The past year has been sorrowfully saturated with evidence that we have some serious work and healing to do around race in America. We have come face-to-face with deeply seeded generational truths. Left unattended and festering in the dark recesses of our nation’s conscious, our past has spilled over, soiling our present. Our future depends on the extent to which we hold, honor, and heal from the pain of existing within a racist society.

For many of us, we are experiencing this gut feeling that we have got to do something. Deep down we are certain that something has got to change if any of us are going to survive. Beyond our feelings, we may have realized that our bodies are sending us a clear message. On a very basic and human, what many of us know to be true is that it is time. It is time for us to audaciously and truthfully confront race head on.

Confronting race, in any meaningful way, warrants that we commit to the on-going process of anti-racist work. Whether you are just beginning or moving further into your personal journey of anti-racist work, here are 3 upcoming and interactive ways for you to deepen your experience:

March 6

Sustaining the Awakening: Moving from Racial Revelation to Embodied Action

This three-hour workshop invites white people to pause and peer into the various ways their bodies have been conditioned to sustain oppression, from how they have bypassed the grief of their own lost humanity and the pain their indifference has caused to how being “colorblind” has taught them to disbelieve what their own eyes see.

For white people who have recently woken up to a deeper understanding of systemic racism, this workshop provides a starting point for healing from somatic dislocations and embodying an antiracist identity that is integrated, fierce, and sustainable.

March 13 & April 10

Colonialism, Racism, & YOU

Step into a held space with Kait Hatch and S. Rae Peoples to explore our personal and collective location to racism and colonialism. This is a two-part workshop:

Session I (March 13) — Colonialism, Racism, and You: Let’s Dive In

Session I will allow participants to receive a culturally contextual framework around the subject of racism as it relates to colonialism and decolonialism.

Session II (April 10) — Decolonialism, Racism, and You: A Deeper Dive

Building upon the first workshop, Session II takes a deeper look into the notions of our individual location to colonialism and racism. The workshop offers participants a space to contemplate, question, and create ways in which they can counter racism both within their personal and cultural context.

If any of these points of engagements resonate with you, step into the space! All a welcome. Everyone is held. No one is coddled. Let’s get to work.

Most of us are still recovering from the blatant display of violent disrespect and assault on the U.S. Capitol last week. In the midst of trying to catch our individual and collective breath from this blow, organizations are issuing response statements. Many response statements contain the static and predictable formula: “this is not us” + tears(passive condemnation) = 0.

A perfect example of this formula can be found within the response statement from the University of Michigan:

Response statements from organizations have the potential to hold value in moving our country through our pain and onward to justice. In order for response statements to become powerful catalysts in creating social change, organizations need to know 3 critical points:

1. Acknowledge The Myths We Tell Ourselves

“This is not who we are as a nation. What distinguishes our form of government is its inviolable respect for the will of the people…where we ensure that democracy always prevails…”

Here’s the truth: This is who we are as a nation. To keep repeating “This is not who we are as a nation” is egregiously ahistorical. The danger in repeating this myth is that it only serves to keep us all bound to the oppressive systems that wield the violence we continue to claim is not us. This is us.

The good news is that this does not have to be us. Our story does not have to end with our current sordid identity. However, we will never detangle ourselves from a national identity of destruction if we cannot speak truthfully about what is (and has always been) wrong with who we are. How can we make something right, if we refuse to see and understand what is wrong?

In this moment, the pith of anti-racist work (not the comfortable veneer of DEI work) for organizations is to interrogate the reasons why it defaults to this myth when confronted with atrocities. The only way to disrupt the compulsory use of myths within response statements is for organizations to understand why the myths have become the go-to language in the first place.

If your organization endeavors to write a response statement to violence, then lead with the truth. In acknowledging the truth, leaders of organizations create the opportunity for us all to heal, rebuild, and redefine our collective identity.

2. Get Clear About What Are You Crying For?

Working in white-led and predominantly white organizations both within the education and non-profit sectors, I have observed much. On several occasions, I have personally sat in meetings where leadership cried at acts of anti-Black violence in our country. The problem here is not necessarily that folks are crying. The problem is the irony that is tied to the tears. So often, the very same organizational leaders who require their staff to hold space for their tears are the same individuals who uphold internal policies, practices, and culture that wield oppression, marginalization, and disparities.

