The Reckoning Continues...10 Things Our Field MUST Do If We Want to Realize a Racially Equitable and Just Society
Two years ago I wrote an article on LinkedIn challenging the workforce development system to be better. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I know now that many in the field shared the same sentiment, they just didn’t know how to say it. Since that original post, I’ve been working as a consultant at the intersection of talent & workforce development and racial equity/racial justice. This work offers me the opportunity to support people and organizations committed to learning and unlearning racism, those committed to examining their beliefs & belief systems, actions & behaviors, policies & practices, and relationships & partnerships. And while progress is happening among these partners and among the field, there is still so much work to be done.
Recently I was asked to offer a keynote for the National Skills Coalition’s Skills in the State Forum and felt compelled to name what I’m seeing as the missing components to our racial equity work in the field. As I prepared for this session, it became clear that I also needed to put “pen to paper” so that those outside of this network can also “hear” what was shared. In my keynote, I named 10 things that our field MUST do if we want to LIVE into our commitment to equity, justice and anti-racism as a field. I recognize that 10 things will not solve all of our problems related to injustice and inequity, but I know for certain that if we choose not to do these 10 things, our field will remain complicit in the fight for justice and equity. So here it goes…
Number 1- Take responsibility for our role in upholding racism. We MUST acknowledge the ways that our field and some, if not all of us, have been complicit in perpetuating racism in our organizations, in our interactions and in our non-action. Yes, we can brag that as a field and a network of partners we’ve facilitated change, but we won’t get to equity and justice if we ONLY focus on what we’ve done well or right. We must also name what we’ve done wrong, where we’ve harmed people, where we’ve excluded communities, where we neglected to call out acts of racism and discrimination and where we’ve upheld harmful power dynamics. In order to get to the goal that we all say we want to see, we have to own our stuff; the good, the bad and the ugly AND we have to do the repair work. Repair work means that at the very least we apologize and we move away from tokenism to true and authentic relationship building.
Number 2 - Move away from Assimilationist Ideology. In his book “How To Be An Antiracist” Dr. Ibram X. Kendi defines an assimilationist[1] as one who is expressing the racist idea that a racial group is culturally or behaviorally inferior and is supporting cultural or behavioral enrichment programs to develop that racial group. Therefore, assimilationist ideology is the belief that in order for a racial group to achieve OR advance in society, they must act like OR become like the dominant racial group. Are we working in organizations or supporting programs that are focused on cultural or behavioral enrichment but are calling them workforce development training programs? Or are we giving people the choice to show up fully and authentically as they are and supporting them in navigating and negotiating racist and toxic workplaces, systems and people. One position assumes personal change is needed and one recognizes that systems change is needed.
Number 3 - Recognize that our siloed systems maintain racism. We talk A LOT about systems change and systems alignment and systems integration, framing it as more efficient and effective (which it is), but if we don’t recognize and name that this siloing upholds systemic & institutional racism and drives inequity then we are only doing half of the job. In order for our cities, states and our field to become a conduit for racial equity rather than a conduit for racism, we must invest in and spend the time to develop a vision for a coordinated workforce system at the local, regional and state levels. An example of this, is a vision created by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development and the Baltimore Workforce Development Board in an effort to reform & reimagine a system where coordination was the norm and not the exception. It seeks to align public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders together, with an integrated data system and feedback loop closely monitoring short and long term outcomes (not just outputs) of the system to understand who its working for and who it isn’t. If your city & state isn’t casting vision and working towards a coordinated and aligned system, you may be complicit in upholding racism.
Number 4 – Work at ALL four levels of racism ALL the time. I often say that we are talking about changing systems but people lead systems. So starting with the individual we must work on ourselves first. What personal ideas and beliefs have we internalized (whether notions of superiority or inferiority)? What are our personal biases and how & when do they show up? From that personal space we move to the interpersonal level where we pay attention to the way that racism manifests between people and in interactions with others OR non-interactions with others (i.e. who are we choosing not to interact with and why). From that interpersonal space we move to the institutional level and we assess the ways that our institutions implement policies that whether intentional or not have racially disparate and negative impacts on Black and non-Black People of Color. From where we recruit to job requirements, to dress code policies, to leave policies and the list goes on. And from there we look at the structural level which is the umbrella, it’s where all roads of racism come from and lead to. It’s often most difficult to address because it’s the most difficult to see and its invisibility maintains its power. So our job is to intentionally work on those structural pieces, the public policies which impact and support the institutional practices, which impact and support harmful cultural norms such as cultural racism. If racism is happening at all of these levels all the time, we should be working at all of these levels, all of the time.
Number 5 - Disrupt white supremacy culture in our industries and organizations. Racial Equity Trainer Tema Okun[2] categorizes a number of white supremacy or white dominant cultural norms that permeate our society. By themselves they can be perceived as harmless but when agreed and enacted upon without input from ALL stakeholders in a society, they serve to uphold the system of racism and the ideology of white supremacy and white superiority. In my work with groups and organizations I see these manifesting and largely remaining unaddressed. The most prevalent of them being a Sense of urgency[3] for everything except equity work including and specifically the work related to repairing harm and authentically engaging excluded communities which means sharing power with those communities; Timelines & priorities that perpetuate white supremacy culture[4] - not building in time for reflection, for processing, for hiring of a full team but implementing unrealistic timelines for our work; Progress is bigger, more[5] - all this talk about scale and expansion and growth with limited consideration for depth of work. There is a need to go deep (working at root levels and addressing root causes) as well as wide (spreading out and expanding). Quantity over quality[6]– the focus on our outputs (how many people we serve, number of jobs) over outcomes – long term, generational changes in families and communities and Perfectionism[7] – the idea that we must be perfect before we can speak about equity and injustice because we might make a mistake. Not leaving room for mistakes and thus dishonoring our lived experiences as imperfect human beings. So because we want to do it right and say it right we end up saying and doing nothing, leaving the systems and power structures in place.
