This week on Bankole’s Nation, journalist Bankole Thompson interviews Attorney Tina M. Patterson, Esq., a nationally recognized legal authority and the Principal Attorney at the Patterson Justice Council, PLLC, about economic equity as a 21st-century business strategy in line with the vision of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Patterson, whose previous cases have been cited in the Georgetown Law Journal on Poverty and by the University of North Carolina School of Law’s Banking Institute, also discusses her federal lawsuit against Genisys Credit Union in Michigan, which was recently dismissed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The lawsuit alleged racial discrimination against her Black client, who had been a longstanding client of the bank. 

Patterson, a former federal government attorney who previously worked for the Social Security Administration, and Thompson discuss the importance of the Genisys Credit Union case and how it raises questions about “Banking while Black,” the phenomenon in which Black customers routinely report being denied services or maltreated at financial institutions across the country. 

The interview examined economic justice as a catalyst for systemic change and the need to create accountability platforms that will shape equitable economic outcomes for marginalized communities. She waxed on the fact that Black and other minority consumers have the power to hold major corporations accountable, pointing to the ongoing, successful boycott of Target as an example following the corporate giant’s decision to roll back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. 

In the interview, Patterson, who is also the President and General Counsel of The PuLSE Institute, Detroit’s national anti-poverty think tank, and one of the few Black women in the nation leading a major economic justice institution, reflected that economic justice is not achieved overnight and requires consistency, education, courage, and leadership at all levels to achieve equity.