FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — A commission made up of citizens and state lawmakers is working to identify racial inequalities in Kentucky, especially in the most iconic industries of the Bluegrass state: horses, bourbon, and agriculture.
The phrase “we have work to do,” was echoed multiple times by lawmakers during Tuesday’s meeting of the Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity. While breaking into any of the competitive aforementioned fields is a challenge, it can be made all the more complicated by racial barriers that lawmakers want to learn more about. For example, in agriculture black Kentuckians make up less than one percent of the state’s farmers.
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“If Mother Nature can’t see who puts the seed in the ground, then why do we have a $4.9 billion gap amongst the valuation of our products coming into the market,” Black Soil KY Co-Founder & CEO Ashley Smith asked during her presentation.
Clark Williams, president and co-founder of the Ed Brown Society, spoke about barriers within the equine industry, where even limited networking opportunities can have a broader effect on who is attracted to the industry. Williams explained how the Society specializes in trying to make these opportunities available to its student members.
“Oftentimes when there is not representation, there is also a lack of exposure and a lack of opportunities, you know, to even get introduced to something. You know, things like riding lessons,” Williams said.
For husband-wife business partners Sean and Tia Edwards, they broke barriers by establishing the first African-American-owned bourbon, Fresh. However, they said they were not offered the same financial opportunities by banks as other startups. And today they said their product still sometimes gets looked at differently.
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“That has not stopped us from entering into restaurants and being asked, ‘Do we sell bourbon to black people or for black people?’ And it’s an interesting concept, yes, I was surprised, too, when I heard it, because I’ve never heard that before,” Sean Edwards said.
Edwards would love to see lawmakers create an incentive for banks to work with minority startups. Others at the meeting said the state could consider funding endowments or scholarships to encourage more people of different racial backgrounds to take advantage of opportunities in Kentucky’s own homegrown industries.
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Publish date : 2024-08-27 13:30:00
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