A Big Tent reader recently asked me, “Derek, as you’re Black — as well as the janitor, secretary and mailroom person at brown and browner (to quote your descriptor) — couldn’t we say you are indeed working at a Black shop? Is a shop defined by its employees or its clients’ projects?” I responded, “Easy. Brown and browner is a black-owned shop. But there is no way for it to be otherwise as long as I own it.”
To be honest, I wasn’t totally happy with my answer to the question — I wanted to give it some thought. It feels like there is no way to answer that question without being pigeon-holed or lumped into a category that I don’t want to be in. The underlying question really is: “What makes a minority shop a ‘minority shop’?”
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