Shifting Time | v1.018
Revisiting how we value our time in the pandemic economy
This post expands on this one from Tuesday. It was inspired by the Mars rover landing of Perseverance and what it means for innovation, and our ability to navigate time (and change) in this pandemic economy. I ended by writing this:
We are seeing things in a new way in this pandemic economy. Time is shifting, and the boundaries we used to try and create seem useless and unimportant now. Sometimes the awe-inspiring efforts of aerospace remind us that there’s something bigger in the universe. Whether light years away, or closer to home, we are reevaluating our relationship to time.
The world continues to operate in some version of lockdown, now for almost one full calendar year. If time travel were possible, we might be inspired to write a new episode of Lovecraft Country, that returns to a time and place in history to improve our chances of survival amidst this pandemic. We might consider working to undo the atrocities done unto the Indigenous, Africans, Women, LGBTQ people and the poor. Since we cannot do that, what can we do today? I believe our collective consciousness is asking: how do we do better on the other side of this, when the social and environmental issues we are faced with today are no less pressing?
We are making records with the wrong milestones: 500,000 COVID deaths; 10% unemployment; 40% of Black-owned businesses closed; 50% increase in CO2 since the 18th century; 15 million K-12 students without internet. The list is too long, and you could likely add to the range of issues we are dealing with. Undoubtedly, each of these facts we are confronting today uncover deeply rooted, systemic issues that have led to the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on the same people history has marginalized.
Each one of these statistics points to failures in our system with considerable economic impact. We might be working to understand the root causes of these failures. We might also be called, right now, to respond by crafting new, innovative solutions that make solving these problems economically viable.
Those of us that are called to the sector of entrepreneurship — whether or not we have an explicit social impact mission — might treat this journey as a vocation. In a non-religious context, you might say that the energy that fuels this work daily allows one to feel a sense of purpose, or flow. I am convinced that business is the sector that needs to lead the change, and there is a role for each of us to contribute. If we are not doing our part — in our own, small way — we will fail our children by allowing them to inherit the same system of capitalism that perpetuates extraction and inequity.
If we want to reimagine capitalism, we might reflect on how investments in climate technology will lead to racial equity. We might commit to solving the digital divide and look at ways to address infrastructure that keeps the elusive last mile to rural households out of reach, as well as access, adoption, and affordability for all. We might also consider how to repair the relationship businesses (especially financial institutions) have with Black and Brown communities by going beyond philanthropy — allowing capital to flow more freely, thereby creating local business ecosystems that harken back to the visions of Marcus Garvey in New York, and the entrepreneurs of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
At the same time that businesses are shuttering by the thousands each week, last year we saw a record number of new business applications. Even more people appear to be motivated to start something new in the midst of this pandemic economy. Who are these entrepreneurs and what is their vision for these new businesses? The more we begin to see ourselves as the ones we have been waiting for, the greater chance we have of reclaiming capitalism for the benefit of all people. Let’s work toward this future, so that we will no longer wish to turn back time.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Onward, my People.
I found this excerpt from Alice Walker's book, “We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For.” The book’s title was inspired by the poet, June Jordan, whose work I also point to below. I invite you to find your own inspiration in these prophetic words.
Poem for South African Women by June Jordan. Commemoration of the 40,000 women and children who, August 9, 1956, presented themselves in bodily protest against the “dompass” (segregation laws) in the capital of apartheid. Presented at The United Nations, August 9, 1978.