Richmond Leader

Unite 2 Fight 4 Economic Rights has been holding protests throughout the U.S., including with an event in Richmond, and the focus is on economic justice and reform for minority Americans, CommCapp said in a news release.

The bus tour called Revitalizing Our American Dreams (ROADs) wants to promote racial harmony and indicated that a group will march with law enforcement as it stands with police. The group hopes to call attention to the fact that Black, Latino and minority Americans are facing economic challenges not experienced before. 

Forty-one percent of Black-owned small business and 32% of Latino-owned small businesses have been lost and CommCap said in its release that another 43% of black-owned small businesses could close down unless they have access to short-term loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Minority-owned banks number 144 of the 5,200 FDIC-insured banks in the country even though minorities constitute 40% of the population. CommCapp said there is a "direct correlation between crime and access to capital" and the lack of access to capital has resulted in high crimes rates throughout minority communities.