Kim Crayton: A Thirst For Knowledge

The Antiracist Economist, challenges the economic systems, institutions, and policies that have been created to maintain white supremacy and anti-Blackness.

1. I’m an individual [Black woman], focused on helping whiteness better understand how they benefit from and are complicit in maintaining white supremacy and anti-Blackness.
2. I’m an individual [Black woman], focused on understanding, sharing knowledge, and developing strategies that will lead to economic policies and practices that prioritize the most vulnerable because when the most vulnerable are doing well, then everyone else benefits
3. Whiteness must work on two fronts: themselves as racist and the systems, institutions, and policies designed to privilege them, while harming others
4. Everyone else must challenge their own internalized white supremacy and anti-Blackness and their role in maintaining to the systems, institutions, and policies designed to oppress them

There is no typical day, but I usually begin by checking the social sphere and conversations happening, in an effort to find living examples of business practices that support what I’m doing and those that are not. But the majority of my days as of late have been focused on the book which is now officially available (Profit Without Oppression: A Blueprint for Building an Antiracist Organization) and planning out stops for the book tour.

Currently I’m reading Waking Up In 5D: A Practical Guide to Multidimensional Transformation by Maureen J. St. Germain, these types of books allow me to broaden my perspective and see things others don’t.

Understanding the Guiding Principles and applying them to your everyday life. These principles are:

• Tech is Not Neutral, Nor is it Apolitical
• Intention without an accurately informed strategy is chaos
• Lack of inclusion is a Risk/Crisis Management Issue
• Prioritise the Most Vulnerable

As well as those, it’s also important to be having authentic conversations, hopefulness and implementing strategic action. For those interested you can take the course here.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, because it’s a very obvious way to start living a more intentional life.

It’s not just about understanding Economics, it’s about understanding Economics in the framework of how it’s been used, which is why I’m focusing on building a Supremacy, Coercion, Discrimination, and Exploitation FREE future. I look to books like Saving Capitalism by Robert B. Reich, Requiem for the American Dream by Noam Chomsky, Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi to help me see the bigger picture. I would also mention “Seeing White” which is a podcast by Scene on Radio.

Toni Morrison, because she’s a badass. Adam Smith, Grandfather of Economics. Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Organization by Peter M. Senge. James Baldwin, he was telling the truth when the truth wasn’t safe. Audre Lorde, she was speaking at the intersections. I like truth tellers.

Data Conscience: Algorithmic Siege on our Humanity by Dr. Brandeis Marshall. Because she’s another truth teller who is challenging the status quo.

I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge and the need to take that knowledge I’ve gained and make it more accessible for folks.

Profit Without Oppression: A Blueprint for Building an Antiracist Organization, because taking the time to write that helped solidify my understanding of my own content and how to best present it in an approachable way. I had to internalize it first.

Using my own lived experiences, I created an economic theory, Profit Without Oppression, to support the development of businesses by sharing knowledge and helping others develop skills in ways that accommodate the masses. This theory is based on the understanding that to advance in ways where harm is not treated as a necessary “cost of doing business,” we must forge an entirely new path. It’s also to democratize business education because it’s still in the hands of the privileged.

The Powell Memo, which was introduced to me through Saving Capitalism. I saw the intentional nature of the exclusion and harm that is still being built into our economic systems.

Palo Alto: A History of California Capitalism and the World by Malcolm Harris, because it is a current dive into the false narrative of being apolitical and the harm the individuals who systems institutions and policies privilege at the expense of the many.