The Power of Undoing Racism

The Power of Undoing Racism

This blog post is originally posted at The Black Revolution Blog.

As the thick summer heat of August 2018 bids us farewell, I reflect on the highlight of my month, the Undoing Racism workshop held by The People’s Institute and hosted by Living Cities. An assortment of strong leaders from a range of non-profit/philanthropic organizations united for 2.5 grueling days of analysis, reflection and most importantly, healing.

For a group of 50-odd people who were already deeply involved in racial equity work of various forms, we had no idea that there was still so much that we needed to learn- or rather, unlearn. The three workshop facilitators were full of wisdom and confidence. They shared life-changing nuggets of truth and led us down paths of critical thinking, without the slightest hint of smugness or arrogance. Instead, every word they uttered came from a place of love, and their sincerity was palpable and disarming.

I came in hoping to see white people overwhelmed by white guilt, breaking down in tears or stubbornly refuting the workshop’s points, for my own selfish enjoyment. I wasn’t prepared for the moment Kimberly looked me dead in the eye and asked, “Are you not making money off poor people? I didn’t see your hands raised.” Without having been there, it may be hard to understand the weight of that statement , how it challenged my self-perception and made me face the reality of being at best privileged by my job and association to an organization, at worst complicit in maintaining oppressive white supremacist systems.

“Are you not making money off poor people? I didn’t see your hands raised.”

If we truly think about it, many non-profits merely circulate wealth among each other, scratching each other’s’ backs and pandering to funders, while touting the badge of being super progressive, caring about the “less fortunate” and doing everything in their power to “level the playing field”. But are we telling ourselves what we want to hear?

This was one of the notions that the workshop challenged. It questioned how much value and emphasis we place on truly addressing the needs of the community. Are we literally listening to these individuals who fall squarely into the categories we have all this polite liberal jargon for – marginalized, target population, under-served, oppressed? The facilitators embodied this idea of hearing everyone, valuing every voice, by speaking to each person individually and giving everyone opportunity to speak. On the first day, when I realized I had to sharpen my listening skills and attention span by 150% in order to participate in our introductory discussion, I was mildly uncomfortable. I tend to zone out when people are speaking. I also determine very quickly who is “worth” listening to.

If we truly think about it, many non-profits merely circulate wealth among each other, scratching each other’s’ backs and pandering to funders.

I realized how detrimental to the cause those attitudes and habits were, day after day of sitting mostly silent in the workshop, re-training myself to listen keenly, intently, to every human being present. We cannot say we are serving the community without caring about other perspectives, especially from those we see as less well-off or less educated than ourselves. My workshop colleagues were articulate, knowledgeable and were doing so much more than I to advance the cause of racial justice at their various workplaces. I was honored to glimpse into the inner workings of their minds, inspired by their frankness and sincerity.

I hope to never forget the flavor and poise of Milta’s delivery, or the adorable sight of Ronald dancing and singing to Hambone, an old Louisiana classic, or the gentle command of Kimberly’s voice and soul-piercing gaze. We recreated our own version of the motherland in that workshop, absorbing the wisdom of the elders through orality, an ancient method of education and storytelling. Who needs PowerPoints when you’ve got the power of minds sharing revolutionary ideas?

If you have any questions or want to share your story on your racial equity journey, please email racialequity@livingcities.org

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest Articles

Supporting and Growing Overlooked Entrepreneurs with Urban Innovation Fund

In 2012, Julie Lein and Clara Brenner started Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator with a mission to empower entrepreneurs to solve urban problems. Through their experience with Tumml, Julie and Clara saw how investors can overlook certain types of entrepreneurs, mostly women and people of color. Building on their experience, Lein and Brenner founded Urban Innovation Fund (UIF) as first-time …

1863 Ventures Seeks to Close the ‘Friends and Family’ Financing Gap for New Majority Entrepreneurs

Melissa Bradley understands how barriers to capital for entrepreneurs of color hurt our economy and our communities. “There is clearly a cost if we do not invest in diversity,” said Bradley, founder of 1863 Ventures. “We miss out on great returns when we are not inclusive in our investment theses. There are opportunity costs for all of us.” She cites …

A Vision for Systemic Change in the Twin Cities: An Interview with Marcus Pope

JK:We’re celebrating your new role as President of Youthprise! Can you tell us a bit about Youthprise? MP: I’ll start by sharing Youthprise’s mission, which is to increase equity with and for Minnesota’s Indigenous, low income, and racially diverse youth. We take the “with and for” very seriously; half of our board members are young people between the ages of …

The Legacy of Wealth Inequities in the Brown and Flynn Families: A Hypothetical Exploration

The first post in a two-part series explores the potential of capital to undo the historical legacy of inequities. Race is a complex issue that continues to drive many of the socioeconomic outcomes in the US. For example, if you are a person of color born in the United States, your zip code is more of a predictor of your …

Get Updates

We want to stay in touch with you! Sign up for our email list to receive updates on the progress we’re making with our network of partners, as well as helpful resources and blog posts.

Name