fact that a state lawmaker had access to such an elite group is not unusual. But that such an elite group of Black business leaders exists in one city is unusual.
Some might challenge my assessment based on sheer numbers of Black entrepreneurs and CEOs in cities such as Atlanta and New York. But put the statistics aside, and Chicago emerges with a distinction no other city can claim: Our Black business leaders find strength in their numbers, and actually work together to benefit the broader African American community.
Five of Chicago’s top Black CEOs are featured on the cover of the June issue of BW Chicago, Business Week magazine’s special Chicago edition. They are Frank Clark of ComEd; John Rogers of Ariel Capital Management; Valerie Jarrett of Habitat; Jim Reynolds of Loop Capital; and Quintin Primo of Capri Capital Partners.
The headline on the cover proclaimed them “a tightly knit, benevolent bunch,” and BW Chicago reporter Roger O. Crockett deemed them “The Fab Five.” I’m proud to say that all five of them are board members or supporters of the Chicago Urban League. Reynolds, in fact, is our board president.
And yes, they are outstanding. They are no strangers among high-level business professionals, philanthropists, media types and academics. But they wield the kind of power and influence that most of us don’t generally give much thought to on a day-to-day basis. For years, they have quietly advanced in their careers and grown businesses into multimillion-dollar corporations.
And they have been thoughtful and conscientious enough to reach back as they’ve moved up, generously supporting programmatic solutions to help African Americans and open doors for youth. They do not seek out attention, but recently it has found them anyway.
And what a fantastic way to emerge %uFFFD as a dream team! The BW Chicago article goes on to explain how Chicago’s Black business elite has rejected the notion that the only way to make it to the top is to eliminate the person in front of you. No crabs in a barrel syndrome here.
They have helped to establish a protocol for doing business that I see being emulated by Black business owners and professionals all across the city. Chicago is different, and the city’s Black residents are hopeful. They should be, because we have the leadership to back up our aspirations and exceed our dreams.
It’s no accident that this city has produced three Black presidential candidates (Rev. Jesse Jackson, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama). It’s no accident that Obama was able to go from relative obscurity on the national stage to the doorstep of the Democratic presidential nomination. It’s no accident that our rich legacy of civil rights has successfully made the transition to embrace economic empowerment as the key driver of social change.
Chicago’s got it going on! And if you’re just looking at the numbers, then you’re missing it. Perception is reality, and I believe that Chicago stands at the precipice of becoming the epicenter for the next phase of the civil rights movement %uFFFD economic empowerment %uFFFD and that it will be the new Black Wall Street.
Our city’s Black business elite is helping to change the discussion about how to transform individuals and families and pull underserved segments of the African American community out of poverty. They’ve built their fortunes and their reputations by successfully navigating the mainstream business community while maintaining their commitment to causes focused on helping African Americans to craft their own blueprint to economic power.
And they’re helping to fund and shape the Chicago Urban League’s new direction, setting a fine example for all of us to follow in the process. When a young African American male sees a John Rogers, he should know that he, too, has a shot at attaining success and creating wealth.
When a young African American girl sees a Valerie Jarrett, she should know that board rooms aren’t maleonly clubs. This city has a wonderful history of Black entrepreneurship, but today’s Black business elite is taking it to another level. Like our city’s favorite son Obama, they are history still in the making.
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