David C. Banks’ Post

In life, there is the scene, and there is behind the scenes. Yesterday, the scene was one that I'm fairly sure was historic for the New York Stock Exchange - a Black Billionaire, a Black tech entrepreneur, Graduates from one of the premier HBCU's in our nation, and Black NYC students all stood on a podium and, together, rang the bell to open the NYSE stock market. The scene was one where Tseday, who was one of the students being taken on a tour, was asked "What stocks have you invested in?" and her answer was, "I've invested in a few ETF's." The scene was a commemoration of the "One Stock. One Future." movement to get 1 Million Black and Latinx kids investing and to show the world how a world with Black people participating in the capital markets can and should look. The scene lasted for 3 memorable hours. But behind the scenes had been months upon months and hours upon hours in the making, and it included an array of incredible people who worked tirelessly to make the scene happen. And that's the important part of this scene: the people who stood with us - albeit not on stage - to make yesterday a reality. Robert F. Smith had the brilliant notion to gift shares of stocks to the young men of the Eagle Academy, in the same way that he had the brilliant notion to pay off the Morehouse class of 2019's debt. He assembled a group of leaders to make his vision a reality - a group that included Keith Shoates, Rendel Solomon, Carra Wallace and myself - people who Robert knew were passionate about closing the wealth gap for the next generation, and would each contribute something special to the cause. A group that expanded to include extraordinary educational leaders and communication experts like Kenita Lloyd, Kima Reed, Donald Ruff, Nancy Calzada, Sonia V. Diaz, Dafna Tapiero and Miguel Cardona II. And together, we have launched a movement that is the evidence of when passion meets perseverance, and people partner for the good of something greater than themselves. And now, in addition to ringing a physical bell, we are ringing a symbolic bell for every corporation in America to hear. A bell that rings for Financial Freedom for every kid from every background in our country. We challenge every publicly traded corporation to answer the call by donating 1000 shares of their stock to this movement. Black and Brown people spend thousands of dollars on the consumer economy annually and have contributed to US companies' stock prices soaring. Now, it's time to ensure that the next generation of Black and Latinx children can soar as well.