To this point, I recently participated in a meeting where an organizational leader shed tears for the murder of George Floyd. Several weeks later, I participated in another meeting. In this meeting, this same leader — in reference to the organizational system, flippantly exclaimed, “this is a caste system, it’s just what it is…” It should be noted that several folks who identified as both female and a person of color were present at this meeting. That day, in that meeting, there was deep harm inflicted with those words, regardless of whether the harm was intended or not. The insult to the injury within this context is the fact that so many organizations that profess to be about social justice, yet are internally unjust, receive a profound amount of financial support for their social justice values and initiatives. This happens as a result of financial sponsors focusing primarily on the wordsmithing abilities of the organization rather than focusing on the extent to which the internal operations and culture of an organization is in alignment with their words. We do ourselves and the mission of our organizations a grave disservice when we allow leaders to wipe away tears from the suffering they witness with one hand, and stoke the flames that fuel suffering with the other hand. This is simply not how the true pursuit of social justice is played.

Let our tears no longer be only for the atrocities we are collectively forced to witness day after day. Let our tears be for the role we have collectively played in creating and sustaining the systems that allow these atrocities to thrive on our domestic soil. Cry for the ways in which we have been complicit in sustaining violence in our relationships, homes, communities, houses of worship, and work environments. Let our tears be for the ways in which we have given power over to individuals who are not aligned with who we are striving to become as a nation in areas where we clearly see the violence and disparities the most: in our government, law enforcement, military, education, and health sectors. May our tears move us into the bold and necessary actions we need to make to become the nation we want to become: a nation of decency, justice, equality, and respect for the human dignity in all of us.

3. What Organizations Must Know

For organizations trying to figure out how best to lead in these troubling times, this is not a time to be coddled in tears. Nor is this the time to write the same stagnant words that have been recycled for prior events of national terror. This is not the time to be the first organization to merely crank something out to inadequately demonstrate its commitment to social justice.

The time begs for organizations to rethink and reframe how to hold our leaders accountable in our collective journey towards social justice. The time demands that we begin the task of self-reflection. It is time for us to look at the ways in which our own mentality, actions, and words promulgate violence. For organizations, this is truly a time to just be quiet. To pause. To reflect. The call to action for organizations is very clear. We have no more time to waste on tears and statements. It is time to get it right.

Mother. Teacher. Disrupter. S. Rae Peoples is the founder and principal consultant of Red Lotus Consulting, a race equity and service boutique. Her writings and opinions have been published in the Washington Post, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Post, BlogHer, as well as Young, Fabulous and Self-Employed magazine. Currently based in Boston, S. Rae is a student affairs administrator and serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for North Atlantic Books.

Response Statements to Violence: What Organizations Need to Know was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Red Lotus Consulting and Kaitlyn S.C. Hatch have joined collaborative forces to create Libations & Liberation!

Libations & Liberations are brief connections where Kait and I come together for unscripted conversations. Within a span of 30 minutes (max!), we sip yummy drinks and muse over various terms, topics, notions, fears, and — of course the joys related to the work of moving ourselves out of oppression and into liberation.

The inaugural episode of Libations & Liberation is out! Join me and Kait as we sip and chat about allies in race work.

Mother. Teacher. Agitator. S. Rae Peoples is the founder and principal consultant of Red Lotus Consulting, a race equity and service boutique. Her writings and opinions have been published in the Washington Post, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Post, BlogHer, as well as Young, Fabulous and Self-Employed magazine. Currently based in Boston, S. Rae is a student affairs administrator at an art school and serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for North Atlantic Books.

Over the weekend, I took some time to reflect on Maurice Berger, an author and brilliant voice of our time who lost his life several months ago due to complications from COVID-19. During his life, Berger authored several pieces of work on the topic of race, including White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1999). Albeit a couple of decades old, White Lies is an “oldie but goodie” and continues to support me and the work I do for racial justice. On the topic of racsim, Berger penned:

“The worst kind of racism was no longer just in Memphis, no longer just in the segregated schools of Little Rock: it was in our living room, and there was no way I could ignore it.”

The notion of racism being in our living rooms, residing right in our homes, is resonating with so many of us nowadays. And while not the case for all members of their community, many white people are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which racism flows through veins of this country. With every passing day, white people are witnessing and absorbing the havoc, violence, and trauma that racism leaves (and has always left) in its path.

Given their position within an intensely racialized structure in America, Black and communities of color have long known the extent of racism’s destruction. Yet, for several people in the white community, the veil of racism has been lifted in such a way that they are finally being incessantly exposed to the very raw and ugliness of racism. Unable to escape this acute exposure, there is an increase of white people who are feeling a strong sense of urgency to engage in the collective pursuit of racial justice with compassion, conviction, and confidence. The unraveling of racism’s veil has moved some white people to grapple and feel their way into that gut wrenching realization that the racist aggressions directed towards marginalized communities is in fact an attack to their own community and humanity.

