Rep. Ayanna Pressley Wants Receipts For Big Banks’ Racial Equity Initiatives

A Black House Democrat is demanding to see receipts from big banks that promiseds to improve racial equity after the murder of George Floyd. On Wednesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. put the pressure on JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo, NBC reported.

Pressley wants to know that the bank’s promises to help Blacks after the social unrest in 2020 were not all talk and no show. The news outlet reported that she requested the banks provide a “comprehensive financial audit report.” The financial institutions have until Oct. 23.

The House Democrat knows Black lives still matter, and there is still work to be done to dismantle the systems that have oppressed the community for so long. She told NBC, “Whether you’re talking about redlining or denying credit for Black homebuyers and entrepreneurs, or closing brick-and-mortar banks in Black communities, Black folks have historically been denied opportunities to grow wealth, to achieve financial prosperity.”

Big changes call for big moves. Pressley also spoke about the amount of damage done to the Black community. “The harm was very precise. The work of restorative justice, of racial justice, of justice for Black Americans, has to be just as precise,” she told NBC.

Presley is a Democrat in a Republican-dominated House. But she isn’t shy about advocating for what is right and hopes the banks will be the same. The House leader told the news outlet, “You have to first just lay it out there.” She added that the banks “will be responsive. They want to be on the right side of history.”

NBC reported none of the banks have commented.

Pressley is known as a powerhouse. Black Enterprise previously reported the House Democrat gave a passionate speech to the youth at the NAACP Juanita Mitchell Gala. She said, “Sent to Washington with a mandate by the people, where I can sit at the policy and decision-making tables, I can take up space in the corridors of power, I can take up space as an unapologetically Black, bald Black woman.”

The theme was the Black Met Gala: All Shades of Blackness, BE reported.