Making It Count: 9 Actions You Can Take To Turn Social Justice Protests Into Lasting Change
We can all be inspired by the life, legacy and words of Congressman John Lewis.
The late John Lewis warned us about the linkages between electoral injustice and racial injustice. The protests that have rocked our nation over the last several months have manifested the deep-rooted racial injustices that continue to haunt our nation 400 years on and expose the underbelly of our nation-building myth of democracy for all. If you’ve been wondering and hoping that this time things will finally change or just feeling angry and desperate about the state of race relations and social justice in our country – you are not alone. While we don’t know yet if things really will change for good this time, the only way we’re going to get there is if each of us becomes part of the solution. We can look to the life of the great John Lewis and find inspiration in his legacy of turning words into constructive change. Here are 9 easy ways each of us can turn everyday moments into action to create a more just society.
1. Your Voice Matters
Change starts with each one of us, so commit yourself to doing things differently – like how you conduct your business– until we get a handle on these systemic social challenges. Who do you conduct your business with? Who do you hire? Can you rethink how you do these things to create a more just business and therefore a more just society?
2. Vote!! Engage in Civic Engagement
You can get out and get loud. You can peacefully protest and just as importantly, you can get out and vote your values. And if you want to align your dollars with your values, there are ways to do that too as two of our team members recently wrote in ImpactAlpha and as we recently shared with you in our latest thought leadership piece.
3. Move Your Money
You can make a difference with your everyday savings, too. Park your cash at black owned and operated banks that make it their business to serve people of color so they have larger deposits and can in turn lend more capital to the communities they serve.
4. Know What you Own – What’s in Your Portfolio Matters
Does your portfolio reflect your values about racial justice? It can and it should. Start by developing an understanding of what you own today in your investment portfolio and how it is allocated amongst people of color from a leadership perspective and whether the investment benefits people of color and improves their lives in some way. How can you know? Organizations like Robasciotti and Philipson have done a lot of the work for you and analyze companies based on a range of racial-justice related issues.
5. Invest in CDFIs Who Help Underserved Entrepreneurs and People of Color
Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) are often on the front lines of deploying capital to underserved entrepreneurs and people of color and to places where capital is starved. And they typically do it at more favorable terms and rates than traditional banks. By investing in a CDFI you can grow the amount of capital directed to which deploys capital to underserved entrepreneurs, POC, and where capital is starved at more favorable terms and rates than traditional banks.
6. Invest directly in minority owned businesses
You can also direct your investment dollars to businesses owned and run by persons of color. If they’re public companies, you can buy their stock, and if they are privately held, then you can invest through other various forms of capital, whether it’s private equity, venture capital or in working capital debt.
7. Your consumer dollars speak volumes – support businesses aligned with your values
If you don’t have money to invest, you can take action by supporting minority-owned businesses, small and local, and businesses that align with your values. How you spend your hard earned money really matters, so be conscious of where you shop!
8. Fund some of the non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations doing fantastic work to better the lives of people of color
You can invest in organizations focused on affordable housing, education, our healthcare system and in creating economic opportunities in the US to move these populations forward by developing solutions and services that boost incomes and wealth preservation.
9. Have the conversation!
These are challenging but exciting times. Take the time to reflect on what is going on in the world around us. Have conversations with your family exploring important topics that are key to the social justice protests – what is white privilege? We all have work to do, and white people can help contribute to the greater good by being more informed and becoming an active part of the solution. What is systemic racism? How can you make a difference? If there’s one thing that we’re seeing, it’s that social justice is not about them, it’s about all of US.
Join us for social and racial justice!! Please share with us the conversations you are having with family and friends and the actions you are inspired to take. Let’s inspire one another to action!