where the words equality, equity, and inclusion are our love language
by Austin Channing Brown
Footnotes
Freedom Work
photo by Koshu Kunii via unsplash
It has absolutely broken my heart to witness to more than 300,000 Black women be kicked out of the workforce due to our passion for pursuing anti discrimination in our careers. The shutting down of diversity programs, multicultural departments, affinity networks, and so on has affected countless numbers of people- those who worked tirelessly in these offices and those who were recipients of the benefits.
Out of my fog of concern, I have started to wonder about the cost of embedding antiracism programming into the systems of corporations, schools and the like. And I keep asking myself one question: Did we lose the radical nature of antiracism work?
This is not a judgment on any singular program or institution. You know that I spent many a year trying to build programs within existing systems and structures of colleges and churches. I travel the country trying to keep the remaining troublemakers out there encouraged. No, I am not in any way trying to belittle our collective work or suggest that where we find ourselves now is our fault. You are not responsible for the betrayal you experienced.
I simply wonder, if in our multi-generational quest to erect some of these programs, if they (and we) became a little less radical in our thinking, our approaches, our hopes for our own work. And what might it look like to recover the radical nature that demanded discrimination come to an end and proposed radical solutions for equality and equity.
And can we do it again?
This is going to be a question I would like to explore with you over the coming months... how do we think about our work and how do we practice freedom work, racial justice work, now?
If you're open to a little radicalness, I hope you'll stay tuned for this series on Freedom Work.
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TIP JAR
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*Please note that all tour stops are free (with the exception of the Toledo stop). So round up your friends, colleagues, and book clubs to join me for an evening of truth and empowerment. You'll be the first to receive all the details, right here in the BANNED newsletter. Stay tuned!
Austin Channing Brown is the author of NYT Bestseller and Reese Book Club pick, Im Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Her newest book, Full of Myself is already a USA Today bestseller but she's waiting to be placed on your bookshelf.
