Priorities for White Folks Committed to Racial Justice
I’m writing to White Americans (and White people everywhere) who are committing to racial justice and inclusive leadership.
As a White American man who has been deeply engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion work for 50 years, I’ve been quiet for the last few weeks. I’ve been listening to Black voices, and trying to amplify them. Here are a few that I have found compelling:
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
Young Black Activists Branch Out With George Floyd Protests
Baoinne Coleman's Response: What Can White People Do? How Are You Feeling?
I’ve been checking in with Black friends, colleagues, clients, and family members, indicating no response is needed. I’ve felt angry and sad, humbled and motivated. I’ve also been preparing for engaging people of my own race in a new way.
I don’t have much to say to Black people right now, except to ask: What is your truth, how am I implicated in it, and what do you want from me and those who look like me? We’ve entered a time when White people must listen, respond to, and follow those of other racial identities. We need reciprocal relationships for sure, but we have to earn that with trust and accountability. A White person is an ally to a Black person when that Black person says we are.
Right now, I also don’t have much to say to White Americans who simply don’t care enough about the suffering of Black Americans to listen and respond. I accept that this disengaged population must be an influence target for those of us who are White Americans engaged in seeking racial justice and inclusive leadership. But engaged White folks need to prioritize their relationships with Black people. Committed White people need to improve our cultural competency, our support for Black people, and our bridge-building skills. Doing so will equip us to challenge the disengaged in our own culture.
Priority #1—Seek & Deepen Relationships
From today on, build real relationships of trust and accountability with Black people. How many Black people do you know well enough to follow? How many count on you to support them effectively and seek to influence other white people? I believe that a sustainable, impactful commitment by a White person to seek racial justice in America requires ongoing, deep relationships with people who identify as Black.
We don’t just advocate for people, we stand up with them. We open doors and equip them to walk through. A White American working on racial justice who does not enjoy close relationships with Black Americans is like someone who claims to love sailing but doesn’t like the water. When we as White people make and keep promises over time with Black people, they will come to trust us. Fighting bias and working for greater inclusion are two of those promises.
Priority #2—Model Personal Accountability for Learning
Invest in your own learning—cultural, historical, economic—about people experiencing racial injustice, and about the story of Whiteness in this country and beyond. You must understand the context of Black people to understand what they say to you about their experience, and how to work with them to improve that context. That is one early step in the work to deconstruct systemic bias, here in the United States and globally.
Invest in your own skills—with people across racial identities—to listen, show care, resolve conflict, seek and give feedback, respect individuality, and build belonging. Inclusive White leaders, in particular, learn to hire, develop, advance, and retain Black employees, and inclusive organizations solve for racial bias and serve people of all races with equity.
Priority #3—Come Alongside and Influence
By this October, when your racial learning can still influence the presidential election, we must come alongside our disengaged White peers by applying the first two Priorities as sources of influence. We must own this work as our problem: White supremacy must be eradicated, White ignorance must be disrupted, the lack of simple human compassion among White Americans must be challenged. This is our job, these are our people, and we must solve the problem of Whiteness. Patiently and without argument, share your learning, why you care about racial justice, listen carefully to them, and invite these disengaged friends, family, and colleagues to learn with you. If they accept, be ready to share an article, or ask them to join you at an event that they could find compelling. If they decline, or only want to argue, don’t waste any time on attempts to influence them. Maybe they will change their minds and hearts later, and come back to you.
50+ years into my own learning and inclusion work, I recommend three key priorities for White Americans who want to join in delivering racial justice and inclusive leadership:
Build inter-racial relationships of trust and accountability with Black people, and work together to solve for systemic bias.
Commit to continuously learning across race, and grow your inclusion skills; and again, participate directly in fighting systemic racism and other forms of oppression in the United States and around the world.
Live and lead with the courage to bring other White people along with you.