Thursday, May 19, 2011

Microfinance: Post Obama Race Talk

A screengrab from President Barack Obama's fir...Image via WikipediaRace has to be talked about. Gender has to be talked about. That was the angle I came from. And I was Barack Obama's first full time volunteer in New York City, perhaps the country. And the guy absolutely refused to talk about race. Then one day he said "Race matters powerfully" and I thought, okay, now he is going to start. But no. The guy just did not believe in singing Kumbaya. The you-love-me-you-love-me-not race talk just was not for him.

Then he became president and pumped billions of dollars into inner city schools. And that act was more meaningful to me than any race talk he might have initiated.

Barack Obama Proved Me Wrong On Race And Libya

I have been passionate about democracy as long as I can remember. Countries that had to liberate themselves from colonial powers decades back now need to liberate themselves from homegrown dictators. The battles are similar. The quest is still liberation. But democracy is not enough. Democracy can arrive and poverty can still remain.

And my intent, my desire to focus on global microfinance as a career move is along the lines of Barack pumping billions into inner city schools. Focusing on microfinance is the most concrete thing that can be done for global poverty, and for gender at the global level.

Vauge you-love-me-you-love-me-not talk will take us only so far. We need concrete goals, and we need concrete plans of action, and concrete results.

Microfinance is race talk that is not race talk.

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Doing Two Tech Startups
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Sean Parker, Billionaire, Was Really Poor Once
The Day I Got Called Sean Parker
My Non Personhood Of 2009, 2010
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