It’s time to flip the script on risk – Nonprofit News

Below is a transcript of the above video from the webinar “Rebuilding the Economy: Emancipating Finance to Build a More Just World.” Watch the entire webinar here.

Onyx Ramirez: This idea of ​​risk is so important that we can flip it around and say, “What is the risk to the planet, rather than what is the risk to this investor or this financial institution?” What are the risks to the community? What are the risks to the public if we don’t invest in this at this time?

And when you (Jamie Groschey) are talking, I also want to talk about these really centered around what we think about ourselves and what we feel we’re entitled to in relation to wealth management. I was thinking about how harmful stereotypes can permeate communities.

So in addition to this systemic change, there’s a lot of narrative work and narrative shifts that need to be done to be able to say, “I’m entitled to control these resources and have a voice in my community.” We also need some inner healing.

And in general, using finance and money for liberation can be very difficult. Because usually that’s not what capital is for, it’s not about liberation. It’s one thing to extract money from disempowered communities, and it’s another thing entirely to obtain reparations, but traditional finance is used to extract money from disempowered communities, and it’s another thing entirely to obtain reparations. It has discriminated against ethnic communities. Pretending to be a risk.

And even in agriculture, there are definitions of who can qualify as a proper farm. Because maybe they’re not meeting those minimum requirements, minimum production numbers, even though historically that’s not how Black and Indigenous farmers have relationships with them. The land is not using every square inch to its full potential, it’s monocropping, these really, really harmful practices.

So risk is usually combined with very high interest rates to maximize profits, which leads to disaster.

As Fernando Abarca said, instead of emphasizing maximization of profits, how can we emphasize low but sustainable profits over a very long period of time that can be adapted to the needs of the community? Is it okay?
That’s very important. And letting go of traditional power is not easy, especially given that these resources were extracted from the bodies, people, minds, spirits, and lands of communities.

Therefore, in addition to these restructurings, which need to be repaired, it is very important to restructure the risks in order to diversify the concentration of investors. Get them out of there. I don’t think about them now. Because focusing on financial wealth is not productive, we are looking to shift power towards greater goals for the planet.