A Message to White People Doing Equity Work and Those Who Want To Start And Don’t Know How

As a white woman who has been deeply involved with equity and racial justice work for over 20 years there is nothing more exciting to me than a group of mostly white people who are invested in doing the work to bring real equity into their organization. And, if the rest of 2020 follows the pattern of January, this will be a regular occurrence for me, which I am so grateful for.

“It’s okay to not know how to do it, I’ve never met a white person who does until they’ve actually done the work. ”

It’s okay to not know how to do it, I’ve never met a white person who does until they’ve actually done the work. There are helpful tools – books, podcasts, lectures, classes, etc. but there is actually not one right way for every organization to do this work. In a nutshell? It’s complicated. If I could write a book that was a sure-fire guide to doing it, I’d be a millionaire. But after years in the work, I don’t believe it’s possible.

What I have observed over the years is that the desire to get things right paralyzes leaders from trying to do something that isn’t a 100% guarantee. We are talking about real people and precious resources. Words matter and harm is done in these processes. You have every right to be scared to do it wrong. Now, I am not giving you permission to go out and try some harebrained idea and that makes a royal mess and hurts people of color in your community. That would be irresponsible. But I am also not giving you a pass to wait until you have it all figured out either.

“If you expect the work to reverse hundreds of years of systematic and interpersonal oppression and racism to be easy, then have I got news for you.”

There is a balance in the middle that often gets lost in this work – and it is work. If you expect the work to reverse hundreds of years of systematic and interpersonal oppression and racism to be easy, then have I got news for you. But the truth is that I don’t think most white people think it will be easy I think they believe that it will be too hard. Either way, none of that gets us closer to our companies and organizations and programs and services being centered in equity principles.

I’ve directly been part of the leadership circles that transitioned two different organizations from being primarily white people to being led by people of color, including Black women taking the helm. It took years. I made a lot of mistakes. I have learned so much. Since then I have had the honor to work with many organizations on their journey toward being more equity focused. Sometimes it’s an important part of a bigger project like a strategic plan, and sometimes it is the entire focus of our work, like working towards diversifying your board and staff.

I invite you to join The Spark Mill in being BOLD this 2020.

If you want to do this work, and the work can look a million different ways and have a ton of different outcomes, I’d love to meet with you. I will share some of my biggest mistakes, and I will really listen, without judgement. Sometimes, you just need someone who has done it to help guide you through the process.