Racism is not a monster that is just lurking somewhere “out there.” Racism is not just out in these streets kneeling on necks, chasing life down a quiet southern road, spraying bullets in a residence with sleeping occupants, or using 911 as a direct threat and weapon. The monster is both in our streets and within us. While, as Berger suggests, racism lurks in our living rooms, it then follows us outside of our homes, as we then become hosts of racism, embodying the hatred and ego it needs to breathe. Within us, racism emerges as an active terror in our boardrooms, our PTA meetings, our philanthropic agendas, our social justice nonprofit orgs, and our pulpits. This monster is absolutely all up and through our education system and political landscape. Racism, rooted in our homes, has branched out. It is everywhere. And it is rampant.

For white people, apologizing and feeling sorry (either for themselves and/or Black and communities of color) is perhaps the knee jerk reaction upon realizing the work of racism all around them. For some, stepping into an apologetic stance — a stance that is assumed to be appropriate and needed, is not an issue. Yet, for others, the very thought of having to apologize for racism invokes a visceral reaction of disdain and indignation. An example of such an reaction is in the response of a reader to one of my writing pieces when they state:

“Your ideology that all white people need to self-flagellate over our history and our ancestors, the ones who built one of the greatest societies the world has ever known, is not a reasonable system of belief. Frankly it’s absurd. It flies in the face of reality, history, and sanity.”

Notwithstanding the notion that such a visceral reaction is in and of itself a manifestation of racism, for this reader (and those who may hold the same position), I offer that I have never heard any Black person forthrightly exclaim to any white person, “if you would just apologize, that would magically cast away racism once and for all, and we would at last all enjoy that ‘post-racial America’ we keep hearing y’all talk about.” So why haven’t we heard this from traditionally impacted voices? Because impacted voices and communities do not want apologies. Marginalized people don’t care if a “newly woke” white person ‘self-flagellates’ or not.

To be clear: nobody gives a damn about apologies. As far as racism is concerned, we are way past “I’m sorry.” The focus is no longer on words for justice. The focus is on actions towards justice. It is really just that plain and simple.

Pro-tip: Apologies mean nothing. Actions mean everything.

For those who choose to step into the muddy waters of race in America, we have a great work before us. The work is absolutely ambitious in that it requires us to infuse justice, equity, and inclusion in a country that — while it knows how to pronounce and pontificate on the importance of these terms, inherently and intentionally holds an identity that is antithetical to these values. With such an audacious mission, there is literally no time and no room for “I’m sorry” nor will these words shift the needle toward justice in any meaningful way. To this point, Berger wrote:

“As I sit alone in my office, in the dark, in the middle of the night, the idea of atonement seems hollow and fruitless. Only the personal everyday choices I make in the world of racial interactions, and not some abstract or ritualistic gesture of apologizing or of being forgiven, will really make a difference. In the process, I realize, I will always be watching myself.”

Racial justice does not hinge upon ‘I apologize’ from white people. Rather, our collective justice demands a commitment to constantly interrogate the “personal everyday choices” we make in our racial interactions.

It has been said that the best form or an apology is changed behavior. If we hold this to be true, then here’s the CTA for white people:

Be open and vulnerable with yourself enough to sit with the observations that come to you on the ways in which you have been conditioned as a white person, and how this conditioning around race has impacted the ways you think about race, the ways you feel about race, and the ways in which this conditioning has constricted your ability to hold the humanity of others. Be open to sitting with the ways in which your conditioning as a white person manifests in your thoughts, actions, (in)actions, and silence. And from that point, be bold enough to change behaviors that hinder you and I from experiencing a wholeness that we are longing for and deserve —you know, that wholeness also known as justice.

May my words resonate with you. If not, that’s cool too. It’s just food for thought.

Mother. Teacher. Agitator. S. Rae Peoples is a top writer in racism on Medium and the founder and principal consultant of Red Lotus Consulting, a race equity and service boutique. Her writings and opinions have been published in the Washington Post, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Post, BlogHer, as well as Young, Fabulous and Self-Employed magazine. Currently based in Boston, S. Rae is a student affairs administrator at an art school and serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for North Atlantic Books.

Photo: Courtesy of Christian Magazine

Diversity can, in fact, be sharpened as a double-edged sword that is quite often masterfully and strategically used, particularly by white-led organizations.

