If you’re in the mid phase, you may be aware of and adept at understanding the privileges and marginalization that is attached to your identities. Within racial equity, you are clear about how you want to engage the work and enjoy talking with others about identity and equity. You’re aware of issues related to race but may still need to develop strategies and an analysis that can mitigate barriers to your racial equity development.
Step 1:
Unpack the barriers to authentically advancing racial equity personally and professionally. These barriers may come in the form of white supremacy culture, internalized oppression, and anti-blackness.
Questions to consider:
- How might white supremacy culture stand in the way of my racial equity work?
- How does white supremacy culture impact my lived experience and relationships with others?
- How does my identity inform the personal work I need to do to dismantle white supremacy culture?
- How might forms of anti-blackness, internalized oppression, and white supremacy stand in the way of advancing racial equity in my organization?
Actions to consider:
- Reflect on how the system of white supremacy impacts your racial identity and lived experience (1, 2, 7, BIPOC: 2, 3, 6; White: 1, 3, 7, 9)
- Identify strategies that will mitigate the impact of white supremacy culture and oppression on your thoughts, actions, and behaviors (1, 2, BIPOC: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8; White: 5, 7, 8)
- Prioritize learning from BIPOC communities in how to dismantle white supremacy culture and anti-blackness personally and professionally (5, 9, 10; BIPOC: 1, 6, 7)
- Observe your organizational culture and patterns. Question the unwritten cultural norms and behaviors that exist (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8; BIPOC: 6; White: 5, 6)
- Discuss white privilege, power, and white supremacy culture with colleagues and/or stakeholders (6, BIPOC: 5; White: 2, 3, 4, 8)
Resources:
- WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE – HOME
- White Supremacy Culture – dRworksBook
- White Dominance and Inclusion: Spectrums of Organizational Characteristics
- This is what white privilege looks like at your workplace
- Dismantling Anti-Blackness in Democratic Workplaces: A Toolkit
- Dismantling White Supremacy in Our Workplace: How to start the conversation
- Listen: Episode #4: White Supremacy at Work
- What Happened When My School Started to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture
- Podcast: NPR Code Switch
- 24 Podcasts That Confront Racism in America | by The Bello Collective
If you identify as BIPOC:
- People of color, we need to address our own anti-Blackness and how we may be perpetuating injustice
- Dismantling Racism’s Workbook on Internalizations
- Watch: Internalized Racism, with Dee Watts-Jones
- Five Steps to Unlearn Internalized Oppression
- Demystifying Internalized Oppression: A Reflection Guide
- 2020, White Supremacy, Black Male Leadership, And Me
- Confronting the Racist in Me
- 5 ways to address internalized white supremacy and its impact on health
If you identify as White:
- The Five Stages of White Privilege Awareness
- How to talk to your white friends and family about privilege
- White Privilege: Let’s Talk – A Resource for Transformational Dialogue
- Robin DiAngelo: How ‘white fragility’ supports racism and how whites can stop it
- Confronting White Privilege
- White Women doing White Supremacy in Nonprofit Culture
- How ‘white fragility’ reinforces racism
- It’s Not Complicated – White People Must Do Their Part to Dismantle White Supremacy
- Journal Prompts to Help You Engage Self-Reflection & Check Your White Privilege
Step 2:
Reflect on how you currently exhibit anti-racist behaviors and practices regularly. Consider how you can expand your anti-racist practices and challenge yourself to become more anti-racist professionally.
Questions to consider:
- How can I adopt more anti-racist practices?
- Are there times or environments where I’m more comfortable demonstrating anti-racist behaviors than others? Why or why not?
- How can I advocate for myself/my racial equity work in the organization?
- How am I regularly interrogating neutrality in my professional practices?
- What opportunities do I have to regularly audit my own practices to make sure I’m continuously growing in my antiracism journey?
Actions to consider:
- Explore different definitions of what anti-racism is. Identify key practices that you can try on in the workplace and consider how to advocate for anti-racist practices and behaviors in your organizational culture (1, 2, 12, 15, 16)
- Practice having difficult conversations across varying points of view about systemic racism and issues about race at work (2, 13)
- Commit to an antiracist framework that you can apply to your own practices (4, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- Discuss with others how oppression or privilege shows up in your lived experiences. Consider the times you’ve either interrupted or been complicit in oppression. (11, 12, 13, 14)
- Conduct a self audit of your own practices at work (e.g. hiring practices, interviewing, mentorship, etc.) and question whether they perpetuate oppression or are anti-racist (3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 16)
Resources:
- Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist
- 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
- For 21 days, do one action to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity
- How to Be an Antiracist Supervisor: Start With Changing What You Call Yourself
- Listen: ‘Me and White Supremacy’ Helps You Do The Work of Dismantling Racism (2020)
- Dismantling Whiteness in Academe: Part 2
- The Lens of Systemic Oppression framework
- A Leadership Pedagogy for Women of Color Organizers
- Leadership Competences That Integrate Racial Equity checklist
- Using an Anti-Racist Intersectional Frame at CSSP
- Template: Building Your Accountability Plan for Race Equality
- The Practice of Perfectionism
- To Fight Systemic Racism, You’ve Got To Be Anti-Racist : Life Kit
- PDF: FACILITATING DIFFICULT RACE DISCUSSIONS
- Settler Fragility: Why Settler Privilege Is So Hard to Talk About
- Toolkit: ANTI-RACISM ACTION PLAN – Worcester
- 5 Journaling Prompts From “Be Antiracist” By Ibram X. Kendi
Step 3:
Having an antiracist lens is critically important to mobilize yourself in racial equity. After adopting your own antiracist lens and commitment, develop clear strategies that will lead to more inclusive shared voice and shared power practices.
Questions to consider:
- What opportunities do I have to encourage shared voice, shared power at work?
- What can I do as an individual to advocate for more inclusive practices?
- How can I center the voices and perspectives of marginalized people in my practices?
- What frameworks can I follow that encourage inclusive and antiracist leadership practices?
- What am I afraid might happen if I adopt more inclusive practices?
Actions to consider:
- Observe your organizational culture and patterns of communication. How are decisions made and who typically makes those decisions? (2, 6, 7)
- Reflect on your own power within the organization. Identify, within your locus of control, how you can adopt more inclusive practices and behaviors. Are there opportunities for collaboration? (4, 6, 7, 9)
- Within your work, think about how to center marginalized voices and perspectives. Identify opportunities to bring their voices into your work and decisions.(1, 3, 7, 11)
- Find opportunities to discuss shared voice and centering voices of marginalized internal and external stakeholders with your leadership team (1, 13, 14)
- Seek to understand the barriers to exist for inclusion for BIPOC people (5, 7, 8, 12)
Resources:
- Are you Centering or Off-Centering? – FAKEQUITY
- Template For Holding Your Employer Accountable For Racial Justice | Rachel Cargle on Patreon
- PDF: Centering Voices of Those Most Impacted in Health Equity Efforts
- Making a Case for Culturally Humble Leadership Practices through a Culturally Responsive Leadership Framework
- “Dear White Boss…”
- The Manager’s Guide to Inclusive Leadership – Small Habits That Make a Big Impact
- How Inclusive Is Your Leadership?
- Even at “Inclusive” Companies, Women of Color Don’t Feel Supported
- We Can’t Work Toward Racial Justice and Equity Without Working on Relationships
- Reflecting on Three Years of Shared Leadership
- Shifting Power from the Inside Out
- Day to Day Experiences of Among Women and Men of Color in the Workplace
- HCR Racial Justice in Education: Resource Guide
- Color of Change: Bold Conversations
Step 4:
In this phase, you’re aware of your personal biases and how it may impact your work. However, you may not always know how to strategically address biases when you see them occurring. Develop some strategies that could support you in addressing biases when you see them occurring both professionally and personally.
Questions to consider:
- What is my personal role in addressing biases when I see them happening at work? How do my identities inform the role that I play?
- Do I actively interrupt biases and discrimination when I see them at work?
- How can I interrupt biases in a way that is authentic and considers context (i.e. identities, place, etc.)
- What is at risk if I am not aware of my biases or interrupt biases when I see them occurring?
- What am I afraid will happen if I begin to speak up more about biases and incidents concerning race when I see them at work?
Actions to consider:
- Reflect on what might stand in the way of you addressing and interrupting biases when you see them operating at work (1, 3, 10, 12)
- Challenge the anxieties you may hold around speaking up about how racism and white supremacy shows up in the workplace (3, 4, 12)
- Identify strategies that could support your capacity to address biases in a way that will ultimately create a more racially equitable and just organization (2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10)
- Find allies (either professionally or personally) that could serve as accountability partners in this work (4, 12)
- Continuously interrogate the biases you hold about professionalism, cultural norms, and other unwritten codes in your organization (1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11)
Resources:
- Managing Unconscious Bias
- How to Speak Up If You See Bias at Work
- Watch: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them
- Watch: How Do You Handle a Racist Joke?
- The Bias of ‘Professionalism’ Standards
- How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on Their Teams
- Watch: 3 ways to speak English
- An overview of respectability politics
- 4 Ways You Can Empower Your Workers To Call Out Discrimination At Work
- Interrupting Bias: Calling Out vs. Calling In
- Hey, you got a little racism stuck in your teeth
- When speaking up about racism at work comes at a personal cost