Jonathon

I love the concise analysis and connection of PowerNomics and Plantation Theory!

From a moral standpoint, every company bears a corporate social responsibility (CSR) to address injustices. Yet, CSR initiatives often tend to be more about appearances than actual substance.

There's a pressing need to reconsider Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, though my confidence in achieving substantial progress while still receiving meager benefits from corporations (plantation) is quite limited.

Label me a pessimist on the matter.

I believe in the essential principles of economic empowerment, wealth creation, and entrepreneurship for self-sufficiency.

Regarding PowerNomics and its emphasis on collective economics, I see merit in achieving freedom through group economics. Still, I also advocate for a broader approach toward cooperative economics.

This involves accumulating funds from external sources and deliberately channeling those resources back into our communities.

True self-sufficiency and economic autonomy become significantly challenging until we collectively possess substantial infrastructure (hospitals, cell towers, utilities, schools, technology, etc.), enabling us to stand independently and reduce economic dependency.

Bringing this back toward DEI...if we willingly continue to participate on the plantation, teaching oppressors how to be anti-racists...it's almost an asinine idea to think we will ever achieve economic parity within a system designed to oppress us.

With that...if we are to rethink DEI...how might we rethink diversity in diversifying the types of businesses we create?

How about we talk about "equity" in the sense of ensuring Black-owned businesses can participate in procurement processes without being required to sign up as "Diverse suppliers...or must be MBE certified OR Black people/organizations crowdfunding or investing in Black founders sans the perpetuations of oppressive pattern matching, rules, and criterion.

In terms of "Inclusion," let's include allies and co-liberators who are compassionate toward and willing to participate in our achieving of freedom.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

L.Byrd