One sharp edge of the sword is quite frankly the commodification of diversity. This inflicts a particularly deep and painful wound on black people in particular because it enables [white-led] organizations to make money literally off the backs of our bodies — — as commodification of the black body was at the core of slavery. Nowadays, commodification of traditionally oppressed bodies is repackaged under “diversity”: a package label that not only is politically acceptable but is in fact considered a label in progressive movements towards racial and social justice. Diversity is a “feel good” label. And when organizations can tout this feel good label at presentations, fundraising events, churches, schools, and on grant applications, the money flows to the “great work” these organizations profess to be doing. And there it is. Commodification. Money being generated off the presence (or backs) of black and brown bodies.

The other edge of this sword is optics. More often than not, organizations use diversity as a concealer, working overtime to gather and plop black and brown bodies in its environment while not addressing the environmental aspects that does not make existing in a black or brown body sustainable within the organization. The overriding issue with diversity as it is held by most organizations is that it emboldens an organization to shout, ​ “look at us, we’re good because we’re diverse!” ​ while not engaging in any personal work to examine how one may actually be playing an active or complicit role in perpetuating a harmful working environment for black and brown employees. As a result, diversity is then used to hide the ways in which whiteness is internally and systemically embedded in the organization’s DNA.

While there is a tendency to conflate whiteness with the racial identity of white people, I hold a clear distinction between the two. When I use the term ​ whiteness ​ I am referring to a tool used to sustain white supremacy. It is characterized by unexamined privilege; an often unconscious perception of being white as the norm, and being a person of color is other than normal; and silence or acute discomfort with interrogating systems, policies, culture and relationships through a racial lens. The truth of the matter is that anyone can wield the tool of whiteness. However, the harm done by whiteness hits different on black and brown bodies when it is used by white people.

This summer, I served as the Director of Operations for a summer camp that worked to develop leadership skills in young girls. Camp was held at a naturally picturesque college which is nestled in a vibrant urban neighborhood and has a longstanding tradition and legacy of playing an active role in racial and social justice. Our Summer staff started out with a team of 12 women: most of whom identified as Black/WoC and Queer. From our collective team experience, there emerged 3 critical lessons that highlight the ways in which diversity is being inappropriately held in our modern movements towards racial and social justice.

Lesson 1: Diversity Does Not Mean “All Are Welcome”

As both a staff member and resident of the host city for camp, I walked into the camp experience with the naive notion that campers and families would adequately reflect and represent both the racial and socioeconomic diversity of my city. Like several of my colleagues, I held this notion primarily because it is a reasonable assumption that an organization would reflect the population of the city/region it is operating within, particularly when it espouses to take up space in a way that honors diversity.

According to the 2018 Census, the host city is roughly 36% white, 27% Hispanic/Latinx, 24% Black/African-American, 16% Asian, and 7% who identify as multi-racial. From a socio-economic perspective, from 2013–2017, the median income was $63,251, the per capita income was $37,256. On average, there were 3 members in a household. The average rent in the host city last year was around $2,500. Tuition for camp ranged between $2,700-$3,700. The organization provided financial aid. It was unclear as to the number of recipients of such aid. Ultimately, the data provides clarity relative to the difficulty with which the average girl living within the host city limits would be able to access and experience camp being offered in their own city.

Within the first few days of camp starting, black staff members began to have a gut-wrenching feeling that the environment was not welcoming for them. During a staff meeting, a black woman asserted, ​ “this is not a safe space for black women and girls to heal.” ​ What was heard and understood as a defensive rebuke of the assertion by their supervisor was, ​ “that’s not what this space is for…what about Latinx girls, other brown girls, Asian girls, girls who are LGBTQIA…” ​ This statement aggressively pulled at the strings of trust between staff and their leader, unravelling their feelings of being seen and welcomed in the organization. As a result, within a month of a camp program that is only 6 weeks long, the organization hemorrhaged 25% of its summer camp staff, all of whom were black women.

Simultaneously witnessing and bearing the brunt of whiteness was difficult for staff members. One word used by a woman of color staff member during a meeting to describe how she felt was simply ​ “bamboozled.” A ​ personal demonstration of the culture of whiteness within the organization is seen in the following email exchange between me — black staff member (BW) ​ and a white mother ​ (WW):

WW: ​ Attached are 2 documents…so that I don’t have to type it all into the system…

BW: ​ So that I have clarity, is there an extraneous reason as to why this is just now being turned in?…

WW: ​ Because I’m extremely busy with work and life generally…do I need to cc the CEO of the organization? I served on the board for 6 years and do expect a little more respect.

