Platitudes prevail in America.
Armchair activism. Social media. Memes. Retweets. Graphic T-shirts. Yard signs.
We are quick to share our opinions but what are we actually doing to impart change? White supremacy and the patriarchy must be tumbled in order for a new world order to take shape. We cannot carry on in the current paradigm because our nation’s institutions are built to elevate white people while diminishing everyone else. This is not hyperbole, it’s history.
Talking alone is not action. We love talking about diversity. We love throwing around the term “inclusion.” But we don’t talk about representation.
“Diversity is about making the already powerful person in the room feel better about themselves,” wrote Ramzi DeHani. “Representation is about allowing people to see themselves in the stories allegedly being made for them.”
I’m wondering who is helping shape your organization’s diversity policies and goals? Who is seated at the decision-making table? I’ll tell you something as a woman of color, if I look at your website and see photos of your team or your board and I see no one who looks like me or no one who looks like my community, it’s a huge red flag. I’m reticent to interact with your company or organization when I see a sea of white faces only. It’s exacerbated when I see a sea of white men. I was recently at a doctor’s office and there was a large wall of photos of all of the physicians in the practice donning their white coats. It was mostly old white men. There were about three women and one person of color. This is not the kind of place I want to patronize, and it’s certainly not the kind of place where I feel welcome and comfortable. Sidebar: This is also what our state and federal governments look like. Decidedly not representative.
Are your hiring, leadership, and professional development norms and policies shaped by people who are representative of the community? It’s not enough to simply say you’re trying to be more diverse. You can’t have a team of all white people and talk about diversity and equity on your website. It’s not enough to say that you have an internship program or a model to hire young graduates who are diverse. Intent does not trump action. Your words are empty until your actions demonstrate your commitment to change. There’s nothing worse than a panel of white people talking about diversity. We’ve all seen it, amiright? When you say “diverse,” you are already othering people. This is not what representation looks like. This is not what equity looks like. This is what tokenism looks like.
If you’re really committed to being representative, you will hire people from diverse backgrounds into decision-making, leadership positions in your organization. Real diversity not only means making way for people at the lower ranks, it means creating space for people in power to rise to the top. Whether you are a government or a business or a nonprofit, I am not keen to join your team when I see no one who looks like me in a position of leadership and influence. I don’t want to see only entry-level positions that you hold out on a platter and say, “Look at how diverse we are!” While we’re at it, every time you talk about those black and brown bodies as a selling point for your organization, you tokenize them. You dehumanize them. You diminish their value. This adds up to a self-aggrandizing pat on the back.
Few people are doing this well. And sadly, few people recognize their shortcomings. Most people like to say, “Hey, we created this program and we attracted some people but it didn’t work. We still can’t keep diverse candidates. We can’t hire interns. Those people don’t want to work here.” Insert shoulder shrug here. And then more pats on the back for trying. Do you stop to ask why your program doesn’t work? Have you wondered why people who don’t look like you don’t want to participate or invest themselves in your community? Are you creating not only safe places but comfortable, energized places where people can thrive and excel? It seems to me that we keep using measures of diversity just to make white people look and feel good. It’s a box to check. I cannot name the number of times I have asked about representation on a board or in a company and I’m met with an answer that goes something like this: “Well, we have such-and-such on the board. And such-and-such too.” If you can list your “diverse” members on your fingers, you’re doing it wrong. And shame on you for rattling off these names to demonstrate your commitment to diversity.
Few organizations are in earnest seeking change by honoring diversity and representation. It seems lots of people talk about it and lots of people like to hear themselves talk about it, but very few are doing anything about it. Ask yourself whom am I trying to reach? What impact am I trying to have? What is in my power to change? Whom can I influence? Who needs to be on my team? Where can I learn more? How am I using my privilege? Here’s the thing, if in the end you don’t really care about equity, it shows. We are on to you. And another thing, the onus is not on black and brown people to teach our white friends about these things. Be fiercely curious.
There’s another complicating layer in all of this that I won’t get into in depth, but know that there are certain people who are considered “safe” to include from black and brown communities. They are compliant and have unlocked the ultimate achievement level, being embraced by the white community. They’re the ones who make white people feel comfortable. They play the game and don’t push back, often at the expense of shedding their own identity and forgetting both their heritage and their responsibility. They are the placaters, and as a by product, the tokens. I question if these are the right voices to have at the table when we’re really looking to impart change and influence structural, systemic changes to our institutions. We must dig deep and sit in our own discomfort in order to truly shift mindsets and evaluate where we are, where we should be, and who can help us get there.
What we need are people who are provocative and challenge us to think differently. The fuel that drives change comes from fierce, dedicated, compassionate voices that see the world from a new lens. Without the right mix of champions, a sprinkling of unease, some personal reckoning, and a willingness to listen, the concepts of diversity, inclusion, and equity will become diluted into a heap of buzzwords. The status quo isn’t working. It’s time for us all to allow ourselves some vulnerability and compassion as we learn and unlearn. Together, with the right voices at the helm and the right allies in the corners, we will see true representation in our seats of government, our companies, our boards, and our institutions.