Number 6 – Acknowledge the role of capitalism in maintaining racism. We can’t honestly talk about disrupting systemic oppression and dismantling systems of racism without acknowledging how extractive and exploitative capitalism is. With its origins & the origins of extractive and toxic workplace practices rooted in the plantation labor systems[8], we cannot ignore how much of our ideals about productivity are rooted in capitalism and plantation practices. For example, overseers aka managers, an over-reliance on production goals and numbers, our propensity towards shift work, etc. Yet many are unwilling to have this conversation. When we recognize that capitalism is a core pillar of racism[9], we can shift the way our labor and economic systems work so that they actually support people rather than exploit people. Because if we’re not honest about this, what are we ready to be honest about?
Number 7 – Speak truth to power. We can’t do the work of equity as one part of the work of justice without speaking truth to power – power in the board rooms, the power dynamic between employers and workers, the power dynamics between practitioners and funders, the power dynamics between and among people in organizations. And in our speaking truth to power, we have to recognize that we all hold our own level of power (individual and positional). So often in the field we think of ourselves as powerless but that framing of powerless serves the system of racism. So recognize your own personal power and ethos – the power to influence systems and power to shift organizations and in the recognizing of your own power, don’t hoard it, speak truth to those who are.
Number 8 - Believe the experiences of Black and non-Black workers and learners of color. We love to talk about lived experiences and honoring those lived experiences UNTIL it’s about the lived experiences of racism and discrimination on a daily basis most known as racial microaggressions[10]. If we really believed the experiences of racism of those we support, we would build organizational practices and systems to capture these experiences and then use that data and information to hold employer and organizational partners accountable. If in our centering of workers and learners and those intentionally excluded and people on the margins (all framing we hear in this honoring of lived experience work), we don’t commit to seeing and believing the interpersonal acts of racism enacted by our colleagues and friends and others, then we aren’t actually doing the work of equity and justice, we’re just saying that we are.
Number 9 - Commit to narrative change work. We cannot possibly think that we will uproot racism and lead the charge for equity and justice if we keep using coded language, language that blames the individual and not the system, language that harms/perpetuates violence and crafting “success” stories that reinforce assimilationist ideologies. Every organization represented in our field must critically interrogate the language that they use and the stories they perpetuate to ensure that it is not reinforcing harmful ideologies about people and their capabilities or perceived lack thereof. In order to realize a just and equitable society, narrative change work is required. Change the story, call out anti-blackness, pay attention to our language. Ask yourself – who is this story blaming and who is this story empowering? Whose truth is this story sharing and whose truth is it ignoring? Who is harmed by my choice of language and who is empowered by my language? What is my language implying (leaving room for plausible deniability) and what is my language calling out? Let’s be honest, if you aren’t doing narrative change work, you aren’t doing the work of equity.
And finally, number 10 - We have to make a decision to act, every day and in every moment. Recognizing that action is going to look different for everyone, action is still required nonetheless. And not just action for action sake, but intentional, thoughtful, sometimes risky and “scary” actions to address harmful and oppressive people and systems. For some it might mean using your white privilege to create access or being an ally[11]; for some it might mean moving to the side and allowing Black and non-Black workers/learners of color to speak their truth and share their stories in their own way; for some it might mean naming the power dynamics in the room; for some it’s naming institutional harm; for some its calling your counterparts in and out and for some its choosing to protect yourself because that too is the work. Because not to act is to be complicit. Not to act is be “not racist” rather than anti-racist to quote Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
The reality is this, we each hold power to seed or lead change in our organizations, systems and communities. And collectively this field is uniquely positioned to shift the way our entire ecosystem and labor market functions. I use the quote below often when I talk about the Power of You, recognizing that YOU are the change you desire to seek in the world, YOU are the systems change agents our field needs. It says “Changing individual leaders does not automatically lead to systems change. For that to happen, not only do those individual leaders have to commit themselves to applying a racial equity and inclusion lens to their work and to working at the systems-level, but they have to push and support other actors within their institutions to do the same”. [12]
At that same event, my colleague and co-conspirator in the work for equity and justice Dr. Kenyatta Lovett offered four critical questions that we must ask ourselves. I leave you with those same four questions:
1) Is it enough to help someone land a job?
2) How many doors should one be required to go through to experience the benefits of economic mobility in this nation?
3) If the programs are working, why are the systems broken?
4) How should we view the relationship between work and dignity?
Clair Minson is a talent and workforce development professional with a specific focus on systems change and working at the intersection of race, racism and workforce development. She is passionate about changing the outcomes for Black and non-Black People of Color for generations to come and is a fierce advocate for race-conscious programming and policy design.