Someone shared an article with me recently that made my blood boil.
The article was written several years ago at the height of the economic crisis, but the data was alarming and illustrated the systemic racism around financial lending (mortgages, car loans, etc.).
There was one story about how a Native American wanted to get a car loan through GM and their credit was amazing but GM still refused the loan because of some prior policy or fine print that still existed and was used as grounds to refuse them.
Now, I don’t want to spend this article going into every appalling injustice that was documented, but I do want to address the larger issue here.
System racism is real and it continues to be ever-present in our financial institutions (among others).
As a society, we have perpetuated unjust and oppressive policies that keep underrepresented communities from access to financial resources.
In doing that, we’ve set some of us up to succeed and others to fail.
We’ve made it possible for some of us to have opportunities and others none.
When we see certain people “making it,” we shouldn’t just look at them as signs of proof that everything is fine, and assume everyone trailing behind is “failing” by their own choice.
The idea that anyone who has beaten the odds means everyone else “doesn’t have what it takes,” is bullshit.
That’s just the bootstrap mentality and it’s an excuse to keep believing in old stories and rhetoric that aren’t true.
It’s very possible, if not extremely likely, that those who didn’t succeed didn’t have the actual resources they needed to be successful and not because they didn’t have the right personal characteristics or skills.
Someone in a minority group might be an incredible business owner or a world-renowned scholar if only they had access to the same financial lending opportunities as a majority person.
We need to fix this.
And fixing this begins with each of us individually.
We need to evaluate our own biases. We need to stop and sit with our own emotions, thoughts, and feelings about racism and its interplay with all the institutions around us.
Only when we address our own bias and the old stories and rhetoric that’s been passed down generation after generation, and taken at face value, can we begin to chip away at making a cultural change.
Until we can recalibrate the stories we’ve been told, we’ll continue to uphold the systemic racism that exists in America, and we’ll continue to perpetuate an order where only some people can win while others must lose. Some can succeed whereas others are forced to fail. Some get the opportunities while others only get to dream about them.
We need to recognize that it’s not about me versus you or us versus them. We each deserve access to the same things.
Here’s the 3-2-1 on reflecting on our role inside systemic racism:
3 TRUTHS
- We have to look at the opportunities we have available to us and ask ourselves what would happen if they were taken away or never existed at all. If we wouldn’t stand for that for ourselves, we need to make a stand for others. We have to change the system for everyone and not be okay with it only working for us.
- If we can’t change how we feel internally, we’ll never be a part of the change externally. But when we change what is happening inside our own thoughts and feelings, we will show up differently, we will tolerate and accept less, and we’ll start to be a part of the change we need.
- For us to thrive as a community and as a people, EVERYBODY must have the ability to rise.
2 ACTIONS
- Read this article and be conscious of your immediate biases.
- Get curious about what new information you need to re-evaluate as related to the thoughts, feelings, and stories you have about underrepresented communities when it comes to money and financial opportunities.
1 QUESTION
- How do I feel about someone else not having the same financial or economic opportunity that I have?
This money conversation continues on YouTube. Check out How you think about money might be supporting racism to understand how systemic racism (often unseen by those of us in the group of advantage) is undermining everyone’s success. Make sure to subscribe while you’re there.
To your impact and legacy,
