The Black Business Association celebrated 50 years at the end of February at its recent Black History Month awards dinner, held at the California African American Museum. The theme was “African Americans and the Vote,” and one of the awardees was the Hon. Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, chief strategist for the African-American Voter Registration, Education and Participation (AAVREP) political action committee.
“Black votes are going to determine who the democratic nominee is,” said Ridley-Thomas. “And Black Californians play a unique role in that process, as we have not in a long time, because of super Tuesday, where we live and how the delegates are awarded.”
Ridley-Thomas stressed that Black men and women must turn out in historic rates to determine who gets the delegates and super delegates toward the Milwaukee convention. They can determine the democratic nominee and later, elect a democrat for U.S. President.
“We are uniquely positioned in this community,” he said. “We are the crux,” he said.
“Your margin of hope is the Black vote and your margin of despair is the lack of Black participation.”
Other honorees included the Honorable Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco; The Hon. John Lewis, who represents the fifth congressional district of Georgia; The Hon. Karen Bass, (D-37); Bishop William Barber, Member of the NAACP national Board; Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, president of the NAACP San Francisco Branch and pastor of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco; Dr. Adrian Dove, president and CEO of the Kingdom Day Parade; and Alice A. Huffman, president of the California Hawaii NAACP.
Founded in 1970, the Black Business Association is headed by President/CEO Earl “Skip” Cooper and is the oldest, active ethnic business organization in California.
The BBA’s mission is to advocate and promote the development of African-American owned businesses with the goal of crating a firm economic base that supports the self-determination and survival of the African-American and urban community.
