Last week marked the launch of “Black Voters for Biden-Harris,” a national organizing program highlighting how President Biden has continued to deliver for Black families. I’m proud to be a member of this coalition, because I saw firsthand the damage Trump did to our communities and I know we can’t go back. 

I’m a small business owner, and any business owner will tell you that Trump was a disaster—especially if you’re not a big corporation, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disproportionately impacted Durham’s Black community, permanently closing an estimated 25 percent of the city’s Black-owned businesses. Trump’s failed leadership during the pandemic and his botched Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) program—which was marred with racial inequities—are largely to blame.

A July 2021 report from Duke University painted a stark picture of this racial divide facing our community’s businesses. Using hand-collected data on the race of small business owners in Durham, they found that choosing not to disclose one’s race led to better outcomes for borrowers. 

On average, Durham small businesses owned by Black entrepreneurs who chose not to disclose their race received 42 percent more PPP loan funding than those who did disclose their race. By contrast, there was not a statistically significant difference for white borrowers based on the disclosure of their race. 

As a small business owner myself, this study confirmed what I was seeing on the ground: the Trump administration was leaving Black small business owners out in the cold to fend for ourselves.

This looming crisis compelled me to convene peers and establish the Durham Small Business Coalition and organize $3 million to support the local entrepreneurs who were unable to access pandemic relief.

In 2020, Joe Biden campaigned on promises to Black voters and as president, he has the receipts to show he’s kept them. 

Since taking office, President Biden has worked to fix these inequities, improving the Small Business Administration’s loan programs to expand the availability of capital to underserved communities. The result? President Biden has overseen the fastest increase in Black-owned business creation in more than 30 years—and more than doubled the share of Black business owners from 2019 to 2022.

But that’s not all. President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has prioritized ensuring that funds from his signature legislative accomplishments—the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—are all flowing to Black communities, breaking a decades-long cycle of disinvestment. 

The results of President Biden’s economic vision are now clear as day: Black unemployment is at a record low and Black wealth is now up by 60 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

And locally, our economy is thriving. The unemployment rate in the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area is now under 3 percent, labor force participation is increasing, and the economy is growing. All of this was accomplished under President Biden, whose administration has made historic progress to bring our country back from the pandemic and build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

I’m a proud member of the ‘Black Voters for Biden-Harris’ coalition, because I’ve seen what’s at stake for working families in our community. During the Trump administration, not all businesses or business owners were treated equally. As president, Trump was so focused on gaining power for himself and giving handouts to the wealthy, he failed to provide relief when folks in Durham needed it most—needlessly shutting down businesses and causing unemployment to skyrocket. 

Meanwhile, President Biden didn’t just lead us out of this crisis—he created an economic miracle on the way, and made sure that Black folks shared in the benefits. We’ve come a long way since the pandemic, and we can’t afford to give Trump the chance to reverse our hard-fought progress. 

Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams owns two restaurants in the Bull City with his wife, Zweli.