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A Lesson From A Raisin in the Sun
Equity: The ability of all members of a community to fully access opportunities and resources, accounting specifically for the systems and structures of oppression that limit access for historically marginalized groups.
Recently SHRM (Society for Human Resource Managers) made an announcement:
Really? Is that how this works, you can just proclaim yourself the “foremost expert”?
No one else gets a say?
Shortly after, a second announcement from SHRM focused on “civility” featuring a video of a Black man in a suit and drinking a cup of tea. Subject: What if we were all a bit more civil?
Look, there are all kinds of Black folks in the world and this person may love them some tea, but this ad is offensive and incredibly out of touch with the world that we live in. Civility means talk like us, dress like us, behave like us OR shut up, stay in your place, be grateful for what you have. Even in my 50’s and with plenty of old school cultural norms that I operate by; I know better than this. This is clearly not expert.
We all know that the world that we live in is polarizing, difficult, complicated, and often exhausting. But it’s also OURS. Those who are feeling pushback now have either been directly involved in or benefactors of systems and decisions that have benefited them. Folks who are pushing back–this is their world, too. They are pushing back RIGHTFULLY. There’s nowhere else for that energy to go. Langston Hughes said it perfectly in his famous poem Harlem,
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
The new generation doesn’t quiet their pain and anger, believing that nothing more is possible. This new wave of energy is life forcing itself on the powers that be, like a rose pushing through concrete.
Hell, I have to respect this. Forcing #civilityatwork on people is not compelling to those who have not yet been heard, who are not centered in the world they are expected to contribute to, lead, inherit.
Which takes us back to equity… equity centers those who want, deserve, and have been denied full access and resources needed to flourish in systems that were not built for them. Moving away from equity, burying it in places that are not visible or measurable removes it from being strategic. Strategy is associated accountability.
Everyone reading this also knows what is happening with Fearless Fund, “a venture capital firm led by women of color that facilitated a modest grant contest for Black female business founders, was forced to shut down...because it “is ‘likely’ to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by not accepting applications from white men.”
There’s no question what’s happening. Even as a person who has tried for many years to “be the change I want to see in the world,” it’s incredibly clear where we are: broken. We need new systems, new leadership, and new ways of creating what we want for ourselves and our world.
For my colleagues who are also feeling shaken by this turbulence,
- I hope that we can continue to stand together in community.
- Don’t let fear, lack of shared vision, or strategy of an outlier separate us.
- Avoid pettiness–infighting about how and who, especially amongst people and groups who share our commitment to equity and desire for a better tomorrow.
Together, we will create a compelling path forward that will disrupt current and exclusionary systems while demonstrating the best of our human-centered values.
In Community,
DeEtta
