BMORENews.com
Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards
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With an Open Hand
A Tribute to R.E. Harrington — and to Everyone Who Gives Without Being Asked
By Doni Glover | BMORENews.com
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(BALTIMORE – February 17, 2026) – R.E. Harrington has supported our efforts at BMORENews.com for years without asking.
That sentence deserves to stand alone for a moment — because in the world of independent Black media and community entrepreneurship, support like that is never just a check. It is a statement of faith. It is a man saying, without saying it: I believe in what you are doing. I believe it matters. Keep going.
Robert Harrington is pure Baltimore. Always has been. I want you to understand what that means. He operates in an industry where we are underrepresented. He navigates business life in America where the odds are seemingly and constantly challenging one’s complete abilities — mind, body, and soul. He wakes up every morning into a marketplace that was not designed with him in mind. And yet — he supersedes expectations. Every single time.
He is, in fact, the largest minority underground utility contractor in the area. Top dawg. For years.
In America. Despite all of the narratives that have painted our people as less than human, unworthy of the basic decency afforded to others — he still thrives.
Robert Harrington is a reminder to every melanated entrepreneur in America that you can make it. He has a tenacious spirit that will not allow him to cower, to wimp out, to quit. He resists with the patience of Job. He gets up, puts in seventeen-hour days, goes to sleep — only to rise again the next morning with the grace and mercy of God to do it all over again.
And his children are entrepreneurs.
Let that land. The tree is only as good as its fruit. Beyond pouring into Baltimore’s business community, Robert Harrington has poured into his own household. He has raised children who understand that work is not a burden — it is a calling. That is legacy. That is the long game.
He is a man with a ginormous heart who cares about others. I suppose that is precisely why he supports the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards.
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Over forty-five years in radio — off and on — including a twenty-year stint at Radio One Baltimore’s WOLB 1010 AM and a lifetime at WEAA 88.9 FM, I have learned something that changed how I see the world:
For every caller, there are thousands of others that the caller represents.
If two people call your show, they represent anywhere from five to ten thousand others who — for whatever reason — did not call. They listened. They nodded. They felt seen. But they didn’t call. I have learned to see beyond the obvious. I have learned to be grateful. Like Joe Manns.
Anyone who ever met Joe knows he was the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back. He made plaques and awards for everybody — not because it was profitable, but because he understood the power of recognition. Robert Harrington is of that same ilk. He makes his money, yes. But he thinks beyond the obvious. He gives back.
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My father used to say something I carry with me to this day:
“With a closed hand, nothing gets in, and nothing gets out. But with an open hand, there are endless possibilities. The moral to the story is to help somebody.”
And then there is the story of my mother.
The last Thanksgiving she cooked was in 1982. She passed in ’85. After I had eaten and was chomping down on some pineapple upside-down cake — or maybe it was German chocolate, I honestly cannot remember — she leaned over my right shoulder. She was setting two plates wrapped in foil on the table beside me.
“Here!” she said.
In utter bewilderment, I stared at her. She then said something I will never, ever forget:
“Go give these to somebody.”
“Who, Ma?”
“Anybody.”
That was my mother. My mother, who was not big on church — but who every Sunday morning filled our home with the sound of WEAA cranking that good gospel music as she prepared Sunday dinner. She did not need a theology degree. She had already arrived at the conclusion. Unconditional love. No conditions. No criteria. Anybody.
A song plays in the backdrop of that memory, even now. You may know it:
“I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.”
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Because of Robert Harrington and others like him — over the past fifteen years — BMORENews.com has been able to recognize over 3,000 individuals across nine major American cities. We celebrate Black entrepreneurs and professionals, and the people who support them regardless of race, background, or zip code.
That number — 3,000 — did not happen by accident. It happened because people chose to open their hands.
Mr. Harrington, your support means more than you may ever fully know. You are not just a donor. You are a demonstration. You show Baltimore — and anyone watching — that a Black man can build a business, raise entrepreneurial children, give back to his community, and do it all with dignity.
You are the caller who represents thousands who did not call.
We see you. We are grateful. Baltimore is better because you are in it.
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Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards
Celebrating Black Entrepreneurs & Professionals Since 2011
BMORENews.com
