CLEVELAND — Sherwin Williams is in the process of building a 600 million dollar headquarters facility in Cleveland, but many members of the Black community are not happy with this project.
On Tuesday, a protest took place on the steps of Cleveland City Hall to urge Mayor Justin Bibb and city council to reveal where taxpayers money is going on this project and to make a Black-owned firm a key partner on the project.
Reverend Al Sharpton, an American Civil Rights Leader, came to Cleveland for the demonstration and spoke to the protesters.
“We want a seat at the table,” he said.
Ken, a protestor who declined to share his last name, explained that he wants economic equality for the Black community.
“Sherwin Williams, you know what I’m saying, is like many companies in America today and the corporations of America today,” Ken said. “And the corporations of America today, you know what I’m saying, continue to exclude us from being participants in the building of our country.”
He believes that this is one of many projects that Black people are denied access to.
“Black people are profusely denied the opportunity to be able to grow and be able to participate in the American dream,” he said.
Although, John Morikis, the CEO of Sherwin Williams, seems to believe they are doing enough for minority groups. On Monday, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland announced efforts that they have made.
“We’ve already awarded contracts totaling $122 million against a commitment of $180 million to minority-owned, female-owned and small business,” Morikis said.
He then went on to discuss how many different firms they brought onto the project.
“Our process has resulted in more than 57 diverse firms being added to our project,” Morikis said. “That’s 57 firms to date and we expect that number to grow.”
Sherwin Williams has yet to confirm if any of those key partner firms are Black-owned.
The headquarters are set to be finished in 2024.
