If Not Us, Then Who?
Kimber Lanning, founder and CEO of Local First Arizona. read more
I’ve spent more than three decades working in the music business, and what I learned in that industry prepared me for the work we do today at Local First Arizona.
In my 20’s I witnessed my first big lie when four giant music companies stopped pressing vinyl records. I watched them dominate the media and convince Americans their vinyl was useless. Story after story convinced people to throw away their records and buy CDs -and CD players- at a rate that was truly unbelievable.
It was a massive undertaking that was hugely successful- but what you may not know is that no other labels outside of those four ever stopped pressing vinyl, not even for one day. None of the small US labels, none of the European labels, none of the Japanese labels stopped pressing vinyl. These smaller companies were furious about this whole campaign but were powerless to stop it. CDs were more profitable and a new way to essentially sell you the same recording on two different formats. And we bought it!
Today we are living amongst more big lies and again,
a sizable percentage of us believe they are true.
Another big lie that I repeatedly hear is that we live in a free market society which is an economy that operates on supply and demand, apart from government intervention. But in reality, our food is heavily subsidized (particularly corn and soybeans), certainly our oil is subsidized, our banks are subsidized. Even Walmart and many other chain stores are subsidized with government money.
Yet, when we talk about localizing our supply chains (hello Long Beach!) by preferencing local companies, we are met with squawks about intervening in a free market society.
We can see every day that a complete hamburger costs just .99 meanwhile blueberries are $2.20 a pint. Do we all understand what that dynamic means for our nation and economy in health care costs over time? A University of California, Berkeley study estimates that it would cost close to $30 to buy a non-subsidized or “free market” hamburger.
What if we could improve people’s health
by redirecting subsidies toward healthy food or improved access?
I'm bringing this to you today as a request. We have to use our critical thinking, our emotional intelligence, and our compassion to continue to dialogue with those we don't agree with and to hang on to reality while understanding diverse lived experiences.
I’ve spent my time at Local First working to address root causes. Many call it leadership, but what I really think we're talking about is accountability.
What do I mean by accountability? I’ll give you a small example.
The other night I was driving home, half-listening to the radio. A political advertisement came on, paid for by a group called Freedom Works, stating, “Mexicans are coming across the border bring us COVID and many of them are serial criminals.” Outraged, I was on the phone with I Heart Radio leadership the very next morning demanding that they edit the ad to stick to the facts and reminding them they are accountable for spreading hateful and slanderous lies to spark fear in other people.
It is not okay to just shrug our shoulders and think that it's somebody else's problem. No, it's our collective problem. The station told me that they hadn’t received any other complaints. Now, do I think I'm the only person in Arizona who heard that ad?
This is why I call on you. It’s not necessarily that I’m a leader- it’s that I FEEL ACCOUNTABLE. It is my MINDSET. And I want all of us to feel accountable for our communities too- and then act on it.
Accountability is hard. It’s painful and daunting.
Those close to me know I’ve gone through a very difficult time of personal accountability because I realized that participation in inequitable systems is also compliance. Once I saw the inequities and I acknowledged compliance I could never go back. And it’s painful. But I call on you to join Local First Arizona in this journey.
There are so many interconnected challenges we’re facing right now.
Affordable Housing
Criminal Justice Reform
Climate Change
Immigration Reform
Rapidly growing unsheltered populations
Food Insecurity
School funding
The rural-urban divide
Predatory lending or the inequitable access to capital
Any one of which can prevent improvements in educational attainment and community health and well-being. What is our collective accountability to overcome them?
I submit to you that at the very core of all of these issues, the single issue that will continue to undermine all the others is the growing wealth gap, and in particular the racial wealth gap.
Local First is founded on the belief that entrepreneurship is our strongest weapon to battle the racial wealth gap by diversifying our economy and the ability to participate in it. Fuerza Local, Nivel Ejecutivo, and We Rise business accelerators as well as our rural business academy are creating wealth and jobs in their communities.
They know first-hand that access to capital is paramount for all Arizonans and especially for growing businesses. Predatory lending is prominent in Arizona specifically because of decades of financial divestment in communities of color.
We need to dismantle the predatory lending industry by eliminating their market.
We do this by uplifting small businesses and families into mainstream banking, and by holding big banks accountable for redlining and discriminatory lending practices. We do this by moving our money out of banks that have proven time and again that they’re not values aligned nor trustworthy and by simultaneously blocking legislation that increases the interest cap on the money title lenders can lend.
Banks are only as strong as their balance sheet. Who controls their balance sheet? We do. Move Your Money.
We can’t just learn to live with predatory lending. What does that say about us? That we’re OK with standing by as other community members drown in debt?
I know we are in the age of exhaustion. But if not us, my friends, then who?
What if, collectively, we decided that every kid growing up in South Phoenix or Maryvale, or Guadalupe, or San Manuel or Navajo Nation was as important to the future of Arizona as our own children or grandchildren?
What I’m most proud of is that Local First lives in the doing. We take studies and facts and turn them into programs that impact lives. We are an action-oriented organization that rolls up our sleeves every day to address some of our state’s most pressing issues.
Hold us accountable and expect us to hold you accountable too.