Have you ever been spit on because the color of your skin?

I have. Until now, I’ve only told this story once in my life. I usually hide it, even from myself.

As a young child, I grew up in Chinatown, Toronto, almost entirely surrounded by other Chinese immigrants. My first memory of white people was when I was four year old, walking hand-in-hand with my grandmother down the street, and two white boys spit on us as they rode by on their BMX bikes. I turned and caught the eye of one of the boys sneering at me as they rode away. My grandmother didn’t react and kept on walking. What I learned from her was, you have to suppress your rage. You have to swallow your bitter humiliation to survive under white supremacy.

Suppressing rage is a lesson that I’ve heeded all my life. It does a person of color no good to let white people know about the litany of indignities living under white supremacy. Yes, even in liberal, progressive New York/San Francisco/Portland. It’s still white supremacy, just a different type. It’s the type that says, “I can say this racist thing to you because, you know, we’re friends, and I’m a Good Person Who’s On Your Side.” Or being excluded from the dating pool. Or being passed over for professional promotions (interesting note: I’ve never received a promotion in my life). You have to, as so many other people of color know, suppress rage and swallow humiliation.

Forty years later, spitting on Asian Americans is something white people still do.

This is context for understanding why I’m donating everything from SOFF to social justice causes this year. All the income this spring went to a COVID relief fund to Asian immigrant workers. This summer, all the money will support Black Lives Matter.

Why? Because money is not only a financial matter, it’s a moral one as well.

your spending choices are moral choices 

In class, we talk about consumption as a moral issue, specifically in terms of resource use and climate change. The main lesson is frugality. But even if you’re frugal, the choice of where to spend is still a moral one. You can figure out how much of your spending is NEEDS, WANTS, and BULLSHIT. This will help you with your budget. But it still doesn’t answer where your money should go.

Any economic system benefits those in power most. Our consumption typically reinforces the status quo by giving money to the powerful. Progressives say that your spending choices are political choices. But it goes way beyond that. In a racist society, where you send your money is a moral choice.

In class, we talk so much about “how much is enough?” Our economy is a circle of interdependence that both consumers and businesses to sustain the whole. My income comes from your spending, and your income comes from my spending. If everyone decides to stop spending, no one has a job. (We’re experiencing that right now in the first few months after COVID with the national savings rate up to 33%) That uncovers two paradoxes that I can’t solve. First, the FI movement relies on others NOT doing it, if everyone did, the economy would collapse. Second, economic growth is fueling our environmental destruction. But I do know this: if you are holding more than enough, that means the money cannot circulate to others that need it. Again, my income comes from your spending and my spending comes from your income. If folks hold onto their wealth, the poor have less. Having more than enough has racial justice implications.

financial freedom is the freedom to serve

Vicki Robin (author of Your Money or Your Life) once told me that financial independence is when you get to devote your time and attention to what you truly care about, without having to worry about the money. You get to forget about your own individual, egocentric problems and serve the world by solving the larger problems around you. 

Financial independence means that I get to choose how I interact with white supremacy. I have much more freedom to choose what I say and support what I believe than when I had a job. In the end, financial freedom is really moral freedom.

With financial independence, I want my time, energy, and money to support social justice causes. The spring income from FF1 and the Gratitude Dojo went to the Jade District COVID relief fund. We raised over $7,000 for immigrant workers, most of whom would not have received state unemployment benefits or the $1,200 federal relief check.

Summer FF1 and FF2 tuition will to go Black Lives Matter.

The biggest social justice issue we have right now is that we live in a virulently anti-black society (read The Case for Reparations if you want a summary). It shows up in every system: housing, criminal justice system, and—critically to someone who teaches personal finance—the job market and wealth. But the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, killed in February while out for a run in Georgia; Breonna Taylor, killed in her home in March by police officers in Louisville; and George Floyd, killed by police officers in Minneapolis, and many others, have shown how virulently anti-black this country is. While my experience as an Asian American does not compare to the experience of being black, I can see that, right now, people are choosing to no longer suppress their rage. Right now, people are no longer swallowing their humiliation. Now is the time. Black Lives Matter has entered the Overton Window. Now is the moment.

The income from the summer FF1 and FF2 cohorts will go to the Black Lives Matter Global Fund. Tell anyone you know who might want to take Financial Freedom 1; we’ll be having curious and courageous conversations about how FF and financial empowerment are part of a more equitable world for black and brown folks. We’ll discuss the freedom that financial independence really brings: the freedom to say no.

If you’re a person of color, or simply someone who needs help with tuition, reach out. We’ll make it work.

We ALL should be donating to changing our current system of white supremacy. If you feel like you’ve done well and benefited from the status quo, consider giving to the cause yourself. How you live in this country is a moral act. Right now, use your money as a moral act as well.