Investing in Black Leaders for the Long Haul

by Alexandra Bastien

After watching occurrence after occurrence in 2020 demonstrating the lack of care for Black lives in the wake of COVID-19, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so much more, we crossed the threshold into the new year hopeful that the flurry of temporary racial justice commitments from philanthropy and the private sector might ameliorate some of the harm to Black and Brown people. Yet, in the first days of 2021, we saw the most blatant expression of anti-Black racism by white supremacists and domestic terrorists in U.S. history. An attempted coup by way of storming the U.S. capitol took place as the 46th presidential election was being certified. A noose was raised on the west side of the U.S. Capitol. This vehement obsession of white supremacists would sacrifice democracy in order to hold on to the belief that everything will be okay as long as they can maintain their rank in an artificial racial hierarchy.

If ever there was a time for leaders across the world to step forward to address one of the most insidious mental diseases affecting humankind — anti-Black racism — it is now.

Look closely at history. Look closely at the design of our major institutions, both in the public sector and in the private sector. Look at the sources of capital that sit at the roots of how we have come to operate in our families, our communities, and the economies in which we exist today. It becomes clear that the exploitation of Black bodies, Black labor, Black land, Black resilience and Black creativity have been central to global development for the past 400 years and counting.

While all of that exploitation took place, we built systems and institutions on top of it. While we subjugated Black bodies and Black minds, we degraded our environment, created a climate crisis, created a mass incarceration crisis and multiple health crises, destabilized food systems and wiped entire species and tribes off of the earth.

All of this happened using capital to wield people into decisions in the interest of greed. That capital was backed by a guarantee of the subjugation of Black and Brown people writ large.

But we’ve reached a tipping point. It turns out that the very people who we have spent centuries trying to undermine, are the ones we need the most to shepherd our way to a better future. Those who understand equity understand that the people closest to the problem are the ones closest to the solutions. Our global climate crisis will not be solved without the leadership and wisdom of Black people. Future health crisis to come cannot be solved without the leadership of Black people.

We are proposing that we use capital to wield people into decisions in the interest of our collective well-being. The way to do that is to start at the root. The Imperative is a new fund proposing to do exactly that. We believe that there must be permanent, meaningful capital operating for the sole purpose of promoting the well-being of Black people. More specifically, we believe that we must make permanent investments in the Wealth, Health, and Connectedness of Black people.

There is no way to get to the solutions we need without naming the problem at hand in its full truth — anti-Black racism. Nor can we skip over the fact that the work required to get us to an equitable future that protects the earth will cost money. Investing in The Imperative is a practical, tangible way we can begin to do the work. Our commitment is to do the following: A) we will raise and deploy capital to invest in Black leaders, B) we will establish an endowment to ensure long term leadership and investment in the wealth, health and connectedness of Black communities, and C) we will make grants to nonprofits and invest in social enterprises to catalyze ethical wealth creation, improve health outcomes and increase social, economic and cultural ties among Black people throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora.

We are making a major call to leaders with capital to invest in Black leadership for the long-haul. The Imperative is not a 2-year or 5-year commitment. This is not about creating programs that simply circle around the truth at hand while avoiding investing in solutions. This is not even just for the sake of subduing white supremacy, it is quite literally for the sake of protecting and improving our ever-more global society.

Black leaders all over the world need and deserve the investment required to create real solutions from a source of capital that operates on a presumption of Black prosperity as a necessity, not as a luxury. As Black Americans take their rightful roles in U.S. institutional leadership, the first free born generations since colonization in Africa come of age, and the Diaspora awakens to opportunities afforded by globalization we must create a permanent source of capital that will create space for Black leadership for the long-haul. It is our imperative.

Alexandra Bastien is the Co-Founder of The Imperative — A fund dedicated to the Wealth, Health, and Connectedness of Black people. Visit www.theimperativefund.org to learn more.