I went to a seminar yesterday on black economic development. The seminar was not particularly insightful or informative, but there were a few speakers who made some very eye-opening statements. One of those was Luis Aguilar, a Commissioner at the Securities Exchange Commission. A staunch supporter of diversity in the workplace, Mr. Aguilar cited a statistic that although not surprising, was nevertheless distressing. He stated that a 2009 study showed that 87% of corporate board members were white men. The flip side of that statistic is that only 13% of corporate board members are all other minorities and women combined (including Asian, Latino and African American). After hearing his speech and letting it marinate for a minute, of course I had to validate his statistic and do some additional research. Here are some other relevant statistics.

According to a study published in 2008 by the Alliance for Board Diversity

• Only 7% of Fortune 100 corporate board seats were held by African American Men

• Only 3% of the same board seats were held by Hispanic Men

According to a 2008 Catalyst.org study sponsored by Ernst & Young:

• Only 15% of Fortune 500 board directors were women

• 0% of the Fortune 500 had over 3 women of color on their board.

2008 Corporate race and ethnicity study sponsored by Ernst & Young

These statistics taken in combination all point to one simple fact. Major corporations are still run primarily by white men and it is the majority rule of these white men that is making all of the decisions. If you extrapolate that these corporate board members are rich and that these major corporations run most of the financial, political and legislative aspects of America then you can reasonably infer that rich white men are in majority control of this country. Again no surprise, but what is surprising is how many people look to corporations to improve our life circumstance as if these corporations are our advocates.

There are large movements in this country (think tea party) who desperately want to give even more power to corporations and big business. They advocate keeping the government out of the lives of the people and instead letting free enterprise drive the financial and social direction of this country. Many upper and middle class white people have flocked to the tea party and similar movements as they see these rich white men as their advocates. Rightfully so, as their current and historical values line up very directly with rich white corporate management. More money for the rich, labor exploitation of the poor and minority, and continued suppression of the brown and LGBT voice in politics, business and other arenas all have a long tradition in this country. Nowadays you even have some misguided African Americans aligning themselves with the white corporate domination crowd via the tea party, foolishly believing that these corporations somehow have your individual interest or the best interest of the black community at heart. Let me be the first to say to you loudly that the rich white men who run major corporations are not your advocates.

It took white women 300 years to be granted the right to vote, and they’re white! It took black people 200 years to get out of slavery and it took a civil war to do it. Abolishment of Jim Crow took another 100 years. Gay people still can’t get married and their ability to serve openly in our military is still up in the air. History has shown us that rich white men will advocate for rich white men and will only advocate for others when there is economic, public, or social incentive to do so. There is nothing inherently wrong with this as women will generally advocate for women, minorities will advocate for minorities, Gay will advocate for gay and so on. What borders on the ridiculous is to think that rich white men will somehow advocate for people outside of their group to their own detriment.

If there were more women on corporate boards, women would have more power to change things more quickly.

If there were more gay people on corporate boards, gay people would have more power to change things more quickly.

If there were more black men on corporate boards, black men would have more power to change things more quickly.

Rich white men are not going to unilaterally give up money, power and freedom to make black people rich, women more powerful and gay people more free. Women, blacks and gays are going to have to do that for themselves. In order to do it we are going to have to get into positions of power which means getting on the boards of these major corporations. We live in a democracy where all voices have a right to speak, govern and legislate. By extension this is true in American business, but if we don’t have a seat in the board room we don’t get to make any decisions. You can’t expect to eat if you don’t even have a seat at the table.

Note: One of the biggest things that bothered me about this economic conference was the large number of corporate sponsors (especially banks). If these banks want to do something for black people they should save their money on advertising at conferences and use that money to put more banks in the black community.

Note 2: Black businesses with money should sponsor black economic conferences.