A Case for the Third Reconstruction: Part 3 — What Have You Done for Equity Lately?
(This essay is Part 3 of a series. You can check out the first two installments here and here).
What have you done for equity lately?
As we approach Juneteenth (what now looks like it will soon be a federal holiday), the Summer of 2021 is officially here.
Last month, we marked the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder followed by the long overdue acknowledgement of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 which took place nearly a century before that. These powerful events, which were brought to light through cell phone video and a fictional TV show entitled The Watchmen on HBO, are not aberrations of the racial animus shown towards Black folks. They are simply prominent examples of the centuries long systematic transgressions.
Had we not been in the throes of a pandemic which rendered us largely unable to leave our homes accompanied by three years of the culture war and political upheaval, these incidents likely would have gone largely dismissed by most white folks. Nevetheless, all of these elements coalesced, and the result is a newfound awareness of just how far we are from achieving true racial equity in America.
Predictably, these revelations have sparked a virulent backlash fueled by centuries of half-truths, outright lies and murder on behalf the “Lost Cause” narrative. This struggle is the essence of what I and others term as the Third Reconstruction.
As the founder of a nonprofit that focuses on supporting youth of color, last summer, I was overwhelmed by inquiries from companies interested in doing “something” to address these intractable problems. It was gratifying, disheartening and exhausting all at the same time.
Thankfully, new partners like The Butler Bros., Verizon Media, frog Design, Resplendent Hospitality and Wunderman Thompson provided financial support and volunteer teams that coached our Creative Leadership Academy (CLA) members on real projects. They established foundational relationships with our students and are now actively looking for opportunities to hire them for internships. In fact, Wunderman Thompson just hired our Senior Creative Mentor, Ricardo Villegas for an art director internship last week.
Other Senior CLA members are landing high growth jobs at top creative and technology companies like Wieden + Kennedy, VMLY&R, and Tableau as well. We feel good about these accomplishments. Nevertheless, even if we sustain last year’s level of support, we will fall woefully short of our potential impact.
In fact, we can’t meet the current demand
This summer, with 50+ current members of the CLA, we’ve been forced to put an additional 25+ members on the waiting list. If we do not have significant growth in our resources, we’re going to have to make some tough choices.
Some key facts to remember:
- Only 10% of philanthropic dollars go to nonprofits that primarily serve people of color (Philanthropic Institute for Racial Equity).
- The revenue of Black-led organizations are 24% smaller than their white-led counterparts, and the unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations are 76% smaller (Bridgespan and Echoing Green) .
- As of May 14, 2021, legislators have introduced 389 bills aimed at voter suppression in 48 states (Brennan Center).
- Prior to the pandemic, nearly half (44%) of all workers lived in poverty (Brookings Institute).
- Within four months of the pandemic, poverty rates for Black (40%) and Latino (34%) families more than doubled that of their white (17%) counterparts (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities).
So, whatever equity pledge you or your company may have made last year, actually delivering equity is a heavy lift. State legislatures are doubling down on their efforts to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters and inequality is at an all-time high.
If you feel good about the results of where you put your time and treasure last year, by all means, double down because help is sorely needed everywhere.
If you feel otherwise, there are plenty of small to medium size BIPOC led local nonprofits like E4 Youth that have proven track records. We have collectively been doing the most with the least amount of support for quite some time. In E4 Youth’s case, that’s more than a decade. Other worthy local BIPOC led organizations include Measure, Latinitas, Con Mi Madre, DAWA Fund, and Austin Justice Coalition, to name a few.
So, I am asking “What have you done for equity lately?”
because we are at pivotal time in U.S. history and the stakes are entirely too high to sit on the sidelines.
You can support E4 Youth directly by making a donation, volunteering or having your company become an official partner. I welcome your thoughts and questions.
Happy Juneteenth!
