From REP: We Can’t Run, We Can’t Hide: Living the Values We Say We Hold

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are in a seminal moment in U.S. history. Many people are pleased.  Many others are shocked. And then there are many others for whom the outcome was not a surprise.

What remains for us all is the question: How do I live the values I say I hold?

In the past years, organizations have prominently placed “Black Lives Matter” signs in windows…invested in “DEI” and Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression (ARAO) efforts…worked to recruit, retain, and promote a more racially diverse workforce. For some, these efforts were merely performative. However, others’ efforts had their foundation in the understanding that organizations have a responsibility to eliminate the racialized barriers to which they adhered in the past; barriers that created the racialized inequities that we now see in our institutions. Just as importantly, efforts to racially diversify the workforce had the potential for increasing the talent pool for every institution.

With a younger workforce population close-to-majority or majority-Black-and- non-Black-people of color, “DEI” and ARAO efforts made good business sense when combined with an examination of organizational culture and power dynamics. This also holds true when considering other historically marginalized groups.

That was then, when organizational practices regarding “DEI” and ARAO were aligned with those of federal and some state governments that supported such efforts after being sobered by what the collective “mirror” showed about the United States after the murders of George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, and other racially biased crimes.

It is easy to flow with the stream and go with the crowd.

But what happens now?

The effort to not only block but to outlaw and brand as  un-American “DEI” and ARAO efforts will once again have the full weight and support of law and policy.

If pronouncements and policy-papers are any indication, organizations that support  Black Lives Matter, Palestinian people, trans rights,  and others who are Justice-focused will find a target not only on their backs, but on their businesses and advocacy efforts. Just as we saw in the disproportionate number of Black leaders being scapegoated and replaced in their organizations prior to the election, Black and non-Black of people of color will continue to bear the brunt of this targeting.

In this climate, where will your organization stand? Will it take the less risky road of discontinuing even tepid “DEI” efforts in favor of complying with entrenchment of America’s historical exclusion practices? Or will it stand strong in moving forward with racial and other forms of justice?

In sum: will your organization be part of continuing to push the country forward, or forcing the country back? Or will you allow your organization to be moved according to the wills and whims of regressive political trends? As Desmond Tutu so elegantly stated: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Living – or not living -- the values we say we hold is never a “neutral” exercise.  The coming years will offer many opportunities in which the true values of institutional leaders and organizations will be revealed.

None of us will be able to run nor hide in the coming years. Our organizations will continue to bear fruit from our efforts regarding racial and other forms of justice or reveal the falsity of our proclamations in support of such.

Which will your organization choose in 2025, and in the years to come?

~ the BRJA Advisory Board and Staff

We Can’t Run, We Can’t Hide: Living the Values We Say We Hold, a special offering from BRJA’s advisory board and staff, first appeared in the December edition of REP. To receive all ten issues of REP yearly, become a monthly sustainer now!