If you’re in this phase, you are committed to the racial equity work in your organization and are clear about your role within this work. You have high self-awareness around racial identity, systems of oppression, and are keenly aware of how white supremacy culture stands in the way of racial equity implementation. You’re active in addressing biases and feel comfortable having crucial conversations about systemic racism and racial justice. You may need to explicitly develop your own philosophy around racial equity, may struggle with racial battle fatigue from carrying this work, or just wish to continue unpacking the nuanced nature of racial equity in your life – professionally and personally.
Step 1:
In racial equity work, sometimes we get swept up in the everyday carrying the work forward. Find time to write down what your philosophy is around racial equity in a way that feels codified and able to be communicated with others.
Questions to consider:
- What is my racial equity philosophy?
- What opportunities do I have to communicate my vision and personal philosophy with others?
- What strategies can I employ to communicate the importance of racial equity to internal and external stakeholders?
- How can I further codify my strategies and approach to racial equity work?
Actions to consider:
- Develop your own philosophy around racial equity and justice. Use this explicit commitment to guide your decisions and continued work so that you can ensure your actions are principled and informed by your values. What is your “theory of change”? (1, 3, 6)
- Think about where you want to push your understanding of the complexity of how racial equity shows up in your practices. For instance, how might you move from racially equitable practices to practices grounded in liberation? (2, 4, 5, 10)
- Identify professional development opportunities or coaching that can help advance and/or challenge your current racial equity practices (8, 9)
- Learn from other leaders in racial equity work to continue refining your approach to racial equity and liberation (5, 6, 7)
Resources:
- Theory of Change — AORTA
- Love with Power: Practicing Transformation for Social Justice (2015)
- Centering Blackness: The Path to Economic Liberation for All
- Podcast: Good Ancestor with Layla F. Saad
- Podcast: All My Relations
- The Combahee River Collective Statement
- National Guild For Community Arts Education: Racial Equity Guiding Principles and Policies
- Racial Equity Institute: The Groundwater Approach
- What is Equity-Centered Coaching?
- Intersectional Writing Prompts (Anti-Racist, Feminist, Queer) — Disorient
Step 2:
Take a step back and consider how doing consistent racial equity work has impacted you. Develop key strategies that will help sustain you and your personal wellbeing as you continue advancing the work.
Questions to consider:
- How am I feeling about where I am in my racial equity work?
- What strategies have I adopted to make my practices more sustainable and generative?
- How can I incorporate a lens of decolonization and liberation into my racial equity practices?
- Where do I draw support when I am met with resistance to racial equity from others?
- How do I bring others up in racial equity so the work does not die out if I were to leave my organization?
Actions to consider:
- Take stock of how you’re feeling carrying out the work of racial equity work. Check in with yourself and find opportunities to mitigate racial battle fatigue. (1, 4 BIPOC: 6)
- Identify key strategies you can take to ensure your work is sustainable and will not die when you leave the organization. (2, 3, 6, 7, 9; BIPOC: 5)
- Engage in restorative practices that center your well-being (2, 4, 5, 6, 7; BIPOC: 1, 3)
- Unpack how racial trauma impacts (you) or marginalized communities (8, BIPOC: 1, 2, 5)
- Start mentoring others who want to grow in their racial equity journey
Resources:
- Resources for Sustaining Momentum and Doing Everyday Racial Justice Work
- Sustainable Activism & Avoiding Burnout
- Systems Change & Deep Equity: Pathways Toward Sustainable Impact, Beyond “Eureka!”, Unawareness & Unwitting Harm
- Practicing Self Care, Coping Strategies, Community Education & Support
- Leading through the Portal to Claim our Humanity
- Centering Care
- Avoiding Burnout and Preserving Movement Leadership
- We All Need To Be Working Through Racial Trauma. Yes, Even White People
- White Women: 3 Ways To Sustain Anti-Racism As A Lifelong Commitment
If you identify as BIPOC:
Step 3:
Your core values ultimately drive why you are engaged in racial equity. Consider how your core values regularly show up personally and professionally as you make decisions.
Questions to consider:
- What are my core values?
- How are these core values (anti-racist core values, for example) reflected in my actions?
- When have my actions been incongruent with my core values?
- What steps do I need to take when I feel my actions are out of alignment with my core values?
- What are the ways that my core values reflect antiracism and racial equity?
Actions to consider:
- Complete a core values inventory (6, 7, 8, 9)
- Reflect on which core values are most important and in alignment with your everyday actions (1, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Research and identify different personal principles that are grounded in decolonization, liberation, and other frameworks that advance equity (2, 3, 4, 10)
- Reflect on areas where your core values might be incongruent with your everyday actions (5, 6, 8, 9)
Resources:
- Liberating Structures Principles (2, 3)
- Compass Point: A Vision for Belonging
- Compass Point: When our Humanity Guides our Strategies (2018)
- Podcast: All My Relations
- Personal Congruence
- Contextualize these questions for racial equity work.
- List of Common Values – Core Values & My Relationship
- PDF: Find Your Right Path – Ikigai
- Understanding Our Core Values: An Exercise for Individuals and Teams
- Live Your Core Values: 10-Minute Exercise to Increase Your Success
- PISAB Anti-Racist Principles
Step 4:
Questions to consider:
- What personal change management models can I adopt to serve as a role model to others on the racial equity journey?
- What models are in alignment with my DEI philosophy?
- What sacrifices do I need to make in order to lean into my personal change management in racial equity work?
- How can I hold myself and others accountable to committing to a racial equity framework?
Actions to consider:
- Research different philosophies around personal change management (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13)
- Determine which personal change management models align with the work you’ve already been doing in your organization (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 13)
- Develop checkpoints of progress for yourself to track how you are personally developing and growing in your racial equity work (4, 6, 7)
- Hold other team members and leaders accountable to their own personal change management practices (2, 10, 11)
- Unpack the differences between allyship and accompliceship (4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
“Framework for Inner Work and Social Transformation” from Petty, S. , Zimmerman, K., & Leach, M. (2017) Toward Love, Healing, Resilience & alignment: The Inner Work of Social Transformation & Justice
Resources:
- McKinsey Quarterly: Getting personal about change (2019)
- Strategic Question: An Approach to Creating Personal and Social Change
- The Transformative Power of Practice (2008)
- Listen: [Unedited] Resmaa Menakem with Krista Tippett
- PDF: National Equity Project – Leading for Equity Framework Overview
- Toward Love, Healing, Resilience & Alignment: The Inner Work of Social Transformation & Justice
- Five Elements of a Thriving Justice Ecosystem: Pursuing Deep Equity
- Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex
- Martin Luther King and the ‘polite’ racism of white liberals
- Learning how to be accountable when you’ve caused harm
- How White People Can Hold Each Other Accountable to Stop Institutional Racism
- White Saviorism
- Toolkit: ANTI-RACISM ACTION PLAN – Worcester