The decisions made by leaders and policy makers during the COVID-19 pandemic will have repercussions on small businesses across the state, and the economic effects of the public health crisis have hit Black and Brown communities hard. Antavius Greathouse, a financial advisor, has been paying attention. He spoke with KUNM for our Voices Behind The Vote series ahead of the election.
Transcript:
“So my name is Antavius Greathouse. I am a financial advisor. I have a different variety of clients, small business owners, individuals, even some schools. So it really is just everyone.
“On the one hand business has been continuously growing, and like I said I’ve been working on developing some hobbies for myself. But then also talking to people and being around people who have been extremely impacted by the pandemic, whether it be personally or financially, and really kinda seeing the different sides of what this pandemic has done to all of us.
“The biggest thing that I really want to see them talk more about is the plan forward. I mean essentially we, you know, I feel like we still have quite a ways to go in this pandemic and we have only barely begun to see the economic impact, you know, on different communities, especially communities of color. And so I’m just hoping that we get to have more of these conversations because we are seeing and we are gonna start to see a lot more of that impact.
“We have to make sure as individuals that we try to do everything that we can to take as much control of these situations as possible because as we can see we’ll be waiting around if we’re, you know, constantly waiting on these politicians.
“The first reason why I am voting is because I feel like me being Black, understanding that there are a lot of people who fought for me to even be able to have this right to vote, so it’s my duty as an African American, as a Black man, and also as an American. You know, it’s my civil duty to make sure that I do my part to help guide this country or have a say in the way that this country is going.
“I think that the biggest thing is making sure that you’re properly registered. I had to go back and do some hoops and hurdles about my address and, you know, things like that. That hadn’t been updated and had to re-update and I think just making sure that everything is in order so that I can vote."