How do tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple shape and exploit racial dynamics for profit? Our guest, Julia Rhodes Davis, joins hosts Solana Rice and Jeremie Greer to uncover the hidden ways tech giants influence our society and exploit black and brown communities. From the invisibilized labor in warehouses and data centers to the detrimental impact on climate, big tech's exponential growth comes at a great cost.
Jeremie and Solana chop it up about the manufactured chaos in Congress and looming shutdowns. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in Congress, joins to share her vision for the re-introduced Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act of 2023 and its potential to change lives and end poverty in America.
Show Notes:
LibGen Action Communications Director Devin Barrington-Ward joins Co-Executive Director Solana Rice to discuss the impact artificial intelligence and algorithms are already having on Black and brown communities – and what comes next.
Why do rich white people and the financial institutions they run get to be wildly irresponsible while Black and brown folks are considered "too risky" small-dollar loans? Is our money safe in banks? Jeremie and Solana break down the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the broader context of our dual financial system, and what it all means for everyday people of color.
In ultra-conservative Florida governor Ron DeSantis's war against Disney, there are no heroes. Jeremie and Solana discuss why DeSantis AND Disney are both still villains – and how real co-governance can help POC defend against them both.
It's safe to say the U.S. government doesn't really trust Black folks, and a lot of Black folks distrust it right back. LibGen Action's new Communications Director, Devin Barrington-Ward, joins the pod to discuss recent exposure of anti-Blackness at the IRS, Black (dis)trust of government, and how we move forward.
Homes Guarantee campaign director and KC Tenants organizer Tara Raghuveer discusses how to bring *everyone* home in the richest country in the world.
Maurice Mitchell of the Working Families Party joins the pod to break down the results of the 2022 midterm elections – and how to build durable power well beyond them.
Victoria Ruiz and Jordan Haedtler join LibGen Grassroots Relationships Director Rubén Lucio to talk about inflation and why the Fed's response hasn't worked for poor communities of color. This special bonus episode was originally recorded live on Twitter Spaces.
Jennifer Epps-Addison of Synergy Power Consulting stops by the pod to talk about building POC political power – both within and beyond elections and nonprofits.
In this episode, we talk with Epiphany Summers of Dream Defenders about the anti-Black origins of student debt and the danger that Governor Ron DeSantis's war on Black Floridians poses to the whole country.
Season 2 of Racism Is Profitable continues with a conversation about the politics of policing. Tracey Corder of the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) joins the pod to talk about how defund, abolition, and safety interact – and don’t – with elections and voting. She also makes a strong argument for "defunding Batman" that you won't want to miss...
In the opening episode of Season 2 of Racism Is Profitable, we're talking about electoral politics and the deep organizing and infrastructure required to win in and for our communities. Pablo Rodriguez of Communities for a New California joins us to talk about the work they're doing at the local and state level to organize Black and brown folks, change the electoral terrain, and push candidates to earn their votes.
For this bonus episode of Raci$m Is Profitable, Robert Reich joins the show to look back at earlier episodes and discuss the shared themes — and visions — that emerge. From redefining “belonging” to demanding that public dollars be equitably and democratically spent, we dig into what “racism is profitable” really means.
For this episode of Racism Is Profitable, we’re exploring governance. Run by corporations and elite policymakers who put markets above all else, our current economy is designed to exclude and literally kill us. Understandably, people of color have very little confidence in government today, yet it’s also the pathway to winning our power in the economy. So we’re here to bust assumptions about our so-called democratic processes and, more importantly, reimagine what governing could and should be. What if we redefined the relationship between elected officials and movements? What if American governance was rooted in community? Demos President Taifa Butler joins the show to cut through the chaos and help us envision a new governing moment.
In this episode, we’re examining credit and the oppressive narratives that limit our economic power. America loves to promote ideals like self-determination and choice, yet people of color literally and figuratively can't afford to risk much. And to participate in the economy in ways that will give us a chance to build generational wealth, many of us have to rely on an inherently racist credit system that sees — and treats — us as risky. The money myths that shape who deserves to be made whole help cement a dual financial system that prices us out of prosperity. ACRE’s Maurice BP-Weeks is here to say what needs to be said.
Liberation in a Generation Action co-founders and co-executive directors Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice joined OFF-KILTER host Rebecca Vallas for a look at the story behind LibGen and how it’s working to dismantle what they have termed the “oppression economy” by putting people of color at the center of policy change. The group also takes a sneak peek at the Raci$m Is Profitable podcast.
From the constant villainization of undocumented people to the misguided belief that we have to earn our civil, political, and economic rights, the idea of citizenship comes down to who belongs and who doesn’t. While people of color are still buying our freedom with our labor, white people get it from birth — and they get to redefine it and take it from us. We might dig into some legalities here, but we’re really trying to lift the curtain on why US citizenship is denied to so many and why it has yet to be fully realized for most Americans. People of color aspire to be part of this country, and we hold our democracy accountable to its promise. But we know that we don’t have democratic citizenship, and we damn sure don’t have economic emancipation either. Greisa Martínez Rosas of United We Dream joins us to call out the lies and speak all truth.
On this episode of Raci$m Is Profitable, we’re talking about personal responsibility. You know, the idea that if you’re not right in the economy it’s because you’re doing something wrong. Endless political and policy decisions are rooted in this toxic assumption, driven by the flawed belief that people’s behavior and choices are in their way. “Just pick yourself up by your bootstraps already.” We know it’s really the systemic barriers — and the blatant racism that built them — that let policymakers minimize our deservedness and ultimately deny Black and brown folks access to economic opportunity and government support. Hear this: The struggles that people of color endure are not the consequences of our own actions or inactions. Michael Tubbs of End Poverty in California (EPIC) joins us to say it straight.
We wanna talk about the fact that when it comes to money and paying for our fundamental needs in this country, scarcity is used as a racist lie. Yes, we should tax billionaires out of existence, but our government can afford nice things anyway. And by “nice things,” we mean taking care of people of color and consistently investing in our communities. Two years into the Covid recession, and Congress is still squabbling over how much they’re willing to spend to keep people safe, housed, and fed. We’re not here to get technical about monetary policy; we want to dig into the role of money and how it’s distributed. At the end of the day, it’s OUR money — the people’s money — to spend. The only thing we can’t afford is more oppression. Demond Drummer of PolicyLink joins us to call out this lie and name our truths.