WW: ​ And just to be extra crystal clear… I brought tens of thousands of dollars to the organization, so if this is how I will be treated going forward I will re- think how I support the organization…

BW:​ ( c ​ c-ied CEO, COO, COP, and Director of Summer Programs): ​ ​ Your responses are highly offensive. Regardless of where you think you sit. How you think you sit, and how much money you have generated for this organization, your words are not only hurtful, but profoundly and dangerously rooted in a level of white privilege that I simply will not tolerate.

Much like the organization I worked for this summer, many organizations (particularly white-led organizations) are well-intentioned in stepping into the good work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, my point here is to amplify the fact that not enough white people (and leaders of these organizations) are talking about the ways in which white people continue to center whiteness within that good work.

Lesson 2: Diversity Does Not Absolve An Organization From Pausing To Interrogate The Impact of Its Decisions, Actions and Objectives

On any given day, campers would ask to touch the hair of black women or call them “Auntie.” Black staff were asked by white girls to fold or clean their clothes. To add another layer of harm, a camper was observed engaging in a highly egregious act towards two black women who were members of the college community — which ultimately played a role in the decision to send said camper home from camp early. These instances of whiteness gave a general sense among black women in the space that their time and presence was being used to serve as ad hoc mammies of predominantly white girls. Girls who were coming into the space with an intense generational legacy of whiteness.

Despite the downward spiral the staff was experiencing, the organization chose not to pause. Instead of finishing Session 2 and electing not to go through with its final session — at the time of my writing this piece, the organization was gearing up for Session 3, choosing to push towards and through its last 2 weeks. On face, it is understandable that an organization would want to persevere and push through the last 14 days of a program. However, given the fact that by the end of Session 2, several black women left the team (1 due to a stress-induced illness, and 2 due to no longer being willing to remain in an environment that did not honor them) and many staff members expressing varying levels of suffering, the decision to continue was deeply dismissive of the relationship between the organization and its summer staff.

The night I decided to leave the team, the COO asked me what it would take for me to stay and help out with closing day for Session 2. To her question, I responded, ​ “Cancel Session 3 and honor the full contract of all summer staff members”. ​ Contemplating my request, the COO stated that the organization would lose money on the facility it paid for to hold camp and that it would have to refund money to those who were planning to attend Session 3. As a result — from the organization’s perspective, honoring my request was not financially responsible. Acknowledging the fact that the organization would have had to absorb a significant price in pausing Session 3, the monetary price pales in comparison to the internal price summer staff had to absorb in being placed in a painfully stressful working/living environment. In ultimately placing a summer camp program and the monetary cost of it over the bodies and wellbeing of women being directly and negatively impacted by their choice, the organization placed higher allegiance to money and ego over the hurt-filled lived experiences of camp staff members. This is the commodification of diversity in action.

Interestingly, the organization prides itself on the notion of women and girls being “all kinds of powerful.” The irony with this is that the choice of the organization to place anything over the value of the lived experiences of women in general, and black women in particular who staffed the camp program, was the weakest and most perverse display of feminine power.

Lesson 3: Diversity Does Not Shift Power

Reflecting on my summer camp experience, the equation that I think best describes how harm is exacted if diversity is not appropriately held is:

Diversity (without power shifts) + Capitalism = Status Quo

As a society, we are focusing on the wrong point in our quest to create and manifest racial and social justice. We are placing our attention and intentions on the wrong piece of the equation in our attempt to create a better world. And here’s why:

Diversity just is. It is already existing. We do not have to create it. Diversity is literally all within and around us. However, diversity will not be properly held and honored if the power dynamics remains out of balance and skewed to the advantage of white people. It is a pivotal aspect of the ultimate goal of moving all of us towards confidently engaging in the continuous and tedious work to restore balance in how power is understood and held within relationships. Shifting power allows each of us to simultaneously take up space ​ and ​ create the space required to hold all of who we are and the diverse dimensions each of our whole selves hold. Diversity without any shift in power is the point at which we inflict harm on one another in the name of diversity.

Originally published at https://www.red-lotus-consulting.com.

