Future "African-American" (HAHAHAHAHAH, oh, sorry) billionaire on 'Black Lives Matter' movement
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| Don Peebles and His Family.... |
More Americans think race relations or racism is the most important problem facing the country, according to Gallup.
This weekend, Ferguson, Missouri is bracing itself for demonstrations on the anniversary of Michael Brown’s shooting. The incident revived the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, first sparked by the July 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
“It’s been racially-driven and while we still have racism in this country, it’s been more [about] access to opportunity,” said Don Peebles, the founder and chairman of Peebles Corporation, the nation’s largest African American-owned real estate company.
Peebles may become the next African-American billionaire. Others getting close to the billionaire status include Sean Combs and Dr. Dre. Currently, there are only two African-American billionaires, Oprah and Michael Jordan, according to Forbes.
The real estate mogul notes, “young African Americans we see being killed by police officers…they’re not wealthy African Americans, they’re poor African Americans.” The racial wealth gap in America is substantial. A Demos study found the median white household had $111,146 in wealth holdings compared to just $7,113 for the median black household in 2011.
Despite having an African-American president in office, the everyday lives of blacks haven’t improved, according to Peebles. “People mention we’re in a post-racial society because Barack Obama is the president of the United States,” he said. “However if we look at the plight of African Americans in the eight years Barack Obama’s been president, African Americans have actually lost ground.”
The former Obama fundraiser and member of the President’s Finance Committee is still hopeful the "American Dream" is accessible to hard workers of all races but says policy needs to change. “We need to turn the page and a new generation of leaders have to step up,” he said.
“With education, preparation, and access to opportunity, we would see transformative change and that’s what’s missing,” said Peebles.
Roy Donahue “Don” Peebles (born March 2, 1960) is a real estate entrepreneur, author and political activist. Peebles is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Peebles Corporation,[1] the largest African American-owned real estate development and ownership company in the US, with a multi-billion dollar development portfolio of luxury hotels, high-rise residential and commercial properties in New York City,[2]Washington, D.C.,[3] Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Miami Beach,[4] and it was recently awarded its first project in the city of Boston.[5] In April 2015, Black Enterprise named Peebles as one of the “The Business Trailblazers and Titans of Black America: 40 most powerful African Americans in business.” [6]
Peebles and his firm have been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Ebony, The Miami Herald, CNBC and ABC, and he appears regularly as a guest host or commentator on CNBC, CNN and Fox to advise on real estate, economic and political issues.[7] In May 2009, Forbes listed Peebles in the top ten of the wealthiest black Americans,[8] and in January 2015 it estimated his net worth to be over $700 million.[9]
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