‘Racism Is Profitable’: How Liberation in a Generation Is Putting People of Color at the Center of Policy Change

OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas

“We believe that it is possible to create an economy where all Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander people thrive—in one generation. To accomplish this we must fight to dismantle what we call the Oppression Economy. Today, elite institutions use racism as a tool to expand their wealth and power and suppress the wealth of people of color through theft, exploitation, and exclusion. Suppressing economic power leads to suppression of political power to influence policies that oversee resources. The elite institutions that control resources use that control to change the rules of our economy in their favor, which continues the cycle of profit.”

This is the vision of Liberation in a Generation, a national movement support organization building the power of people of color to totally transform the economy—who controls it, how it works, and most importantly, for whom. Formed in 2018 by cofounders Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice, LibGen as it’s come to be called, brings together advocates, community organizers, economists, and other proven and emerging leaders of color across the country to build a Liberation Economy within, as the name suggests, one generation.

So as Off-Kilter continues this ongoing series of conversations with economic justice leaders working to turn the traditional think tank model on its head—for this week’s show, Rebecca sat down with Jeremie and Solana 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. We also take a sneak peek at their new podcast, called Racism Is Profitable.

For more:

• Learn more about Liberation in a Generation and get involved at liberationinageneration.org.
• Subscribe to their new podcast, “Racism Is Profitable” and find all of the episodes we talked about here
• Follow them on Twitter @solanarice and @jeremiegreer