Photo Credit: @angelinabambina

While many organizations are engaged in cultivating social justice out in the world, they are simultaneously struggling with how best to address the multiple layers of internal injustices that create unwelcoming work environments, particularly for black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPoC). This past August, Portland Women in Technology (PDXWiT) published the 2019 State of the Community . The report offered findings from a survey of just over five thousand respondents in the tech world for the purpose of gauging the sector’s health when it comes to matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). One of the most fascinating realizations that emerged from the study is that:

“most white people in the industry said their companies take diversity seriously and would recommend someone from an underrepresented group work at their company. But among people from other racial and ethnic groups, and transgender people, fewer than a third agree…”

To this discovery, Megan Bigelow, the board president of PDXWiT stated:

“These [DEI] initiatives that are being built are resonating with white people. However, the efforts of the white people who generally run those companies aren’t resonating with the people they say they’re trying to reach…”

Demonstrating this same dilemma within the business sector, despite the goal of creating an economy that is inclusive of everyone and implementing a new model of inclusive corporate governance, Jay Coen Gilbert, cofounder of B Lab explained in Erasing Institutional Bias: How to Create Systemic Change for Organizational Inclusion:

“…only 43 percent of B Lab’s staff who are people of color feel they can bring their whole selves to work, compared to 96 percent of their white coworkers. Houston, we have a problem..”

Jay is absolutely right -we do indeed have a problem. However, what both Megan and Jay describe is not the actual problem. The facts that diversity initiatives are not resonating with BIPoC, and they do not feel like they can bring their whole selves into a work space are symptoms of a deeply entrenched problem within organizations. The problem organizations are faced with in their attempts to cultivate just, equitable, and diverse working environments is that they are not relying upon the innate wisdom and leadership that can be found in the voices that have been most acutely impacted by unwelcoming, inequitable, and exclusionary spaces. Simply put, organizations are not placing the appropriate focus on the voices of black, indigenous, and womxn of color (BIWoC) when trying to create transformative organizational change. And, beyond the appropriate focus, few organizations are consistent with following the lead and directives of BIWoC. The word “womxn” includes those who are both members of traditionally oppressed racial/ethnic groups and who identify as trans, gender non-conforming, non-binary, or cisgender.

The well intentioned landscape of organizations is peppered with examples of conversations and actions around DEI by well-meaning, predominantly white-led nonprofit organizations. To the detriment of these organizations, such initiatives are overwhelmingly anchored around the bravado of the white voice. The irony here is that at the same time organizations are amplifying the call to cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workspaces, the voices that matter most in answering this call are (still) being muted and silenced. In Hacking Diversity in Tech by Emphasizing Retention , Megan Rose Dickey posits that retention is key in helping to cultivate diversity. What is intriguing in this piece is the use of the word hack as a way to communicate that there is indeed a “work around” for the problematic environments organizations are grappling with. By definition, a hacker is any skilled expert that uses their knowledge to overcome a problem. If the problem is the lack of diversity — as Dickey’s article suggests, and this lack is a direct result of the systemic marginalization that occurs within organizations, then there is no better expert voice to hack diversity than those who most acutely suffer from, and bear the brunt of the problem. It goes without saying that white folks ought not be the experts in the room on this because they do suffer the most from the problem. Yes, white folks suffer within the oppressive system that we aptly name white supremacy/white patriarchy. However, the suffering is acutely and vastly different than the suffering that is experienced by BIWoC within the same system. In fact, I would go as far as to say that while they do suffer, white folks are beneficiaries of the problem, which is the very reason why they are able to be seen as the experts in an area that fundamentally is about addressing the oppression on traditionally impacted populations.
​
What organizations lose in silencing and muting the already marginalized voices of BIWoC is the lived experiences and narratives of BIWoC who have been at the painful end of systemic marginalization in organizations. When organizations choose not to center BIWoC voices in creating just and sustainable work environments, they end up reducing critical narratives and stripping away the profundity that is deeply embedded in these narratives. In doing so, organizations forfeit access to the groundswell of wisdom that is only found within the years of experience BIWoC have in both navigating and surviving unwelcoming and exclusionary organizational environments. For organizations working to better hold DEI within their work spaces, success will be achieved to the extent to which they are able to shift power to the voices and lived experiences of BIWoC.

When we consider the role marginalized and impacted people play in creating transformative organizational change, it has been said that it is the very living, existing, and survival of the marginalized that is the key. If we can agree on this belief, then organizations must remember that it is precisely the marginalized position of BIWoC that renders them uniquely suited and poised to create meaningful organizational change when it comes to creating spaces that better hold and support diversity, equity, and inclusion. As organizations further marginalize, mute, and silence the voices and resourceful power that lies exclusively within BIWoC, efforts to create diverse, inclusive, and equitable work spaces will only end up perpetuating the very harmful environments they desire to transform.

