For those of us entering the twin holidays of Passover and Easter, a central message of both celebrations is that we are not alone. But you don’t have to be an adherent of either faith to take courage from that reassurance — and then act on it.
Just last week I met with two impressive young African American professionals who are investing their own money to back founders of color, and working to build a peer network to unlock more capital and connections. They had stumbled across Reinventure by chance, and wanted to hear more about our work. At the end of a conversation in which we talked about many of the other people who are also doing heavy lifting to shift capital to undervalued founders, one of the two said, “This gives me so much more hope. I thought we were alone.”
There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true. The other is to refuse to believe what is true. — Søren Kierkegaard
No system in power wants you to know that it can be challenged, changed, replaced. In fiction, as in real life, any hegemony constantly repeats and reinforces messages designed to convince itself and everyone else of its immutability. These messages are loudest and most emphatic when the system begins to feel threatened. As dramatized in the final moments of the film Allegiant, these messages are designed to immobilize resistance: “I control everything… Just stop fighting…This is foolish… It’s over.”
Immersed in those messages, we can easily be fooled into believing them. And we can also be fooled into doubting there is even a possibility of making change for the better.
Or as Alice Walker put it, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
What isn’t true
Heretical though it may sound, our present-day version of capitalism is neither immutable, perfected, rational, nor just. There is no meritocracy. Following established practice is not the best or most prudent way to serve our present or future interests. Might does not make right. And perhaps most importantly, you are not powerless to effect change. Dire though it may be, our condition is not hopeless.
Those false messages function to discourage change makers from ever attempting to disrupt the status quo, persisting once they start, or attracting allies.
Unfortunately many of us have internalized these messages without ever realizing it. We assume that the market works efficiently, rationally, optimally, and fairly, because that is what we hear constantly reinforced. We perceive our own routine observations to the contrary as suspect. And we see activists, protesters, and contrarians as isolated actors as hopelessly idealistic or misled.
These and other thought patterns imprison us in what isn’t true, in thinking we are isolated and powerless.
“Well if I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else; because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.” — Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix / J.K. Rowling
What is true
“People have been reminded that they have power, that they must stand in that power, and that when they do, they can change the world.” — DeRay Mckesson, On the Other Side of Freedom [see excerpt here]
Or as The Style Council sang the same message, “Governments crack and systems fall, ‘cause unity is powerful.”
Each of us has power in varying forms and quantities. You don’t have to take to the streets, or run for office, or launch a new social movement in order to exercise your power, although those are certainly among the available options.
Like the powerful young men I spoke to last week, you can begin by recognizing that you can make other choices with your money. You can reject the messages that say it’s foolish to invest in funds or companies led by and serving people of color and/or women [see, for example, a partial list in our January blog post]. You can invest in your community [see, for example, Cooperative Capital, CNote, American Homeowner Preservation, AllRaise, Boston Impact Initiative, etc.]. You can press your 401k provider to offer funds with social, gender, environmental, or other strategies. You can change banks. You can choose to emulate different icons of entrepreneurship [see, for example, Rich Dennis, Robin Chase, Sheila Marcelo, Helen Greiner, Bill Strickland, etc.] or venture capital [see, for example, the recent Harlem Capital report profiling 200 Black and Latinx investors across 161 funds].
Back to The Style Council: “I know we’ve always been taught to rely / Upon those in authority / But you never know until you try / How things just might be / If we came together so strongly.”
You can join forces with others who see the opportunity — and the people — the system cannot perceive.
You are not alone. You have allies. We are one of them.
For our part, Reinventure Capital is working from the impact investing playbook Ed originally pioneered in the 1980s and 1990s, investing in overlooked, undervalued founders to grow profitable, value-creating enterprises.
Specifically, we are focused on deploying equity and debt capital in expansion stage (breakeven or so) companies led by people of color and/or women, across the US. The Reinventure approach is proven effective at creating real, measurable social impact in collaboration with the company founder teams, generating meaningful ripple effects for their stakeholders, and as a result, delivering non-concessionary returns to investors.*
We are proud to be in extraordinary company of many others who are also choosing to recognize opportunity and allies among the people the system cannot perceive. If you haven’t started yet, now is an excellent time to begin. New allies are always welcome — please join us! How might we help you make the leap? — please tell us!
Are you already deploying capital to achieve better outcomes? Please share! Or better yet, take the conversation to your network to let others know they are not alone!
*While there’s no such thing as a guarantee in investing and no one can reliably predict the future, Ed’s prior track record provides direct evidence that it is indeed possible to consistently invest for both financial returns and social value creation. If you are an accredited investor and would like to learn more about investments that can advance social, racial, and gender equity by supporting high-value companies led by women and/or people of color, please contact us to start that conversation.
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