Global Inequality

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Global inequality: One elephant that is addressed in The Elephant in the Room.

Racism is endemic to global inequality.

The Sudra caste, outlawed generations ago, as slavery has been, still persists in mindsets.

It is one elephant in a room crowded with elephants.

“A workshop was held in Kampala, Uganda to announce a new fund for energy access entrepreneurs. Approximately 50 excited Ugandan entrepreneurs turned up. The consultants in charge of administering this fund described complex rules, unfavorable lending schemes, and inappropriate financing for early stage local companies. The disappointment in the room was paramount; frustrated, an official from the Ministry of Energy shouted at the consultants, “why are you giving hope to these people that they will get funding and waste their time, when you will just award foreign companies?” Unsurprisingly, months later, foreign PAYGO companies were awarded. This story is part of the lingering destruction of colonialism, and the white supremacist belief that people of color are not capable of leading themselves; the belief that gender equality, good governance, and economic advancement can only occur through outsiders creating and implementing solutions for people of developing nations. Let’s not pretend this is a level playing field and address the elephant in the room – race also absolutely matters when achieving universal energy access. To ignore this important conversation does a disservice to the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Aneri Pradhan is the Founder and Executive Director of ENVenture, an incubator that empowers rural Ugandan Community Based Organizations

MSNBC headline:

Race is the elephant in the room when it comes to inequality

The black-white wealth gap is higher than it’s been in decades, but both parties still discuss inequality in color-blind terms.

“I think it doesn’t make for good politics,” said Color of Change executive director Rashad Robinson of the racial wealth gap. “It’s messy and requires us to be deep and think about much bigger and more long-term solutions than Washington’s oftentimes willing to deal with.”

Be Deep. Think Much. Read with an active mind.

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