Mother. Teacher. Agitator. S. Rae Peoples is the founder and principal consultant of Red Lotus Consulting, a race equity and service boutique. Her writings and opinions have been published in the Washington Post, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Post, BlogHer, as well as Young, Fabulous and Self-Employed magazine. Currently based in Boston, S. Rae is a student affairs administrator at an art school and Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for North Atlantic Books.

Originally published at https://www.red-lotus-consulting.com.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything it is that our ‘business as usual’ model has failed us all. It has exacerbated our crisis because it allowed us to ignore 3 critical societal truths. Conducting business as usual required many of us to silence our voices from speaking out on these truths. That’s how business as usual in America has always worked: it trades your silence for a lifestyle of misguided privilege to a few.

Had we confronted and responded to our truths earlier on as a nation, we could have shifted our country’s trajectory towards COVID-19.

1. We have always had vulnerable individuals and traditionally repressed communities in need of our collective compassion and attention.

We have always known the truth that members of traditionally repressed communities suffer from health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure at a disportionate rate than their white counterparts. These health conditions among the Black and Latinx communities are exacerbated by the difficulty these communities face when trying to access consistent and intentional healthcare. As a result of our failure to adequately mitigate the healthcare discrepancies faced by traditionally repressed communities over the years, COVID-19 has taken an irrevocable toll on both the Black and Latinx communities. Ibram X. Kendi poignantly articulates the numeric impact for repressed communities in
What the Racial Data Show .

2. We have always had families living from paycheck to paycheck. Roughly speaking, COVID-19 hit our country in January of this year.

Exactly one year prior to the month, Zach Friedman wrote a piece in Forbes Magazine entitled,
78% Of Workers Live Paycheck To Paycheck . Living paycheck to paycheck means just what it implies: that folks can only (and barely) afford to pay their expenses with the income they receive — — leaving little to no wiggle room for thriving and enjoying life. Unable to set aside savings for a ‘rainy day’, many Americans were (and continue to be) ill-prepared to weather the tumultuous downpour of financial woes associated with COVID-19.

3. We simply cannot afford a return to business as usual.

The current “business as usual” social systems in America are constructed such that it accelerates access to resources (i.e. mental and physical health care, education, jobs, housing) for some, at the expense of diminishing access to those same resources for others.

Returning to a state of being, and conducting ourselves as if a global pandemic did not just happen in our lifetime is not an option. All of what we are experiencing physically, emotionally, and mentally from COVID-19 will be for nothing if we do not, as a country, emerge from this period with a new vision and version of business as usual for America. What we must persist towards is a business path where people and communities are put first and over profit.

Admittedly, trepidation comes with not knowing exactly what an alternative to “business as usual” would look like. And yet, our survival depends on us figuring out how to co-create another way. The truth is that we see glimpses of another way all around us, as we literally sit in the midst of our crisis. We see it when grocery stores create hours of operation that hold space exclusively for the most vulnerable in our communities, including senior citizens. We see a glimmer of another way when businesses limit the amount of goods an individual can buy so that more members of our community can have access to the goods, services, and resources they need. Portions of a new way is unveiled within the public discourse and potential actions to implement more options for employers to engage in remote work. We even see the emergence of a new model of business as usual in the amplified voices calling for student debt to be forgiven.

These are all glimmers of what is possible, brief confirmations that we have the capacity to operate from human decency and dignity. If we persist, we have the ability to create a ‘business as usual’ for our country where we are no longer driven by fear and scarcity, but are able to thrive and live from a place of courage and abundance.

Originally published at https://www.red-lotus-consulting.com.

In the battle against terrorism and in pursuit of racial justice, the only meaningful position white people can hold in dismantling the master’s house (aka white supremacy) is putting in the time, blood, sweat, and tears to develop an identity that is inherently antithetical to whiteness. During the past several weeks, I have been asked by several white people, “What can I do?” The short answer to that is: Roll up your sleeves, and lean the f*ck all the way in to dismantle the master’s house of white supremacy. That’s what white people can do right now. And they can start with identifying and dislocating the bricks we call whiteness.

The truth is that white people play a critical role in achieving racial justice and liberation for America. Yet, far too many fear and hold uncertainty about how they fit into dismantling white supremacy. This fear holds them back from stepping confidently into their position and role in the work of justice. While there is no place for deadweight in justice movements, this fear comes with good reason, as white people have been socially conditioned to invalidate, negate, and rationalize the adverse impacts our racial construct has had on Black people in particular. An example of such social conditioning is being taught to “not see color” as a means to not only make race invisible, but to make unseen the harm being done to other people because of their race. Race narratives such as the narrative of color-blindness (that many a white folk have clung to for decades now), have resulted in generation after generation of white people being trained to simultaneously be used as a tool to maintain white supremacy and as a conduit through which white supremacy is constantly being birthed.

