Source: Thumbtack annual small business friendliness survey.
I don’t know how valid these findings are, based as they are upon only 1,663 responses to a national small business survey, but they are encouraging. Nine of ten of the cities rated highly by African-American small businessmen (and women) are located in the South and two — Richmond and Virginia Beach — are located in Virginia.
The questions posed by the Thumbtack annual small business survey asked small business owners (1) How friendly is your city? (2) How easy was it to start a business? and (3) Would you encourage others to start a business in your city?
Small business is an important path of upward mobility for African-Americans in a lackluster economy. As Thumbtack notes:
Bacon’s bottom line: Conservatives should never give up appealing to the African-American electorate. While the political left in the United States cultivates grievance and outrage, the political right emphasizes economic opportunity and upward mobility. Leftist-progressive policies destroy economic opportunity and engender bitterness; conservative, market-oriented policies create opportunity and hope. Which one will win in the long run? The one that offers opportunity and hope.
— JAB
