My husband and I were talking about the economy over breakfast this morning and he shared that he read in O Globo, Brazil’s major daily paper, that Americans saw a $1.7 trillion first quarter loss in net worth. His commentary on that was that “the U.S. is losing its place as the unchallenged leader of the word economy,” and that “companies better acknowledge this and get over their fear of losing that position to come up with new strategies to fit in, or they’ll continue to lose money.”
Because it’s easier to talk abstractly about racism rather than engage in one on one conversation with real people, I will gladly jump on this analogy to the world economy. The parallel is clear: just as the U.S. is unprepared and has a fear of losing its position of leading the world’s economy, a group of people who have a history of privilege in a society also may fear what it means to even acknowledge, let alone concede, that position of superiority.
But the world is changing no matter what, and judging from the growing ‘anti-U.S. sentiment abroad, the U.S. would benefit from developing a new paradigm of respect as a platform from which to interact with the rest of the world, as a true partner.