By design, white people have been diverted from critically analyzing the racial identity assigned to them. Whereas the survival of Black and brown bodies mandates that they develop an intimate comprehension of race, the privileged existence of white bodies within a racialized system requires that these bodies remain ignorant to the harm being wielded by the very same racialized system they receive privileges within, in exchange for their ignorance. The work before white people at this moment in our collective pursuit of racial justice is to do the very heavy and personal lift of increasing their own comprehension around whiteness. From there, it is then incumbent upon white folks to make the conscious decision to constantly free themselves of the many ways in which whiteness is weaponized.

pro-tip: liberating oneself from whiteness, or anything for that matter, is an ongoing life-long commitment. It is a practice, not a perfect.

What Is Whiteness?

Simply stated, whiteness can be defined as the life source of white supremacy. It is the mentality that sustains the micro, macro, and outright violent ways in which power is amassed and held in an unbalanced way, mainly by white people. It speaks to all of the intentional and unintentional ways in which white people maintain “power over” rather than “power with” relationships with others, to the specific detriment of Black and brown bodies. Whiteness emboldens white people to normalize the lived experience of being white at the expense of negating the very real and painful lived experiences of being Black and people of color in America due to the heavy weight of sheer caucacity they have to shoulder on a daily basis.

In general, whiteness is amplified through frames that encourage white folks to not notice race and to minimize its impact, rendering its harm ‘invisible’ to white people, but not to the people who are constantly being harmed due to their placement in the racial order. The very nature of whiteness in this way reflects a lack of interrogation by white people about how they are used and positioned within white supremacy. Without a true interrogation of whiteness as a mentality, and without liberating their mind from its stranglehold, white people will never be able to truly understand the profundity and urgency in the words so often spoken by Black people, “my skin color is not a crime.”

What Does Whiteness Look Like?

From my vantage point as a Black woman, whiteness is omnipresent. It is constantly inserting itself and functioning in some way, shape, or form in any given space and at any given time. Depending on the situation, whiteness can be subtle or lurid. It can be dressed in well-intentioned acts. Its aggression can be micro or macro. Whiteness is communicated in explicit language, defensive minimizations, and even misaligned repentances. Unsurprisingly, people of color are acutely aware of the presence of whiteness in any given situation, but to white people it remains unseen. Consider the following personal real-life examples that demonstrate varying degrees of whiteness in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, that go virtually unnoticed to white folks:

What Does Whiteness Cost Us?

The existential threat white people embody to people of color in general, and black folks in particular is not by virtue of their racial identity. People being white is not the problem. The problem is that the system of white supremacy primarily uses white bodies as a means to inflict suffering. If white people do not put in a mass effort to dedicate their position within a racial order to advance racial justice instead of promulgating white supremacy, racial justice will always be just out of our reach. In order to dedicate their position to the cause of racial justice, white people must place their feet squarely on the path that is meant only for them to walk. They must begin and persist in the time consuming and gut wrenchingly tedious examination that will have them come to understand just how deeply connected their privilege and identity is dependent upon (and conflated with) white supremacy. It is from this point, and this point only, that their life-long journey of divorcing themselves from white supremacy begins and their role in manifesting racial justice deepens. Anything short of this will mean that white people will never be able to break free from their own chains that keep them bound to white supremacy, and thus will pose a continued threat to collective justice and liberation.

I read a captivating tweet recently that shared deeply profound words by Dwayne Reed:

“White supremacy won’t die until white people see it as a white issue they need to solve rather than a black issue they need to empathize with.”

Just as I, a Black woman, hold rage for the suffering white supremacy has inflicted on me, my loved ones, and my community, white people ought to hold rage at the ways in which this system has duped them, exposed them, and used their bodies to wield violence and trauma. White folks ought to be holding a tremendous amount of rage for the extent to which they have been used to execute suffering within this racial structure. White folks absolutely cannot get to solving anything if they can’t get to raging. Rage, if used right, is what invokes one to act from a place of conviction rather than serving up solidarity through mere dictation.

Mother. Teacher. Agitator. S. Rae Peoples is the founder and principal consultant of Red Lotus Consulting, a race equity and service boutique. Her writings and opinions have been published in the Washington Post, the East Bay Express, the Oakland Post, BlogHer, as well as Young, Fabulous and Self-Employed magazine. Currently based in Boston, S. Rae is a student affairs administrator at an art school and serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for North Atlantic Books.