Ten days after Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers on July 5, touching off a wave of protests over police treatment of black men, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber gathered more than a dozen of the community’s most prominent business leaders together to acknowledge what you don’t often hear from business brass in the Capital Region.
“Our community is hurting and it is divided,” said Ric Kearny Sr., vice president at Capital One Bank and a member of BRAC’s executive committee. “We have to acknowledge that racism, bias and discrimination still exist today in America, in Baton Rouge.”
As Business Report details in the cover story in its new issue, the acknowledgment and the accompanying plans BRAC outlined to address the socioeconomic issues that were the subtext of recent protests was a huge step for the local business community, and seemed to be the first positive development to follow Sterling’s death. But just three days later, on a sunny Sunday morning, a lone gunman shot six police officers, killing three and gravely wounding a fourth.
Now, as civic, business and political leaders try to lead Baton Rouge out of one of its darkest chapters, they are grappling with how to move forward and what to do first.
“The fact that it happened is devastating,” says George Bell, president and CEO of the Capital Area United Way. “But what will define Baton Rouge is how we address it. This is a defining moment. We can either let this drive us further apart or we can galvanize support from everybody to improve Baton Rouge.”
While Baton Rouge is facing one of the greatest crises in its history, there are models to suggest it can emerge better and stronger. Just a little more than a year ago, Baltimore faced a similar situation. In the spring of 2015, the city erupted in riots that were spawned by the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died of a spinal cord injury while in police custody.
Protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against police brutality in marches that quickly spiraled out of control. The riots exposed to the nation a Baltimore that—like Baton Rouge—has been sharply divided along racial and economic lines, between affluent East Baltimore and impoverished West Baltimore.
Less than 18 months later, Baltimore has made real strides toward healing and recovery. Business and community leaders there have spearheaded concrete initiatives that already have begun to address the underlying socioeconomic problems that have plagued the city for generations.
One of the most significant initiatives to emerge from the crisis is Innovation Village, a 6.8-square-mile area in the heart of West Baltimore that’s billed as an “innovation ecosystem” and is intended to serve as a catalyst for revitalizing the impoverished neighborhood. The idea behind the district is to create community-centered entrepreneurship spaces for startups and small businesses. Already, businesses are coming, and programs and incentives are in place to attract investment in smart, green and affordable housing, as well as transportation, health care, healthy food and workforce development.
Granted, many of the pieces of the district were already in the planning stage before Gray’s death and the subsequent riots. But Innovation Village Chairman Richard May says the riots were a wakeup call for Baltimore and served as a galvanizing force to get his organization—which was only theoretical until then—off the ground.
“There was a level of hopelessness after the events—a lot of people asking, ‘What do we do now?’” May says. “Everyone knew that the events here in Baltimore were built on decades of disinvestment in these neighborhoods, and people were searching for something tangible and sustainable to address the long-term issues. But Baltimore is historically very segregated and siloed in how we operate. After Freddie Gray, all these different sectors began collaborating with us at Innovation Village—government, industry, the philanthropic community—all came together in a way we had not seen before.”
Read the full cover story, as well as additional stories from the new issue on how faith-based and community organizers are working to help Baton Rouge heal; how the tragedies have shaken up the Baton Rouge mayoral race; and how a group of young black men in north Baton Rouge are working to support and improve their community.
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