Life and Times of Alex Esguerra — 2020 Elections
Racism, Identify, Giving Feedback and Take Action
Publicado por noreply@blogger.com (Alex Esguerra) en
I totally agree with Ibram Kendi's book when he states that the only way to undo racism is consistently identify it. Those who are in constant denial or are ignorant about racism of course will continuously resist, deny or counter the word as aggressiveness or resistance, Thus every single person has the power to resist racism regardless of color of the skin.
Let's start with some basic current examples like the PPP - Paycheck Protection Program, a loan program created to help small and micro businesses as a result of the still problematic Covid-19 pandemic. Like the thousands of small and micro businesses who applied since it was announced in March-April, the question lies why is still there funds unused. The program expiration of June 30 was just extended as of this writing. It is a program design to small businesses having 100 employees or less. Based on the data out, the majority of black and people of color small businesses that have applied and still at a limbo are those having 10 employees or less or even 1-3 employees. As we have seen at first when the program started, the major big businesses where even recipients some of whom were asked to return the money.
I'm not gonna explore much of who and why the recipients are. But what I've found out is that when the program started where the first bank res ponders where the big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.., So the big banks who are typically designed to deal with the same big businesses who were somehow first recipients had been task to be administer these loans thereby to be the initial or even final evaluators whether the individuals or businesses applying are worthy of this PPP loan, And wallah, when this author talked about institutional and organizational policies here is one good example. The training set up of the people evaluating these loans in these banks are created to big businesses. Well of course they can claim they have focus on small businesses. The reality is that there so called small businesses maybe 100 or even 50 employees but these are businesses making millions of revenues. The majority of the borrowers trying to apply are those that earn from $2000 to $35,000 a month, those businesses that are in dire need of constant cash flow and working capital.
So cutting the story short after months of going and back forth on threads of emails with attachments. Attachments that can't be open as they are digitally automatically encrypted for some reason on the bank recipients, faxing documents that banks claims they have so many back logs. actual mails that never get to the right person and calls that are never return it'a useless endeavor and so much wasted time and effort on those that really needed the funds, Added to these are the constant emails etc.., asking for the same documents either already submitted and not making sense especially for sole proprietors that do not have have payroll tax records but independent contractors and services.
I've been in a micro cottage small business in most of my adult life and what is new to this scene as I tell myself. Even the richest and most powerful country in the world, this is the reality and yet when the discussion of racism opens we try to deeply contradict what the bounds of this topic. On a side note, a lot of the recipients in the last month coming from the those 1-10 employee minority impacted businesses got their loan from the micro lending efforts of small banks some of them even unheard.
Looking at this picture, we know that these institutions employ are a lot of people of color. The repeated question would be although some of them know the true realities that exist of the real small businesses, do they have the power to change the rules or sometimes can they even voice their opinion without fear that they can be identified as a threat? This is what the topic of racism talks on the white privilege having the power to change things. The real change will happen when we start empowering the minority and people of color to be able to sit and hold major positions on these institutions. The caveat here lies is ensuring that the chosen people of color are actually the real idealistic ones and not those still behind the shadows of the white privilege culture. I say these as it is true that there are indeed some people of color on those high positions but they are a tiny fraction they won't even say anything so they can protect their job, position or financial security.
A good example of this lies on the highest echelons of government. When politicians run for office, you will hear much of the idealism of change. Then defeat comes, yet they are identified especially if they are a person of color with such idealism, Some take what position that may come their way for their own reasons. What surprises me is that when they are working for an administration, the idealism mellows down. Then the breaking points come into picture when they are face with the realities on making their voice heard or taking a position. For the courageous that left, I salute them but for some they that pride and take a position with an administration to show loyalty and solidarity. The fastest way of fixing this is through an election. With 4 months on the way to a presidential election, a new administration starting with the right mixture having a big contingent of people of color with the ideological perspective to eradicating racism is a big factor. Although a Woman Vice-President candidate is a step, not until a big majority of an administration from the top up down who have a big contingent of minority people of color, healing cannot start to happen.
The major private sector institutions who are somewhat in denial on racism and following the ideals of white power can change. But they won't drastically as they go side by side with politics. Until they see the government's initiatives they wont; make such significant major changes, They can make all their public relation announcements of changing names, changing their advertising policies but not until they deeply study their organizational policies and structures and really employ and promote the real minorities don't expect the eradicate the problem of racism.
This issue on racism has been going on decades, the hard part of the battle is we deal with it in bits and pieces. We have to use the best time right now to make the best out of it by talking about it and gaining the most we can in continuing the battle of racism.
Where Do We Go From Here, How Can We Breathe Going Forward in America
Publicado por noreply@blogger.com (Alex Esguerra) en
As we remember George Floyd's inevitable tragedy, once again it open the discussions buried through the years on racism and equality. If one search for books all related to the topic today, there are hundreds maybe even thousands written though the years. Hence is why it surprising to hear and see those still on denial or simply lying that there is no systemic racial divide in America.
As the protest marches dwindle or grow today it is clear that people need change. Whether it comes now or may in some time, the key is to ensure that the foundations we need to going forward starts today. The last two days there were significant symbolic gestures like the NASCAR on banning confederate flags, curating the Gone in the Wind movie for now, and moves on some cities about statues being removed. Yet having both experiences in business and politics, I personally have high regards on CEO's and Board Members of important organizations stepping down and giving their cherished sits and positions to African Americans and minorities, If you've been on both sectors like me I know that this move is huge and big as it signifies acknowledgement and affirmative action to do something in respect to the movement.
We also saw the last two days the voting issues in Georgia noting that the majority of the problems came from the marginalized black and minority communities. This shows moreover the continuing disparities that between all races that we need to stay vigilant in this coming November elections if we are indeed for the Black Lives Matter cause. In the midst of a pandemic, it is a known fact that more cases are expected to go up and more deaths. As we all know 46% of these cases and deaths will affect the so called essential workers under privilege low income blacks and minorities. For states that have already started mail in votes it's one way we can support this by sending in ballots way early. Even with the onset of social media and technology, one way to get connected is educating ourselves through word of mouth even local newspapers if they still exist on the real issues we need to focus instead of getting influence by what we see on social media as this is where the paid political advertisements come in notwithstanding how the 2016 elections were infiltrated by foreign adversaries.
While browsing our book shelf today, I found When Minorities Lead in America. When we look way forward to the future I believe that a complete healing on racism can culminate when we finally see a lot of minorities in America as leaders in the most important sectors of society. Having had a black president for 8 years cannot fixed the systemic ongoing racial disparities. The 44th President's administration had laid important foundations that needs to be continued as this will be an ongoing process for years as the problem is so deep. And as I've mentioned, we need leaders in business, science, technology, politics and such that are minority led and whom truly understand the plight of the under privileged. It's easy to say we understand but unless we've been there and gone through the problems itself, we won't really completely understand the problems inherent.
I'm gonna end up this post by quoting from the Black Lives Matter movement website where they posted what they are about.
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#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.
We are expansive. We are a collective of liberators who believe in an inclusive and spacious movement. We also believe that in order to win and bring as many people with us along the way, we must move beyond the narrow nationalism that is all too prevalent in Black communities. We must ensure we are building a movement that brings all of us to the front.
We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.
We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.
We affirm our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.
The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation."