Phase 1.2

Mobilize Yourself: Mid-Level

The organization has a stated commitment to racial equity, diversity and inclusion and has gathered and reviewed their data for most stakeholders and programs. The organization has seen some advancement of racial equity goals and processes for internal stakeholders and programs, but needs to continue to codify clear goals, feedback processes, and accountability measures. Across the board, the organization has established DEI processes that support deepening team members’ capacity for racial equity work and understanding their personal responsibility for change.  Individual team members engage regularly in personal & professional development that focuses on how they can operationalize racial equity into their work. However, the organization is unsure how to move its racial equity efforts toward deeper sustainable systemic change.

The organization may struggle with how to authentically engage with external stakeholders, like community members, as a critical part of their DEI strategy. It is clear that external stakeholders want to be a part of the process, but the organization leaders might believe it would slow down progress or productivity.

The organization and named leader may have written racial equity, diversity and inclusion expectations. Some leadership team members excel at inclusionary practices, but not all.The organization is also actively collecting and analyzing data, but is not yet seeing consistent results across the board.

In this phase, the racial equity team should focus on:

  1. Develop and establish your RET’s goals and desired vision for racial equity.
  2. Utilize and refine relevant DEI tools to evaluate organizational policies to identify systemic barriers to change
  3. Collect data from external stakeholders on the organization’s racial equity goals to increase transparency and engagement
  4. Develop a budget for racial equity work and begin to build relationships with funders who support this work.
  • Step 1:
    Unpack the barriers to authentically advancing racial equity personally and professionally.
  • Step 2:
    Reflect on how you currently exhibit anti-racist behaviors and practices regularly.
  • Step 3:
    Having an antiracist lens is critically important to mobilize yourself in racial equity.
  • Step 4:
    In this phase, you’re aware of your personal biases and how it may impact your work.

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:STEP 2:STEP 3:STEP 4:

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:

  1. WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE – HOME
  2. White Supremacy Culture – dRworksBook
  3. White Dominance and Inclusion: Spectrums of Organizational Characteristics
  4. This is what white privilege looks like at your workplace
  5. Dismantling Anti-Blackness in Democratic Workplaces: A Toolkit
  6. Dismantling White Supremacy in Our Workplace: How to start the conversation 
  7. Listen: Episode #4: White Supremacy at Work
  8. What Happened When My School Started to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture
  9. Podcast: NPR Code Switch
  10. 24 Podcasts That Confront Racism in America | by The Bello Collective

If you identify as BIPOC:

  1. People of color, we need to address our own anti-Blackness and how we may be perpetuating injustice 
  2. Dismantling Racism’s Workbook on Internalizations
  3. Watch: Internalized Racism, with Dee Watts-Jones 
  4. Five Steps to Unlearn Internalized Oppression
  5. Demystifying Internalized Oppression: A Reflection Guide
  6. 2020, White Supremacy, Black Male Leadership, And Me
  7. Confronting the Racist in Me
  8. 5 ways to address internalized white supremacy and its impact on health

If you identify as White:

  1. The Five Stages of White Privilege Awareness 
  2. How to talk to your white friends and family about privilege
  3. White Privilege: Let’s Talk – A Resource for Transformational Dialogue
  4. Robin DiAngelo: How ‘white fragility’ supports racism and how whites can stop it
  5. Confronting White Privilege
  6. White Women doing White Supremacy in Nonprofit Culture
  7. How ‘white fragility’ reinforces racism
  8. It’s Not Complicated – White People Must Do Their Part to Dismantle White Supremacy
  9. Journal Prompts to Help You Engage Self-Reflection & Check Your White Privilege
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Phase 1.1: Developing
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Phase 1.3: High
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