By Stacy M. Brown During the first three months of the pandemic, approximately 442,000 – or 41 percent – of Black businesses shuttered. As COVID continues to hamper progress, the overall decline of small and minority-owned firms remains striking. Data culled from multiple studies revealed that Latinx business owners fell by 32 percent and Asian business owners dropped by 26 percent. Meanwhile, the number of White business owners fell by 17 percent. While the current climate has exacerbated the wealth gap and unveiled the unimagined financial straits of Black and other