www.yesmagazine.org/commonomics/race-and-the-new-economy What’s the Role of Race in the New Economy Movement?
For the movement to succeed, it must be led by the dispossessed—those for whom the mainstream economy has never worked. by Penn Loh There has been a growing buzz about what kind of economy we need in order to address wealth inequality, environmental unsustainability, and lack of democracy. Clearly, many desire something new and dramatically different. Perhaps this buzz around what many supporters call a “New Economy” will grow into a powerful social movement—one that we desperately need to transform the current economy. But whether it does so or not will depend critically on its color (or lack thereof). Fortunately, we don’t have to look hard to find examples of communities of color both now and in the past that have advanced economic principles of fairness, sustainability, and democracy. Yet, despite this rich history of “new” economic ideas and practice in communities of color, why is there still such racial divide in today’s "New Economy" movement? In the latter 19th century, Blacks, as part of the Knights of Labor as well as their own organizations, were part of developing cooperatives both rural and urban. Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association built a network of cooperative businesses (laundry, printing plant, groceries, restaurants, clothing factories, and shipping company) that in the early 1920s employed more than 1,000 people. By the 1930s, W. E. B. Du Bois envisioned building a network of cooperative businesses to advance development of the Black community. Black Civil rights icon Ella Baker spent her early organizing career in the 1930s with the Young Negros Cooperative League, supporting Black communities to develop cooperatives and self help groups. A group of Black women founded the Freedom Quilting Bee cooperative in 1966 in Alabama, selling quilts and then acquiring land for a sewing plant and for sharecropping families that had lost their land because of civil rights activism. At its height, the cooperative was the largest employer in Alberta, Alabama. In 1985, Cooperative Home Care Associates was formed in the Bronx as a worker-owned cooperative made up of primarily Latina and Black women home care workers. It now has more than 2,000 employees and has become a certified B Corporation. Yet, despite this rich history of “new” economic ideas and practice in communities of color, why is there still such racial divide in today’s "New Economy" movement? Who gets to opt out of our current economy? One answer is that the New Economy movement is not immune to the racial challenges of other progressive movements. In Betita Martinez’s 2000 essay analyzing the anti-globalization movement’s battle against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, she asked, How could there be so few people of color “when the WTO's main victims around the world are people of color?” In a 2011 commentary on the Occupy movement, Rinku Sen answered the question “Is Occupy Wall Street diverse enough?” by asking a different question: “How can a racial analysis, and its consequent agenda, be woven into the fabric of the movement?” For such a movement to succeed, it must also be led by the dispossessed For those who are inspired by the call for a New Economy, the same questions around race must be asked directly. Despite the fact that some New Economy leaders are trying to diversify their organizations and working with communities of color, a quick look at the faces of the New Economy reveals that it is still overwhelmingly white. And a further examination reveals an often privileged class perspective that assumes (white) people can create new alternatives out of scratch and effectively “opt out” of global capitalism. But islands of alternative economic practices do not necessarily transform the sea that surrounds them. If a new economy is to be enjoyed by more than just those who can afford it, then it must address the racial (and class) divides generated by the current economy. So far, the movement appears to be made up of and appealing most to those who are discontented—those who want to and can choose a new economy. But for such a movement to succeed, it must also be led by the dispossessed—those for whom the mainstream economy has never worked, those who need a new economy to meet basic needs. For example, the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, which organizes some of the lowest-paid restaurant workers in the nation, fights for higher wages and benefits, but also opened up their own cooperatively owned COLORS restaurants in New York City and Detroit. Before dismissing this article as another rant against lack of diversity, let’s address the real question: Just why is color important? With Obama in the White House, aren’t we supposed to be post-racial? Doesn’t raising the issue of race just further divide us? Aren’t we all supposed to see ourselves as the 99 percent now? for complete article, see www.yesmagazine.org/commonomics/race-and-the-new-economy Elan Shapiro Building Bridges Ithaca College Env Studies Frog's Way B&B 607-592-8402 [email protected] For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom Shelley, at [email protected].
